AN EVENING OF YES MUSIC PLUS (DVD)

I saw this tour in England when Tony Levin was in the line up, and this video is a fair representation of what was going on then.

the concert opens with a few words from Jon, then he wanders through the crowd doing pseudo-unplugged sing-a-longs of 'Time and a Word', 'Owner of a lonely heart' and 'Teakbois'. All very nice.. There then follows some typical yes solos from Steve and Rick, and the band fall in together with 'Long Distance Runaround' (shying away from 'The Fish', understandably!).

There follows a long line of old and new from classic Yes and ABWH. There is little variation or reworking from the originals, which is true to form. I find this sometimes a little irritating, I love to hear new music derived from the old, but there we go - I still enjoyed it!

The quality of the playing is exceptional, as one would expect, and Jeff Berlin holds his own on the bass. He does vary in places from Squire, which is refreshing. Apparently he learnt the whole set in just 3 days, and performs flawlessly, which is a tribute to his talent and professionalism. He is kept pretty much in the sahdows tho' along with the other session players. The overall sound is of the period, the quality of reproduction is excellent, but (as I found at the gig I went to), there wasn't a huge amount of actual body to the sound. The late 80's/early 90's seemed to either be too loud and boomy, or too digital and having no character. This tour, and consequently recording, falls into the latter. There is little presence, unlike the Yessongs concert which is full of vibrancy.

The quality of the filming is good, but with some questionable editting. The concert was filmed for TV, rather than as an entity in itself. As a consequence it may be that it was produced by those who weren't fully experienced in the medium. There are some sudden zooms which are very reminiscent of bad psycedelic era films, and some odd angles. For the most part tho', it is acceptable, the band can be seen, and the reaction of the audience is there.

There was something about this tour tho', and seeing the video confirmed that it wasn't just in London. There wasn't much of a sense of intimacy, despite Jon's walking through the crowd, and the attempts at banter between songs didn't really draw one in. It was one of those gigs where leaving the houselights up might have made you feel more part of it all. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed both the gig, and the video; but there was something lacking - the sound lacks punch, the lights lacked imagination, the set was very bare and this seems to translate into the whole atmosphere. It was as if the heart has been sucked out. I would have hoped that playing together again after so many years might have produced something more, but later finding out that Bill was essentially a session player who's name appears on the main roster, and that Rick's appearance in the project was similar does lean toward why this was the case a little.

I saw the Union tour a couple of years later, and altho' it was a bit of a circus, the atmosphere was much better, and there seemed to be more of a meeting between band and crowd.

I'll give this three stars, it IS good, but isn't essential. The essence of the night was captured rather too well, and highlights a flaw in the tour; but it is well worth watching to see them all together and have a sing along. As an aside, I would suggest hearing the CD/s which accompanied the video (there was a single and double CD release) which being stripped of the visual does give a different impression of the gig, altho' he problem of characterless sound still persists.

Once I bought this as a CD/Video set, after a few sessions I decided to sell it! I was very disappointed about the atmosphere, the lacklustre performance, so clinical, to me it seemed that the musicians on stage only had earning money in their minds. About the level of playing I won't complain but this super line-up should have offered more than just doing their job. Rick Wakeman said about the later AWBH project "Union" that it should have been named "Onion" because it made him cry! Well, this AWBH CD/Video set made me cry, I prefer 'post-"Yessongs"-Rick Wakeman' on "Keys to ascension", a bit underrated DVD in my opinion.

This VHS features the same show of the double CD version of "A Night of Yes Music plus" and it features the entire gig. The CD had all the songs minus "I've seen all Good People" and "The Meeting", and it seems that the re-release of the CD doesn't have "Starship Trooper" either.

The production of this video is very good specially on the camera aspect and keep you interested in a somewhat visually discrete show, I'm not talking about the performances (which are fabulous as expected) but this is the kind of gig whose atmosphere is better captured on disc than on video. Visually the highlight is the beginning of the show with Jon Anderson "hosting" the video inside a tend outside the venue itself, he explains he will start singing and walk through all the audience to reach the stage, and actually this is exactly what he does!: at the end of the intro (the Benjamin Britten's piece), Milton McDonald who is alone on stage starts playing his acoustic guitar and Jon show up on the very back of the audience singing "Time and a Word" and walks towards the stage. It's a very unconventional way of starting a show and it's very fun to see. Another interesting moment to watch is the solos, it's always enjoyable watching Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman and Bill Bruford doing their respective solos. The rest of this long gig is nice to watch but I enjoyed listening the double disc much more than watching this whole video. A subjective point appreciation I think.

