Keys to Ascension

Keys to Ascension
Live album / studio album by Yes
Released 28 October 1996
Recorded Autumn 1995 - Spring 1996
Genre Progressive rock
Length 116:12
Label Essential Records
Producer Yes, Tom Fletcher
Yes chronology

Talk
(1994)		 Keys to Ascension
(1996)		 Something's Coming: The BBC Recordings 1969–1970
(1997)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]
The painting "Arches Mist", as featured in the liner notes

Keys to Ascension is a double album by the British progressive rock group Yes and was released in 1996. It is the band's fourth live album and fifteenth studio album.

It is the first album with guitarist Steve Howe and keyboardist Rick Wakeman since 1991's Union, and the first album with the line-up consisting of Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Alan White, Howe and Wakeman since 1978's Tormato.

Overview

Album content

The first seven of the album’s nine tracks were recorded live in San Luis Obispo, California’s Fremont Theater during three nights in March 1996. The purpose of these concerts was to capture the spontaneity of a live performance under controlled conditions, similar to that of a studio. These performances were also filmed and released as a live video under the same title.

All three concerts were instantly available as bootlegs. Comparison of the bootleg recordings and the official release demonstrate beyond doubt that the "live" songs were heavily overdubbed in the studio before being released. Some parts (most notably Jon Anderson's vocals on at least three songs) were completely re-recorded in the studio. The studio tracks were reissued twice: once as part of the Keystudio compilation album on 21 May 2001 and again along with the whole album in 2010 as part of the Keys to Ascension box set along with its companion album Keys to Ascension 2.

Song info

The last two tracks "Be the One" and "That, That Is" are studio recordings of new songs made in November 1995 (with subsequent overdubs and post-production lasting into 1996). Other live recordings not released on this album were held over for release in 1997 on Keys to Ascension 2.

Track listing

Disc one
No. TitleWriters Length
1. "Siberian Khatru" (Live track)Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman 10:16
2. "The Revealing Science of God (Dance of the Dawn)" (Live track)Anderson, Chris Squire, Howe, Wakeman, Alan White 20:31
3. "America" (Live track)Paul Simon 10:28
4. "Onward" (Live track; features a new intro: "Unity")Squire ("Unity" by Howe) 5:40
5. "Awaken" (Live track)Anderson, Howe 18:29
Disc two
No. TitleWriters Length
1. "Roundabout" (Live track)Anderson, Howe 8:30
2. "Starship Trooper" (Live track)
  • I. Life Seeker (Anderson)
  • II. Disillusion (Squire)
  • III. Würm (Howe))
Anderson, Squire, Howe 13:06
3. "Be the One" (Studio track)
  • I. The One (Anderson, Squire)
  • II. Humankind (Anderson, Squire)
  • III. Skates (Howe)
Anderson, Squire, Howe 9:50
4. "That, That Is" (Studio track)
  • I. Togetherness (Howe)
  • II. Crossfire (Anderson, Squire)
  • III. The Giving Things (Anderson, Howe)
  • IV. That Is (Anderson, Squire)
  • V. All in All (Anderson, White)
  • VI. How Did Heaven Begin? (Anderson, Howe, White)
  • VII. Agree to Agree (Anderson, Squire)
Anderson, Howe, Squire, White 19:15

Production

Chart position

Keys to Ascension (Essential EDF CD 417) reached #48 in the UK. It also reached #99 in the US during a chart stay of two weeks.

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ Keys to Ascension at AllMusic. Retrieved 2009-05-05.