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SEPTEMBER 22, 1997
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Source: Publiczny Dostep do Internetu

http://www.pdi.net/~eristic/yes/tr_53.html

Yes: 9012Live - The Solos: (released 1995)

By Christopher Currie

Track: Rating:
1. Hold On***
2. Si**
3. Solly's Beard***
4. Soon**
5. Changes***1/2
6. Amazing Grace**1/2
7. Whitefish**1/2
Personnel:
* Jon Anderson: vocals
* Chris Squire: bass, backing vocals
* Trevor Rabin: guitar, vocals, backing vocals
* Tony Kaye: keyboards
* Alan White: drums

* Casey Young: keyboards
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Comments:

This album almost makes for too easy of a punching bag. This might be why many commentators on Yes's recorded legacy tend to dismiss the work outright.

9012Live - The Solos is a rather unusual live album culled from the 9012Live video. It's status as a Yes album has never been terribly strong; many fans, in discussing the Yeswest period, tend to pass over the album entirely. Given the quality of this work, this may be a defensible omission.

Before this review elaborates the negative features of this album, however, one rather dubious positive feature should be noted. Irrespective of the actual quality of the material here presented, the mere fact that a live album devoted almost entirely to solo performances was produced by a popular group in the cultural climate of the mid-1980s deserves some measure of support. Shunning the tendency to turn the entire product into a "live versions of hit singles/market saturation" project, the album does produce something entirely unexpected for the lineup in question. For this reason, the album may actually be perversely enjoyable as a novelty recording, in spite of its rather obvious problems.

For the most part, though, this is a production which is easily ignorable. The details follow ...

The album begins with a fairly straightforward run-through of "Hold On". The band is captured at the apex of their mid-'80s tackiness, with many of Rabin's guitar effects lacking in any substance whatsoever (the super-flashy ending is particularly annoying). Chris Squire provides some measure of musical presence here; even if his bass lines are far removed from what he was capable of, they at least have a certain degree of power- with-substance. In general, though, this isn't terribly different from the album version (a bit less sterile, and a bit more disorganized).

At this juncture, the actual "solos" begin. For some inexplicable reason, this process of allowing the band members to display the extent of their technical skills begins with the individual who has the least virtuosity to display. Tony Kaye's "Si" actually doesn't commence in an entirely horrible manner; the shifting sounds of the introduction at least provide some measure of distraction from the fact that nothing's really happening. When Kaye comes to actually playing a brief solo, however, the results are tragic: banal, insipid and barely musical, these piano tinkerings prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Kaye simply wasn't cut out for this. The fact that his solo is remarkably brief is perhaps proof that he realized his limitations. The "Phantom Of The Opera" effects at the end (which were probably not a reference to "Judas Iscariot", however clever that would have been) are repulsively tacky. This piece isn't so much "bad" as it is "sad", but that doesn't help its rating.

Trevor Rabin's solo is, basically by default, the best of the lot. "Solly's Beard" effectively summarizes everything right and wrong with his style of playing. On the positive side, his skill at extremely fast picking need not be in doubt after a listen to this track; moreover, there are some rare moments in which he manages to put the jazzy elements of the piece together in a successful manner. More often, though, he simply jumps back and forth between various moments of flash-without-substance The melody of this piece isn't really that great, either. There are enough good moments to improve its rating above the other solos, but not by much.

Jon Anderson's performance of "Soon" (originally from "The Gates Of Delirium") is another sad moment. What was once a powerful band piece is transformed into a glossy arena-rock write-off in this setting (with Anderson's sub-Kaye keyboards providing the only accompaniment). Jon deserves some credit for one incredible vocal inflection in "soon, oh soon the light", but that's about it.

The high point of the album is probably "Changes", a band performance of one of the better tracks from 90125. This version falls somewhere below the album version, but above the version from the Yesyears box set. Despite the fact that both the chorus and guitar solos are locked too firmly in an arena rock mindset, the rest of the performance isn't too bad. Kaye's simple-but-effective keyboard line utilizes his skills in a proper manner, for a change (although he may very well have had help with this), and the performance bonds fairly well. Not an exceptional moment, but a rare good one.

"Amazing Grace" consists of Chris Squire slowly playing the religious standard with the distortion levels turned up really high. I don't hate this as much as some people do, but there isn't really much to discuss here (and the forty-second held note has to bring the work down somewhat).

The album ends with "Whitefish", a Squire/White jam that, again, isn't so much bad as woefully sub-par. White doesn't really do very much, leaving Squire to perform a montage of his famous bass lines in a glossy, arena-rock manner. "The Fish", "Tempus Fugit", and "Sound Chaser" all get this treatment; while he deserves some credit for exploring his past, the actual soloing around the pieces is fairly lame, and the one-note conclusion is mere stupidity.

Recommended only for completists and those curious in a bizarre side-detour in Yes's career. This album ultimately isn't painful to listen to, for the most part; it's simply insubstantial.


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