KEYS TO ASCENSION

There's a lot of 3 star reviews for this one not so surprisingly. The last time the lineup of Wakeman, Anderson, Howe, White and Squire were together they created "Tormato" so forgive the pessimism going into this one. If they had stuck to just live music it's worth the 4 stars but they add two new studio tracks that are poor at best and we're talking a half hour of music right there. Thankfully they tacked them on the end of disc two so they are easily skipped. The track "The Revealing Science Of God" from "Tales Of Topographic Oceans" is disappointing and surprising given Wakeman is here but money is great isn't it? Highlights for me are four tracks starting with the opener "Siberian Khatru" but also I'm so impressed with "Awaken" for being better than the studio version in my opinion. The atmosphere early is like the Earth is waking up but how about later after a long instrumental section Wakeman comes in followed by Anderson's more passionate vocals. "Roundabout" and "Starship Trooper" are fantastic! So a mixed bag for sure and I'll stick with "Yessongs" when it comes to live YES.