YES ACOUSTIC: GUARANTEED NO HISS

Everyone seems to have to do an acoustic album/concert nowadays. Some are good, but most fall flat. It's especially hard to do a progressive acoustic album because usually the progressive elements get washed out in trying to perform the music in acoustic form. There are two bands that seem to have excelled in doing this however: Porcupine Tree and Yes. This review is for Yes' Acoustic album.

This album has in concert acoustic performances of some classic Yes songs that we are all used to hearing done with a full band. It is an intriguing curiosity, it nothing else, to wonder how Yes' songs would sound stripped down to the acoustics. How will the progressive elements fare when all the bells and whistles are taken away? Well I have to say, this is a pleasant surprise. I was not expecting to like this album. The line up is amazing, Rick Wakeman, Steve Howe, Alan White, Chris Squire and Jon Anderson are all there. And they pull this off beautifully. Wakeman and Howe stand out the most, playing their respective acoustic instruments substituting all of their electronics for the wooden sound of the piano and acoustic guitar.

The songs are shortened somewhat, which is to be expected, because some of the long passages just would not have translated well. "South Side of the Sky" of course didn't have to have the piano interlude altered too much because it is acoustic in the original. But now the rest of the song fits the acoustic-ness of that solo and it works nicely. "Roundabout" is amazing in it's acoustic version, though shortened leaving out some part I would have liked to hear, but it is still quite satisfying and takes on an interesting rhythm in it's acoustic version. "Your Move" is about what you expect because it was mostly acoustic in the original, but what really works is when they break into "Seen All Good People". This really works out well. Everything else works very well here too and when everything is said and done, you are only left wanting so much more. Yes did not wear out their welcome on this acoustic album, and that is the biggest flaw here. The audio portion is only 37 minutes, and I can think of so many more songs I would have loved to hear with this treatment, especially considering the quality and enjoy-ability of the songs that are included here.

Because of the brevity of the of the audio portion of this album (it comes with a 30 minute documentary narrated by Rick Wakeman) it makes what could have been a 5 star album (if it continued to be as good as this was) down to a 4 star album. It only leaves you wanting so much more. Amazing sound and performances make this a worthwhile album and it also should be a standard for other progressive bands that want to do the same thing.