INSIDE YES 1968-1973

In the mid-Seventies I was in a youth-centre where the just released movie Yessongs was to be seen on a huge screen. I was totally mesmerized by Yes their virtuosic and magical performance, especially 'caped crusader' Rick Wakeman with his wide range of vintage keyboards and 'guitar man' Steve Howe with his museum of different acoustic - and electric guitars!

On this DVD about the early Yes era (1968-1973) you will see wonderful live footage from that magical Yes on stage like Yessongs 1974 and Live In Philadelphia 1979 but also lots of lesser known but thriling footage. Some quotes about the albums and band members: "Squire and Anderson loved the USA Westcoast bands", "Jon Anderson is one of the most individual and gifted musicians in music", "Peter Banks and Tony Kaye gave Yes a real drive and soulful edge", "Squire was the secret ingredient of Yes, he often led the music with his quirky play", "The overlooked Tony Kaye was more interested in rhythm", "Bill Bruford described himself as an 18 year old virgin with Yes as his first girlfriend", "Steve Howe was photographed on the cover of the second album but he has nothing to to with it!", "Rick Wakeman gave Yes 'the edge' in the studio and he was sketching a routemap to follow", "Fragile features all the quirky musical halmarks of Yes" and "Yes knew how important Jon Anderson was and they were adapting to him". The arrival of artist Roger Dean brought "a new dimension to Yes ("the fist 3 covers were crap") and we can take a look on his mindblowing cover art. The album Close To The Edge is called their masterpiece, we hear interesting words about it and also the funny remark "And You And I is the only 12 minutes love song I've ever heard!". The final chapter is about the controversial concept double album Tales From Topografic Oceans. Only one member of 'the critical team' is positive ('a masterpiece"), all others are talking like "It didn't have a central quality, it was a bit of a mess", "It's a crap album", "What on earth they were talking about?", "They sounded like extended jam sessions" and "It's an album that makes you happy that the punk came!". We also hear the stories about the hardboard cow and the home-shower that Jon Anderson wanted in the studio because there his voice was so good ....

This DVD is a pleasant dive in the waters of early Yes when they turned from a progressive pop band into a legendary Seventies symphonic rock formation.