Yessongs

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Yessongs
Yessongs cover
Live album by Yes
Released 18 May 1973
Recorded 1972
Genre Progressive rock
Length 2:09:55
Label Atlantic Records
Producer(s) Yes and Eddie Offord
Professional reviews
Yes chronology
Close to the Edge
(1972)		 Yessongs
(1973)		 Tales From Topographic Oceans
(1973)


Yessongs is the first live album by the British progressive rock group Yes and was released in 1973. It mostly documents the tour for the album Close to the Edge but also features two tracks ("Perpetual Change" and "Long Distance Runaround/The Fish") recorded during the previous Fragile tour. Yessongs was originally a 3-disc set on vinyl, but is now a double CD.

Contents

[edit] History

The two Fragile tour tracks ("Long Distance Runaround/The Fish" and "Perpetual Change") are the only tracks on the album to feature Yes's original drummer, Bill Bruford, who left the group after recording Close to the Edge. For that album's tour, Yes were joined by drummer Alan White, who remains with the band to this day. White was only three years into his career as a session drummer, but had already worked with such notable acts as The Plastic Ono Band and Joe Cocker.

The album opens with an excerpt from Igor Stravinsky's The Firebird, which has been a standard opening Yes concerts ever since. Later in the album, vocalist Jon Anderson briefly sings a passage from Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring.

All band members except Anderson and White are given extended solo space. The track "Mood for a Day" is an unaccompanied guitar performance by Steve Howe, who also takes an extended solo during "Yours Is No Disgrace". The Yessongs version of "the fish (Schindleria Praematurus)" is considerably longer than the studio version on Fragile, with bassist Chris Squire taking an extended solo (and jamming with Bruford) in mid-song. Bill Bruford performs a drum solo on "Perpetual Change". The album also contains a medley of excerpts from Rick Wakeman's debut solo album The Six Wives of Henry VIII, and Wakeman's keyboards add much to the tracks when compared to the studio albums, particularly "Starship Trooper".

The album showcases Yes's ability to breathe new life into their songs in live performances which made them a top draw for concerts. Some songs are extended to almost double the length of their studio counterparts as well as given a more high-octane performance. Guitarist Steve Howe offers an extended improvised guitar solo on "Yours Is No Disgrace" specifically for this album which was decided on at the last minute.

The album was initially released on three discs in a unique fold-out package featuring artwork by Roger Dean. Inside are four individual panels by Dean which continue a theme that began with Fragile in 1971. On the back cover of Fragile is an image of a small planet breaking apart into several large pieces with a giant sailing spacecraft nearby. The first panel in Yessongs, titled "Escape", shows the craft apparently leading the planetary fragment through space. The second panel ("Arrival") depicts these fragments landing in the waters of a new world. In the third image ("Awakening") this new landscape becomes the habitat for various plant and animal species. The final image ("Pathways") depicts the emergence of civilization. This theme is also the basis of the film Floating Islands. The sailing craft was used as a small logo on many of the band's subsequent albums, and the image sequence inspired Yes vocalist Jon Anderson's first solo album Olias of Sunhillow in 1976, although Roger Dean was not involved with that album's artwork.

Yessongs was both a critical and commercial success.

Escape

Arrival

Awakening

Pathways

[edit] Yessongs Concert Film

A film, also titled Yessongs, was released in 1973. It documents their concert at London’s Rainbow Theatre on Christmas night, 1972. The only part common to recording and film is "Würm," the final movement of "Starship Trooper," recorded at the Rainbow.

On December 17, 1997, the film was released on DVD with Dolby.

