| Track: | Rating: | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rick Wakeman | |||||
| 1. Sir Lancelot And The Black Knight | | | | ||
| 2. Gone But Not Forgotten | | | | ||
| Steve Howe | |||||
| 3. Clap | | | | | |
| 4. Wurm | | | | | |
| 5. Turn Of The Century | | | | | |
| 6. Ram | | | | | |
| 7. Hint Hint | | | | | |
| 8. Sketches In The Sun | | | | | |
| 9. Concerto In D | | | | | |
| 10. Clap | | | | | |
| Yes | |||||
| 11. Olias Of Sunhillow Excerpt | | | | | |
| ABWH | |||||
| 12. Levin/Bruford Duet | | | | | |
| 13. ABWH Drum Solo | | | | | |
| Yes | |||||
| 14. Drum Duet (1991) | | | | | |
| 15. Ram | | | | | |
| 16. Hold Out Your Hand | | | | | |
| 17. You By My Side | | | | | |
| 18. Break Away From It All | | | | | |
| 19. Beginnings | | | | | |
| 20. One Way Rag/Drum Solo | | | | ||
| 21. Cachaca (Baiao) | | | | | |
| 22. Man In A White Car Suite | | | | | |
| Trevor Rabin | |||||
| 23. Soundcheck - Seattle 1991 | | | | ||
For the eleventh volume of the Yesoteric series, Jeremy Weissenberger compiled an assortment of solo pieces by various Yes members. Some of these pieces are taken from solo concerts, others from solo spots in Yes concerts ... and the second half of the compilation is mostly devoted to group performances of solo works (from the 1976 tour, just after the release of the five solo albums).
All things considered, this has to be considered as one of the better Yesoterics. The music manages to maintain a high level of quality for most of the tracks, although with the emphasis being on Bruford, Howe, and the 1976 group, this would almost seem to be a foregone conclusion. Moreover, much of this material really is rare and in-demand (especially the 1976 set and the Howe medley from Yesfest 1991). Jeremy put together a good "beat-the-professional-bootleggers" compilation with this one, and deserves credit accordingly.
With collections such as this, of course, historical accuracy sometimes takes the lead over the objective worth of the pieces as music. For this reason, the decision to begin the set with two Rick Wakeman solo recordings might be seen as still making some measure of sense. The first piece is a live version of "Sir Lancelot And The Black Knight", taken (presumably) from the King Arthur tour. This recording reveals that live performances of this piece were even tackier than the studio recording -- it also suggests that the tempo was a tad faster, though that could just be a recording problem. Hearing this piece live really draws out its bad elements -- Ashley Holt's vocals are worse than ever, the guitar fills are a waste of time, the horns aren't really integrated well, and the entire seem generally seems flashy without purpose. That said, Wakeman does manage a decent piano solo towards the end (amidst the chaos), and the net worth of the track isn't bad enough to diminish its studio rating. It's scary to think that this sort of thing was popular in 1975.
This is followed by a complete contrast -- a live performance of "Gone But Not Forgotten" from a more recent concert (probably 1980s, possibly 1990s). The distinction in overall quality is less distinct from the previous track, though - this song is essentially just new age fodder, with banal tones and uninteresting developments. It's pleasant enough for background listening, I suppose, but that's about it. Still, the juxtaposition of these two tracks is interesting in a historical sense.
The quality of the compilation improves substantially after this, as the set takes us to two tracks by Steve Howe from the Night Of The Guitar release (which, if I'm not mistaken, has been out of print for some time -- if I am mistaken, the purpose of these tracks on the set isn't entirely necessary). Regarding the missing half-star for "Clap", the following must be said: in the late 1980s, Steve was playing this track a bit too slowly. This is especially notable on An Evening Of Yes Music Plus, and it's a bit notable here as well. Otherwise, though, this is an interesting version -- Howe talks about his Chet Atkins influence at the beginning of the track, and plays an Atkins-esque passage in the middle of the track (while throwing in numerous minor alterations to the track as well). It's not the best "Clap" ever, but it deserves to be heard.
