HIGHLIGHTS: THE VERY BEST OF YES

This attempt at a 'Greatest Hits' package is somewhat successful, but how do you really distill the essence of YES to a mere 70 minutes or so? YES is all about epics, and the best that this compilation does is offer us an edited version of 'Gates of Delirium' in 'Soon'. (An item for collectors if nothing else)

One good thing about this compilation is that the songs chosen here are presented chronologically, so you get to see the natural evolution and (often drastic) changes in sound as the band progresses from a good track from their debut album ('Survival') to the more modern period and the likes of "Big Generator's" 'Rhythm of Love'.

All in all, a decent and representative offering of YES on a single disc. A good purchase for beginners to YES' music. An even better prog purchase in terms of a YES compilation would be 1981's "Classic Yes" (One of the best compilations from ANY band by the way), as it isn't/wasn't tainted by "90125" and a lot of the 'less-challenging music' that came later.

3/5 stars: decent, but far from essential.