YESSHOWS

I just got this album and my Yes collection is soon finished, since I'am not going to buy 80's or 90's Yes stuff since they can't be compared with real Yes. Yesshows is sequel to Yessongs which might be the best live album ever. Yesshows has two cd's like its predecessor but only 7 tracks. Some songs are very short and some extremely long! Here's the review:

Parallels : At the beginning of the song you can hear "Firebird Suite", the classic starter of Yes concerts. I've never really liked Parallels and I think its the weakest song in this album. In live version Parallels sounds actually even more weak than studio version. Jon's voice sounds way too high in my opinion. Not a good starter but could still be worst. 3.5/5

Time And A Word : Very old Yes song released on their second album. Yes plays only a few songs from their two first albums for obvious reason; they are all 60's pop music. Time And A Word is nice and easy song but it doesn't offer much. 3.7/5

Going For The One : Steve Howe's slide guitar mainly dominates this song along with exellent bass playing from Chris Squire. There's not much to say really. Nice but doesn't change the your world. 3.8/5

The Gates Of Delirium : At this point the concert really starts! Massive masterpiece from Relayer album played live. Being twenty three minutes long song Gates offers very much if you are able to receive it. I actually like the studio version more but live version also rocks (or should I say progs). Soon part sounds exellent. 4.5/5

Don't Kill The Whale : Released on their not-so-good Tormato album, the protest song Don't Kill The Whale became another hit song for Yes. If you like studio version you like this also. I enjoy it quite much actually. The song works very well as live version. After the song theres some nice improvised jamming too. 4/5

Ritual (Nous Sommes Du Soleil) : My god what a song. Being nearly half an hour long this is the song that gets you going. I was so amazed when I first heard it. Ritual is actually in two parts due to its lenght. It sounds very much like the studio version, but far more energetic. This is the song that measures how much you are into progressive rock. I consider this to be the best song in the album and definedly one of the best Yes songs played live ever. You can nearly fall into hypnosis when listening to this. You could easily write an essay of this song actually so I cant review it well. You just have to hear it. Especially the drum "battle" part is amazing. Not everyone will enjoy it but for me this song itself is worth of the whole price actually. 5/5

Wonderous Stories : To be honest after song like Ritual Wonderous Stories is actually a lame end for live album like this. Its nice pop song (actually another top 10 hit by Yes) but doesn't work as the enclosure song. Would have been far better to be in the middle. 3.8/5

Yesshows is an exellent live album but unfortunately doesnt reach the same level as Yessongs. I wouldn't suggest this to be the first Yes album to be bought. Exellent addition to any pro music collection and a must-have for Yes fans!