This is followed by a version of "Wurm", with Pete Haycock accompanying Howe on rhythm guitar. Howe works through the guitar solos that he usually features on Yes performances of the track, without the keyboard solos which normally intermingle with them. It's an impressive performance, and an appropriate display of Howe's talents. All things considered, this event could be considered the first step on Howe's "road to redemption" after Asia and GTR.
Following this, the attention turns to a medley of Yes and Howe solo tracks, recorded (apparently from the audience) at the Philadelphia Yesfest of 1991. This can essentially be described as a much more esoteric Howe solo set than those which normally appear at Yes concerts. The set starts with the introduction to "Turn Of The Century" (very beautifully played, and apparently involving some lighthearted audience interplay). "Ram" appears next, sounding very nice and having a semi- improvised section in the middle (as would be expected, I suppose). This particular version of "Hint Hint" fits in very well with the rest of the set, and outshines the somewhat overproduced version on Turbulence. An excellent version of "Sketches In The Sun" follows, followed by a slightly fumbled version of "Concerto In D" (the Vivaldi standard) -- Howe's "sorry about that" comments to the audience add a certain element of charm to the event, but this one never really works as it should. The set ends with an odd version of "Clap", wherein Howe manages to disguise the track fairly successfully for the first half of the track (nicely done, I might add). This medley is a highlight of the album, easily.
The attention next turns to the 1976 band, and a performance of the "Olias Of Sunhillow" excerpt (featuring Jon on harp). The musicality is operating at high levels here, though it's ultimately Moraz who emerges as the real hero (with White adding a few nice touches too). The sound quality leaves a bit to be desired, but there's no reason to fault the performance.
Although many Yesfans were disappointed by the drum solos from the ABWH and Union tours, this reviewer finds little to fault in Bruford's performances (or Levin's accompaniment, for that matter). The "Levin/Bruford Duet" from the ABWH tour is a particularly interesting work, and not just because it was the closest the 1980s came to having King Crimson improvisations. After a military-esque lead-in and electronic thrashings about, the two masters musos form an improv which could easily fit on a typical KC show. Bruford eventually manages to work the acoustic drums in fairly well, and the duo includes a prototype of what would eventually become "Evensong" on Union (though this version is obviously more ... um ... complete).
The "ABWH Drum Solo" is essentially the same thing as the version on An Evening Of Yes Music Plus, with the "Heart Of The Sunrise" premise leading to a fairly interesting electronic percussion development. This was my favourite part of the aEoYM+ album, and I quite liked it here as well (even if aEoYM+ makes it a tad superfluous).
Anyone who wants a clear picture of the differences between Bill Bruford and Alan White would be advised to listen to the "Drum Duet" from the Union tour: Bruford plays cool electronic lines, and White plays cymbals and a repetitive line which would rather emerge in "Mind Drive". Credit should be given to White for staying in the background; when White and Bruford attempt to "play" together, it just sounds like a mess. The high rating of this track is due almost entirely to Bruford, of course (for a duet which doesn't get much respect from the Yesfan base, I've never had a problem with Bruford's role here).
Following this, the compilation goes from strength to strength, featuring various performances of solo tracks from a 1976 Yes show in Roanoke, Virginia. As a bit of background for newcomers: between 1975 and 1976, all members of Yes released solo albums (Howe's Beginnings was the first, Anderson's Olias Of Sunhillow the last). At the start of the subsequent tour, Yes featured tracks from all five of these albums. For whatever reason (low sales of the albums, conflicts of ego (perhaps involving Howe and Squire), difficulties in adapting the material on-stage), this idea was dropped fairly quickly. Only a few shows featuring these tracks were bootlegged, and their availability to the average fan was fairly low. Their appearance on this compilation is quite welcomed, them.
This section begins with an enigmatic version of Howe's "Ram", featuring a rather louder, electric-guitar based version of the track than appears on the album (or appeared on the Yesfest tape, for that matter). It takes a bit of getting used to, but it's still very good. This, of course, is a solo guitar piece, not actually featuring the rest of the band.
The entire band does appear on the two Fish Out Of Water tracks, though. "Hold Out Your Hand", one of the better pop songs of the progressive genre, is given a damned good performance here -- Moraz handles the lead-in (which many people thought he played on the album) quite well, and Squire's confident bass playing performance is spot-on throughout the track. As a singer, Squire has the amazing ability to seem a backup vocalist even when singing lead; that said, he still carries the tune pretty well. Howe is conspicuously in the background. As regards the drumming ... well ... as always, White just isn't able to get the feel which Bruford accomplished on the studio recording -- this is a bit of a setback, but not enough to effect the rating.
