AN EVENING OF YES MUSIC PLUS (DVD)

"An Evening Of Yes Music Plus" is a DVD of Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman & Howe and that was released in 1994. In reality, this is the only true live DVD by this Yes' version, if we don't consider "In The Big Dream", which is only a video with three promotional video clips "Brother Of Mine", "Order Of The Universe" and "Quartet/I'm Alive)", plus a live version of "Heart Of The Sunrise" filmed during their "An Evening Of Yes Music Plus" live tour, made in 1989.

"An Evening Of Yes Music Plus" is a DVD with a live show that was recorded at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, in California USA, in 1989, when they tour their eponymous debut and only studio album "Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman And Howe". In 1993 it was released a live album with the same name with fifteen tracks. However and in contrary to the release of the live album's version of this concert, the DVD version only saw the light of the day in 1994.

The DVD opens with "Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide To The Orchestra" which is based on a classical oeuvre of Benjamin Britten, and represents the introduction of the live show that substitutes the popular Igor Stravinsky's "Firebird Suite" usually used by Yes to open their live shows. From their self-titled studio album we have "Themes", "Brother Of Mine", "Birthright", "The Meeting", "Order Of The Universe" and extracts of "Teakbois". From "Time And A Word" we have extracts of the title track. From "The Yes Album" we have "The Clap", "I've Seen All Good People" and "Starship Trooper". From "Fragile" we have "Mood For A Day", "Long Distance Runaround", "Heart Of The Sunrise" and "Roudabout". From "Close To The Edge" we have "And You And I" and "Close To The Edge". From "90125" we have extracts of "Owner Of A Lonely Heart". From Wakeman's albums we have extracts of the albums, "Gone But Not Forgotten" of "Coast Of Living", "Catherine Parr" of "The Six Wives Of Henry VIII" and "Merlin The Magician" of "The Myths And Legends Of King Arthur And The Knights Of The Round Table".

This concert by Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman & Howe will always be fondly remembered and cherished by long time Yes' fans. It was seen as a real Yes' reunion and the album and the live tour offered a real competition with the existing Yes' official line up that included, at the time, Chris Squire, Alan White, Trevor Rabin, and Tony Kaye. Here, the band played a host of Yes' classics, as well as a selection of songs from their debut album. They were supported by a few guest players. Jeff Berlin, a bassist very well known because he had already worked with some of band's members. Julian Colbeck, a well known former professional keyboardist that usually collaborates with several bands and musicians. He participates with some additional keyboards. Milton McDonald, a very well known session guitarist who plays with many artists and that participates on this album with some additional vocals and an extra guitar work too.

The music is full of glamour and class. It rips through stellar versions of their classics "Close To The Edge", "And You And I", "Heart Of The Sunrise", "I've Seen All Good People", "Starship Trooper", as well as recent tracks, "Brother Of Mine" and "Order Of The Universe". A real treat is seeing Jon Anderson walking through the crowd and singing his opening solo spot, and you really get the feeling that the singer really loves his fans. Steve Howe especially looks pretty motivated throughout the set, something that seemed lacking from him in the years that followed. It's nice to see so many close ups of Bill Bruford, whose nimble drum work is always a pleasure to behold, but it's a real shame that Berlin be basically ignored by the camera crew. You barely catch a few glimpses of him over this DVD's 2 hours length. That brings us to the main drawback to this release, the quality of the video. There are too many instances where the cameras are on the wrong musician. It isn't perfect, but it's great, because thankfully the audio of this DVD is very good.

Conclusion: It's now passing some time since I reviewed the CD live version of the concert and I reiterate all what I wrote before. "An Evening Of Yes Music Plus" is one of the best live performances I've heard and seen in all my life. It represents one of the best live shows ever performed by Yes. Here we have my favourite line up of the band, but unfortunately is missing to it my favourite bassist, Chris Squire. It shows the four members of Yes in a great shape and the willingness of them is evident throughout all the concert and it became particularly noted at the end of it. Relatively to the quality of the release of the DVD, I'm a bit divided, really. In relation to the sound, I must say that is absolutely irreproachable and amazing. But I can't say the same about the quality of the video. Especially the camera work leaves a lot to be desired. Relatively to the bonus tracks they're all very interesting and complete perfectly well the DVD.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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