YESSONGS

In Hinduism, among many traditions, there is the Bhagavad-Gita. In the Judaeo-Christian heritage, the Bible underpins collective and individual systems of belief, scriptural comprehension, theology, and ethics. In the Islamic world, the Koran is the prime mover. In the secular world of the United States, the Constitution serves this function. I would like to submit that, in the world of progressive rock live albums, "Yessongs" has come to embody this critical function.

There are other great live albums: Emerson, Lake, and Palmer's 1974, "Welcome Back My Friends to the Show that Never Ends . . . ." King Crimson's 1975 USA; 1977's "Seconds Out" from Genesis; and, 1978's "Bursting Out" by Jethro Tull (this is not an all-inclusive list . . . .) In 1972, Yes toured "Fragile" with Bill Bruford on the drums and, later, "Close to the Edge" with Alan White. Aspects of these albums and "The Yes Album" comprise the substance of 1973's "Yessongs."

Never strangers to audacity Yes chose to release a live album of the magnitude of "Yessongs" fairly quickly after achieving real success and notoriety. Formed in 1968, the band, relatively speaking and after a number of personnel changes, had not been in existence that long. In its original format as three 33 1/3 LP's with the elaborate Roger Dean artwork, "Yessongs" proved to be a formidable purchase during the mid-seventies. Early in 1976, as a high school junior, "Yessongs" was my first purchase of the band's music. However, following the success of "Roundabout," the ensuing popularity of "The Yes Album" in the United States, the release of "Close to the Edge," and the record collections of friends, I was fairly well familiar with the band.

Having a certain degree of chutzpah, Yes concerts began with a recording of the end of Stravinsky's Firebird Suite. In this appropriation of this excerpt from the music of Stravinsky, Yes basically was announcing the true emergence of progressive rock. But, you know, I think the possession of chutzpah is an integral force in the genre of progressive rock.

In their approaches to their studied virtuosity with their various instruments, the exponents of progressive rock in the late sixties and early seventies arrived upon a great synthesis of a plethora of musical traditions. With Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, this was explicit: Mussorgsky, Copland, Bach, and Bartok. In the case of Yes, Simon and Garfunkel, The Byrds, Stephen Stills, the Beatles, and Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim influenced Jon Anderson and Chris Squire, with Squire also a product of the choral traditions of the Church of England. I would also like to mention Squire's genius as a bassist ultimately is a nod to "individual talent." When one listens to Steve Howe on "The Yes Album," he or she hears the influence of Django Reinhardt, Wes Montgomery, and Les Paul.

On the "Yessongs'" versions of "Perpetual Change, "Long Distance Runaround," and "The Fish, the listener hears the performance of Bill Bruford, largely influenced by the 1960's BBC2 program, Jazz625, Art Blakey, Joe Morello, Max Roach, and Ginger Baker. In 1968, Bruford placed an ad in Melody Maker in search of a band. Jon Anderson, then of Mabel Greer's Toyshop, answered this ad. In accepting Anderson's offered position, Bruford thought he was joining a jazz group. Responding to Squire's high-pitched, Rickenbacker sound, Bruford developed his "trademark," syncopated snare drum sound.

Although Rick Wakeman left the Royal College of Music to pursue work as a session musician (most notably employing the Mellotron in support of David Bowie on "Space Oddity"), he established his "pedigree" as a classically trained keyboardist through the "School of Hard Knocks." Indeed, during his "Yessongs" performance of "Excerpts from the Six Wives of Henry XVIII," Wakeman launches into a rendition of the "Hallelujah Chorus" of Handel's "Messiah," followed by an intense synthesizer and Mellotron solo. I recall a relatively contemporaneous article in "Downbeat" magazine in which the keyboardist Jan Hammer treats Wakeman's excerpts from the "Six Wives" with disdain. No matter: Hammer would go on to provide the theme for the NBC-TV series, "Miami Vice . . . ."

In July of 1972, following the studio release of "Close to the Edge," Bruford left Yes for King Crimson. With the "Close to the Edge" tour scheduled to begin at the end of July of 1972 in Dallas, Anderson, Squire, Howe, and Wakeman were put between the proverbial "rock and a hard place."

Enter Alan White, who famously learned Yes' repertoire in a matter of days. By July of 1972, White was a veteran of work (among many others) with John Lennon in the "Plastic Ono Band" and George Harrison on the "All Things Must Pass" album. During my high school days in the mid-seventies, the "prevailing wisdom" was the departure of Bill Bruford was a major loss to Yes. Not everyone agreed. Before and after school days from 1975?1977, one of my oldest and best friends and I would listen to cassette versions of "Yessongs" in the car. Now a successful native son of New Orleans and composer, my friend carefully pointed out to me the exactitude with which Alan White and Chris Squire worked with each other. Whether on "Yours is No Disgrace" or "Close to the Edge," White approached the drums with real dynamism and power. To this day, I think to myself, Alan really pounded the sh*t out of the drums . . .

Yes' performances captured on "Yessongs" exemplify the musicians' ability to present their music again without the "comforts" of the recording studio. To assert the music of Yes is, by and large, rather complex is an understatement. Arguably, the performances of "Perpetual Change" and "Close to the Edge" transcend their studio originals. Chris Squire and the rest of the band found a way to uncoil the "Fragile" version of "The Fish." Bill Bruford's drums on the studio version of "Heart of the Sunrise" are classic; Alan White discovered a means of building on Bruford's lines while effectively expressing his dynamism. Of course, throughout the performances, Jon Anderson's vocals, supported by Squire and Howe, dominate.

In 1996, Anderson, Howe, Squire, Wakeman, and White would meet again, almost a quarter of a century later, for three nights at the Fremont Theater in San Luis Obispo, CA, to re-ignite the magic for their "Keys to Ascension" live albums. But, as the Church of England is the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion, "Yessongs" remains the source of many performances that have followed.

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