YESSONGS

I personally love a good live album, so this is among my favourite works. In my opinion Yes were at their creative and performance peak when Yessongs was released and it damn well shows. Here is the classic lineup performing their best works. Indeed one of the pleasing things about this LP is that they perform the majority of their best songs. Indeed it was a triple LP so an added bonus is that you get good value from this one.

It would be pretty pointless reviewing the songs themselves, thats the job of the reviewers on studio albums. And indeed this is why I can only give four stars, to really appreciate a live album you first have to have heard the originals.

But as someone fairly familiar with classic period Yes. This impressed me a great deal. A good bit of raw intesity on songs such as heart of the sunrise and a splendid rendition of Close to the Edge sent fresh tingles through my spine. There are also the incredibly impressive bits intrumentation which proves the bands virtusosity we see Mr Howe in fine form on Yours is no disgrace and its wonderful to see Rick Wakeman improvise away on extracts on Henry.

In all this is an album which showcases one of the most talented of bands playing their best songs. If you like Yes then this is a work for you! But do bear in mind that it is probably better to go down the studio route first.