Legendary progressive rock band Yes have certainly been in the news a lot lately. With a host of new live releases and the tragic recent death of founding bassist Chris Squire, it seems that every time we turn around there's something to talk about when it comes to this iconic group. Here we have, just a week after Squire's passing, another new live album culled from a show in Mesa, Arizona on August 12, 2014, where the band performed Close to the Edge and Fragile in their entirety. For those who had a chance to see the band on their 2014 tour performing these two classic albums, here's your chance to revisit it once again.
By now, if you are a Yes fan, you've no doubt heard these tunes countless times, so there's no sense going into detail on the virtues of "Close to the Edge", "And You and I", "Siberian Khatru", "Roundabout", "Long Distance Runaround", and "Heart of the Sunrise". However, for some of you, this might be the first chance you get to hear vocalist Jon Davison (Glass Hammer) tackling some of these classics, or returning keyboard player Geoff Downes (Asia) performing a few of these tracks for the very first time. For Fragile lovers, it's also kind of cool to hear & see the little 'bits' like "Cans and Brahms" and "Five Percent for Nothing" from that album performed on stage, but for the most part, most of us have already seen the majority of these mandatory Yes tunes played by the band numerous times over the years. Through it all, the late Squire is the 'rock' that holds it all together, his muscular, acrobatic bass work & backing vocals permeating each and every song, giving us all the realization that surely this band will never again be the same now that he is gone. Alan White has lost a few steps in recent years, but he's more than up to the task here, and Steve Howe as always provides for his usual vast array of guitar styles and textures. New guy Davison is the surprise, putting in a great performance (as he did when I attended the bands Radio City Music Hall show in 2014) and really looking & sounding like he's perfectly settled into this role in every way.
What the future holds for Yes now that Squire has left us remains to be seen, but with this and other new live releases, and the bands current tour that will take them into 2016, for the moment the train is still rolling.
Track Listing
CD1 01_Close To The Edge
CD1 02_And You And I
CD1 03_Siberian Khatru
CD2 01_Roundabout
CD2 02_Cans and Brahms
CD2 03_We Have Heaven
CD2 04_South Side Of The Sky
CD2 05_Five Per Cent For Nothing
CD2 06_Long Distance Runaround
CD2 07_The Fish
CD2 08_Mood For A Day
CD2 09_Heart Of The Sunrise
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