Squire's voice seems a bit strained on the beginning of "You By My Side", but he recovers himself quickly. The segueway between the two tracks is excellently done here, and this rendition is as good as that on the album (with some cool bass soloing at the end). I really don't know why they couldn't have done this for the entire tour.
Introduced by a brief "Soon" reference, a group performance of Howe's "Break Away From It All" comes next. This version has a problem with vocals, although not in the manner that one might think -- Howe's voice never really cuts through the mix very well, and Anderson ends up taking over on lead vox by the time the track reaches its end. Whether this was the result of sound problems or strains in Howe's voice isn't quite clear, though the fact that Anderson knew all of the lyrics might suggest that they had a "backup plan" in the event that such problems would emerge. Musically, though, there's nothing to fault in this version -- Howe's soloing is extremely good, and somewhat extended from the album track. Still, the "performance value" of the track was clearly compromised here, and it may not be too much of a surprise that this one was dropped.
The version of "Beginnings" which appears here is an acoustic guitar solo, and may very well be better than the studio version. This very- English-of-English guitar features gets a beautiful performance here, though one might wish that the audience would be a bit more reverential (this audience recording picks up a fair number of stray conversations here).
Unfortunately, the idea of a "solos set" meant that something from Ramshackled had to be played -- that said, though, they probably could have chosen something better than "One Way Rag", one of the lesser tracks on that rather lesser album. Anderson's voice really doesn't seem to fit the lines; the music is somewhat better than on the studio album, but it's basically just an extremely-over-par band playing sub-par music. Even the Howe solo doesn't quite cut it, and the "Revealing Science"-esque vocal harmonies are just kind of sad in context. Following "One Way Rag", White's drum solo comes into play. Loosely based on "Ritual", it's essentially just a drum solo -- not bad on its own, but rather less-than- essential (and not enough to make the total value of the track any higher).
This version of "Cachaca (Baiao)" is rather odd in that the lead melody doesn't actually turn up until the song is almost over. The pitch- wheel heavy soloing (with decent accompaniment by White) is quite impressive, though some might argue that some elements of this version are a bit more new-agey than on the studio version. Still, though, the shifts in style are fairly diverse, and the overall value of the version is quite high. The lead melody of the studio version finally turns up towards the end of the number, and it doesn't last very long (leading to a damned freaky conclusion). Impressive, but I suspect that better versions exist.
With 1976 solos now complete, we then turn to the Drama tour, and Geoff Downes's "Man In A White Car" spotlight. The audience seems quite enthralled with the introduction to this track, in contrast to the rumoured frustration of fans with the tour. The "plot" of this track is as follows: an instrumental version of "White Car", some good proggy variations on the theme, a semi-cheesy performance of "Video Killed The Radio Star", a vocoder performance of the same, a vocoder performance of "White Car", and a run-through of "White Car" on a synth setting basically identical to the album version. A bit contrived at times, and a bit less "impressive" in its high-tech nature 18 years later, this is still pretty good.
The album then ends with a rather frightening soundcheck by Trevor Rabin from the Seattle stop of the 1991 tour (presumably chosen because an entire solo Rabin concert is already featured on one of the other Yesoterics). Rabin essentially runs through his lead guitar parts of the show in rapid succession -- included in the "medley" are "Rhythm Of Love", "Shock To The System" (the cheesy part, appropriately enough), "Hold On", "Solly's Beard", "Heart Of The Sunrise", "Make It Easy", "Owner Of A Lonely Heart", "Changes" (for a disturbingly long check), "The Fish", "Lift Me Up", "Awaken" and "Roundabout". This wasn't intended as a piece of music, of course, but it's still a rather disturbing portrait of Trevor Rabin as a guitarist.
These minor flaws can't really mar the value of Yesoteric Volume Eleven, though, which is surely one of the best selections in the series. Recommended (and kudos to Jeremy for compiling this set).
(review originally posted to alt.music.yes on 15 May 1998)