Yessongs (1973)Jon Anderson - Vocals
Bill Bruford - Drums
Steve Howe - Guitar, Vocals
Chris Squire - Bass, Vocals
Rick Wakeman - Keyboards
Alan White - Drums
Before I get into the contents of the album itself, I have to take some time to discuss the packaging. This album was originally released as three vinyl LPs in a quadruple gatefold, one of the most elaborate and beautiful LP packages of its time. Three sleeves of the double jacket each contained one record, and the fourth contained an elaborate
picture book with concert photos and photos of the crew. The entire package, including the picture book, was designed by Roger Dean, who was becoming inextricably associated with Yes and their music. His surreal style and creative use of imagery and color was a perfect match for their ethereal music. The front and back covers featured paintings by him, as well as the six interior panels, with one of his surrealistic landscapes spread across each pair of panels.
The entire package, partially opened.
The front and back covers, and one of the interior paintings, which is an embellishment of the cover painting.
The first interior painting. Titled "Pathway", it is the same as the cover painting (inside the border), but with the addition of a person sitting on the tower in the foreground, and the flying ship from
the cover of Fragile. The flying ship also makes an appearance on
the back cover of Close to the Edge (in the lower right-hand corner).
The other two interior paintings, "Arrival" and "Awakening".
According to the artist Roger Dean, the paintings tell a story. It starts with the planet from
the cover of Fragile, which has exploded. It was, after all, fragile.
The fragments of the planet, or "spores", travel through space (accompanied by the flying ship).
Back cover -- "Spores"The spores land on a new planet.
Interior painting -- "Arrival"The arrival is witnessed by the person sitting on the tower in the embellished picture above.
Here is a larger version of the original painting.
After much time has passed, life begins anew.
Interior painting -- "Awakening"----------
Opening (Excerpt from "Firebird Suite")
Siberian Khatru
Heart of the Sunrise
Perpetual Change
And You And I
Mood for a Day
Excerpts from "The Six Wives of Henry VIII"
Roundabout
I've Seen All Good People
Long Distance Runaround
The Fish
Close to the Edge
Yours is No Disgrace
Starship Trooper
The material on
Yessongs comes from the
Fragile and
Close to the Edge tours, though the bulk of it is from the latter. The only tracks on which Bill Bruford appears are "Perpetual Change" and the medley of "Long Distance Runaround" and "The Fish". The remaining tracks came from the
Close to the Edge tour, after Bill had left the band and been replaced by Alan White.
Alan was a friend of producer Eddie Offord, who suggested him as a replacement, and at the time he was best known for playing with John Lennon's Plastic Ono band, but had also played with George Harrison, Gary Wright, and others, and had quite an impressive resumé for someone his age (he was 23 when he joined Yes). Alan had just two weeks to learn the material for the upcoming tour, which included all of the
Close to the Edge, and most of the main songs from both
The Yes Album and
Fragile.
Given the short time he had to prepare, Alan's performances on this album are remarkable. His style is quite different from Bill Bruford's. Where Bill is very measured and calculated ("disciplined" one might say), Alan prefers to let loose. He rides the cymbals and pounds the toms and generally adds a lot of dynamics and excitement to the Yes sound -- which is exactly what they needed on this, their first live album.
Perhaps it was out of respect for Bill Bruford, or simply an editing choice, but the drum solo on the album belongs to Bill, and occurs during "Perpetual Change". An extended version of Chris Squire's "The Fish" serves as his feature, and Steve Howe performs a slightly augmented version of "Mood for a Day". Rick Wakeman's solo section is a medley of excerpts from his first solo album
The Six Wives of Henry VIII, which he somehow managed to record in between recording sessions for
Close to the Edge.
Overall,
Yessongs is a very good album, an excellent document of what many consider the prime of Yes. Yes demonstrates their ability to recreate their complex studio arrangements live, sometimes note-for-note, and sometimes seamlessly incorporating new parts and variations. Playing is tight and precise, yet still has the spontaneity of a good live performance.
Generally, the only negative criticism one will hear about this album is of the sound quality. It is tolerable, but not very clear; muddy overall. Fans and critics alike tend to agree that the fire in the performances more than makes up for this shortcoming.
At over two hours total time,
Yessongs is clearly meant to represent an entire concert. The entire opening track is included, and you can hear the audience respond as the band take the stage. All songs are uncut, and the applause between tracks is blended together so as to provide a cohesive concert experience. Actually, with each CD containing the original contents of three LP sides, each CD is a "mini-concert" of its own. You can hear Jon Anderson saying Good-night to the crowd at the end of "Starship Trooper" which closes the second disc, but also at the end of "Roundabout" which ends the first disc. "Roundabout" was their regular encore piece, which is why you hear him saying Good-night, but the track order is preserved from the original vinyl release; it is just a happy coincidence that things turned out this way due to editing decisions that went into the original release.