----------------------------------------------------- NOVEMBER 1, 1991 ----------------------------------------------------- Source: Q4 http://www.q4music.com/ (abbreviated link text) Yes - Yesyears [Box Set] By Phil Sutcliffe Suddenly, some three hours into this quadruple CD/cassette boxed set, eternal choirboy Jon Anderson screams out "Man buys a ring, woman throws it away/Same old thing happens every day." Forthwith, Yes -- live in 1976 -- tear into a berserk version of The Beatles' I'm Down, sounding very much like the real thing at Shea Stadium. It's a glimpse of the band they never were. Yes's declared formative influences were the Fabs, Simon & Garfunkel and The Byrds, but they never bore the slightest resemblance to any of them. The core of their claim to enduring regard lies in the long and complicated but powerfully constructed compositions of The Yes Album, Fragile and Close To The Edge (1971-'72). There are the ecstatic vocal harmonies of I've Seen All The Good People, the thunderous bass rush and almost violently lurching contrast with Anderson's sweet voice in Heart Of The Sunrise, and the sheer excitement of Roundabout -- the track where they got everything right to the last wiggle of Rick Wakeman's classically trained digits. While the pre-The Yes Album period is marked by exploratory, usually confused, cover versions from West Side Story, Stephen Stills and Richie Havens, and the strained stodginess of their own early songs (Then, Time And A Word), the curtain is lowered on the Close To The Edge glory days by a lone excerpt from that legendary tour de force/fiasco, Tales Of Topographic Oceans. Revisited, Nous Sommes Du Soleil proves to be one mystical notion, two musical phrases and a great deal of wind and piss. After that, with the later set-piece tracks not worth the price of admission -- the 15-minute Awaken, from Going For The One, makes Yesyears but shouldn't have because it's a terrible tangle -- the best part of a decade is skated over via previously unreleased oddities like Chris Squire's Amazing Grace solo on bass or Anderson and Rick Wakeman poncing prettily on harp and church organ in Vevy Part 1. By 1980 a couple of tracks from Drama find the Geoff Downes/Trevor Horn edition of Yes under tight editorial control once more but, temporarily lacking Anderson, adrift in a ruinous identity crisis. Soon after, they broke up completely, only to return, through a series of happy accidents, with the wonderful Owner Of A Lonely Heart and several other Horn-enhanced productions from 90125 and Big Generator which sustain the final volume of this selection quite credibly. Yesyears will certainly transfix true fans with more than a dozen long-lost songs or performances plus Roger Dean-designed packaging, a competent sleevenote booklet and a Pete Frame family tree. But, expensive and patchy as the boxed set is, a more satisfying response to the recent Yes "big band" reunion hubbub might be to look again at the handful of albums that represent their split-level prime. Close Window YesInThePress.com For site comments, problems, corrections, or additions, contact YesinthePress@aol.com