YESSHOWS

Without the vitality of the incomparable and inspired "Yessongs", their inevitable and hateful closest reference, "Yesshows" (1980) is an interesting look at the troubled Yes of those times, suffering from the doubts of their uncertain future (at the time of its release, Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman were no longer part of the band... momentarily...), and whose setlist comes from different performances in Europe and the United States between 1976 and 1978.

A setlist that shows touches of their four releases after "Yessongs" (except for the sweet "Time and a Word" from the album of the same name), and it is this all-encompassing attempt that ends up undermining the sense of fluidity and cohesion of the album, with the aggravating factor that some of the songs included are not necessarily the most attractive for live performance, such as the ecological "Don't Kill the Whale" or the gentle "Wonderous Stories", instead it would have been preferable to include the more representative "Awaken", for example.

All in all, "Yesshows" is not a bad album, the quality of its virtuosic members ensures a solvent performance, as evidenced by the splendid keyboards of Rick Wakeman in "Parallels", the beautiful final section 'Soon' of "The Gates of Delirium" sung britishly by Jon Anderson over the delicate layer of Steve Howe's slide guitar, and the interesting and rejuvenated sound that Patrick Moraz gives with his sci-fi keyboards to "Ritual (Nous sommes du Soleil)", a piece further extended by the jazzy interplay between Alan White's percussion and Chris Squire's bass.

Good, but it could have been even better.

3/3.5 stars

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