Yes - Yesspeak / Yes Acoustic
(35th Anniversary Edition)
Performance
Production
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Yes - Yesspeak / Yes Acoustic
Performance
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Now, I love Yes as much as the next progonaut, but the three-plus hour original version of Yesspeak didn't appeal to me in the least. This bloated documentary, which contained only a smidgen of live performance clips, would have surely left me more frustrated than satisfied. The Yes Acoustic DVD was more enticing, but the very short performance (only 38 minutes), combined with a very normal price, helped to keep it from making my must-buy list. Thankfully, someone in Yesland eventually wised up and combined the 75-minute cinema version of Yesspeak with the Yes Acoustic performance to produce this excellent 35th Anniversary Edition package. Yesspeak originally premiered in cinemas across the United States on January 26th, 2004, and was followed by a live satellite broadcast of the performance that would make up the Yes Acoustic video. Yesspeak is narrated by The Who's Roger Daltrey and he takes you through the band's long history, which began in London, in 1968, when Jon Anderson first met Chris Squire. The five personalities that make up the classic Yes lineup couldn't be more different. You've got the serious musician in Steve Howe; the jokester in Rick Wakeman; the laid-back hippy in Jon Anderson; the prima donna rock star in Chris Squire, and the regular guy in Alan White. It's no wonder each of these guys have been in and out of the band so often. I'm just grateful to them for giving me the chance to see this classic lineup in concert twice (so far) this decade. All in all, I found Yesspeak to be only moderately interesting - and I am a huge Yes fan. I can't imagine any lesser fan being able to sit through this whole feature. The packaging of the DVD is also misleading as hell, as it lists a 16-song track list for the Yesspeak video, when, in actuality, you may only get a few seconds, or a minute, if you're lucky, from each song. And it is usually just background music. The original Yesspeak DVD, however, includes the full audio versions of these songs on a second disk. Yesspeak would have made a much better bonus feature included with a full length concert video such as the upcoming Songs from Tsongas - 35th Anniversary Concert DVD. For those of you who were lucky enough to see Yes' fantastic 35th Anniversary tour, the Yes Acoustic material will already be quite familiar to you. The shows on that tour were all interrupted midway by an acoustic set, similar in length and style to this performance. These are not just the typical "unplugged" performances here, but the band has rearranged some of these songs to where they are almost unrecognizable. The choice of songs was not the best either, especially when they are given the smooth jazz makeover, such as with "South Side Of The Sky" and "Roundabout". If you like your "South Side" with classical piano, congas, and slide guitar, then this version is for you. To me it was like hearing an acoustic version of "Whole Lotta Love". Just doesn't quite mesh. The songs that worked the best are those that were more conducive to the acoustic treatment such as Jon Anderson's "Show Me", the beautiful "Time Is Time", from the underrated Magnification album, and of course "Your Move", the first part of "I’ve Seen All Good People". I'd still like to see a full-length acoustic show from Yes with a few better song choices such as "And You And I", "Time And A Word", and "Wonderous Stories", for instance. The production quality of this DVD is excellent in all aspects. DTS 5.1 surround, Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and Dolby Stereo tracks are provided and they all sound exceptional. The widescreen picture was sharp and colorful and the camera work was outstanding. Extra features included four Yesspeak TV trailers and two cinema trailers. The real gem of the DVD is the 20-minute Yes Acoustic...The Unseen Footage.. feature, which is hilariously narrated by Rick Wakeman. His purposely dead-pan, British-documentary-style tone made the ball-busting of his fellow bandmates, especially Chris Squire, that much funnier. "Unusual for Yes rehearsals, today has started at 11am. Usually we don't start rehearsals until 3pm, when Chris arrives - as he only gets out of bed once the sun is descending. Today was different - last night Chris never went to bed." Just like a true rock and roll legend. Reviewed by Paul M. Roy - August 2005 |
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Technical Details |
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Audio Transfer |
Video Transfer |
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Set List Yes Acoustic Yesspeak (cinema version) |
Performers
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Running Time: 154 Minutes |
DVD Release Date - June
2005 |