Enlarge

[edit] Track listing

[edit] CD Track Listing

[edit] Disc one

  1. "Opening (excerpt from 'Firebird Suite')" (Igor Stravinsky) – 3:47
  2. "Siberian Khatru" (Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman) – 9:03
  3. "Heart of the Sunrise" (Anderson, Bill Bruford, Chris Squire) – 11:33
  4. "Perpetual Change" (Anderson, Squire) – 14:11
  5. "And You and I" (Anderson, Bruford, Howe, Squire) – 9:33
    1. "Cord of Life"
    2. "Eclipse" (Anderson, Bruford, Squire)
    3. "The Preacher the Teacher"
    4. "Apocalypse"
  6. "Mood for a Day" (Howe) – 2:53
  7. "Excerpts from 'The Six Wives of Henry VIII'" (Wakeman) – 6:37
  8. ”Roundabout" (Anderson, Howe) – 8:33

[edit] Disc two

  1. "I've Seen All Good People" (Anderson, Squire) – 7:09
    1. "Your Move" (Anderson)
    2. "All Good People" (Squire)
  2. "Long Distance Runaround/The Fish (Schindleria Præmaturus)" (Anderson, Squire) – 13:37
    1. "Long Distance Runaround" (Anderson)
    2. "The Fish (Schindleria Præmaturus)" (Squire)
  3. "Close to the Edge" (Anderson, Howe) – 18:13
    1. "The Solid Time of Change"
    2. "Total Mass Retain"
    3. "I Get Up I Get Down" (Anderson, Squire)
    4. "Seasons of Man"
  4. "Yours Is No Disgrace" (Anderson, Bruford, Howe, Tony Kaye, Squire) – 14:23
  5. "Starship Trooper (Anderson, Squire, Howe) – 10:08
    1. "Life Seeker" (Anderson)
    2. "Disillusion" (Squire)
    3. "Würm" (Howe)

[edit] Original LP Track Listing

For songwriting credits, see above.

[edit] Side one

  1. "Opening (excerpt from 'Firebird Suite')"
  2. "Siberian Khatru"
  3. "Heart of the Sunrise"

[edit] Side two

  1. "Perpetual Change"
  2. "And You and I"

[edit] Side three

  1. "Mood for a Day"
  2. "Excerpts from 'The Six Wives of Henry VIII'"
  3. "Roundabout"

[edit] Side four

  1. "I've Seen All Good People"
  2. "Long Distance Runaround/The Fish (Schindleria Præmaturus)"

[edit] Side five

  1. "Close to the Edge"

[edit] Side six

  1. "Yours Is No Disgrace"
  2. "Starship Trooper

Yessongs (Atlantic K 60045) reached #7 in the UK. It also reached #12 in the US during a chart stay of 32 weeks.

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Charts

Album

Year Chart Position
1973 UK Albums Chart 7
1973 Billboard Pop Albums 12

[edit] Certifications

Organization Level Date
RIAA – USA Gold March 17, 1973
CRIAA – Canada Gold December 1, 1976
RIAA – USA Platinum April 10, 1998

[edit] Miscellaneous

  • The original concept (AKA "Bob White plot") for the ending of the 1999 computer game Ultima IX: Ascension involved the planet Britannia being destroyed and the island of Skara Brae lifting off and flying into space. White (no relation to drummer Alan White) commented that this part of the ending "looks like an old Roger Dean painting form [sic] the Yessongs album".

[edit] Reissues

February 18, 1987 - Original CD Issue - Atlantic Records (CD)
September 27, 1994 - 2-CD Remaster - Atlantic Records (CD)

[edit] Sources

Yes
Jon Anderson | Chris Squire | Steve Howe | Rick Wakeman | Alan White
Peter Banks | Tony Kaye | Bill Bruford | Patrick Moraz | Geoff Downes | Trevor Horn | Trevor Rabin | Billy Sherwood | Igor Khoroshev
Discography
Studio albums: Yes | Time and a Word | The Yes Album | Fragile | Close to the Edge | Tales from Topographic Oceans | Relayer | Going for the One | Tormato | Drama | 90125 | Big Generator | Union | Talk | Open Your Eyes | The Ladder | Magnification
Live albums: Yessongs | Yesshows | 9012Live: The Solos | Keys to Ascension | Keys to Ascension 2 | House of Yes: Live from House of Blues
Compilations: Yesterdays | Classic Yes | Yesstory | The Ultimate Yes: 35th Anniversary Collection
Remix albums: Yes Remixes
Box sets: Yesyears | In a Word: Yes (1969 - ) | The Word is Live

[edit] External links

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