If you're a "Yesmaniac", just go and get this video. But if you are a little more demanding regarding stage shows, you'd better stay with the double CD version and go for the fantastic and mind-blowing "Union Tour" DVD.

In The Big Dream, on my small screen

Thank you Voiceprint for finally re-releasing this fantastic live film on DVD. The live CD album of this show has long been a favourite of mine and here I have the complete show in both audio and video. For those of you who don't know, Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe it is the band that really deserved to be called Yes in the 80's, much more so than the line-up that owned the rights to that name during that time.

Rick Wakeman and Jon Anderson had left Yes after the Tormato album in 1978 while Steve Howe stayed for another album before he left too. Chris Squire and drummer Alan White then brought Trevor Rabin into the band as well as original Yes member Tony Kaye (who played keyboards in the band before Rick Wakeman). Soon after, Jon Anderson re-joined and now they were three original members of Yes. However, the album that resulted did not sound like the classic Yes albums! It wasn't very progressive and rather commercial music aimed at radio play (which they did get with Owner Of Lonely Heart - the worst song ever to bear the Yes name).

Around the same time as this questionable version of Yes did another album called Big Generator, another band started working on a new album. This band involved original Yes-men Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman, Jon Anderson and Bill Bruford. They were not allowed to use the name 'Yes' so they called themselves 'Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe' instead. In my opinion, this band was the real Yes of the 80's in everything but name. They released a very good self-titled album in 1987 that sounded much more like Yes than Yes at the time. Then they toured and performed songs from this new album together with many classic Yes songs. During this tour this concert film was shot.

On this DVD we can see four of the very best musicians of all time, playing an amazing set list full of some of their very best songs ever! The show starts out good with Jon Anderson alone on stage singing a medley of three songs from different eras of Yes and from then on it just keeps getting better and better and better. First, with Steve Howe's great acoustic solo performance and then with Rick Wakeman's amazing solo spot which features the most amazing keyboard playing on earth! The next track Long Distance Runaround contains a powerful and diverse Bill Bruford drum solo (with snippets of Heart Of The Sunrise).

Other great tracks classic tracks are Close To The Edge, And You And I, Heart Of The Sunrise (now in full), Roundabout, Starship Trooper and I've Seen All Good People. Plus several tracks from the then new Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe album, here all sounding livelier than the studio versions.

The sound and picture quality is sadly not perfect though, and there are a few moments of sound problems. Still, this is essential for Yes fans and very good for all others! My version is a limited edition double DVD set that comes in a digipack. It also contains In The Big Dream as bonus feature on the second disc which consists of three music videos from the Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe album, plus some studio footage of the band while they were recording the album and some short interviews with Jon. I am a very happy owner of this treasure!!

This concert video was recorded in 9-September-1989 at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California. This concert was also released in audio in the CD format first in 1993 in Europe (without "Ive Seen All Good `People", "The Meeting", and "Starship Trooper") and later in 1994 in the U.S. (still without "Ive Seen All Good `People" and "The Meeting", but with "Starship Trooper" as a bonus track).

Bassist Jeff Berlin replaced Tony Levin (who became sick with hepatitis) for the last seven dates of the first leg of their tour in 1989 in North America. He had to learn all the songs in a very few days and with a very few rehearsals with the band, and he appears in this video doing a very good job. He did not play the stick bass like Levin but he made sound his bass guitar like a stick bass in some songs thanks to the use of some pedal sound effects.

The video starts with Jon Anderson walking to the stage from the back of the seats of the Amphitheatre, shaking hands with some members of the audience and walking to the stage and singing at the same time for his solo medley (accompanied from the stage by Milton McDonald on acoustic guitar and Julian Colbeck on keyboards). It was unusual to start a concert in this way with three solo sections by Anderson, Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman, respectively. Maybe it was not a very good idea, in my opinion (it`s a bit boring for my taste), but they did it anyway. Anderson`s solo medley consisted of "Time and a Word", "Owner of a Lonely Heart" and "Teakbois". This medley sounds good, and after this, Steve Howe appears on stage to play two solo acoustic guitar pieces, "Clap" and "Mood for a Day", with an unidentified instrumental piece between both. After this, Rick Wakeman appears on stage to play a solo keyboards medley of "Gone but Not Forgotten", "Madrigal", "Catherine Parr" and "Merlin the Magician". A very good solo section by Wakeman, it is my favourite from all the solo medleys played by ABWH. Very well played.

After this, all the other musicians appear on stage to play "Long Distance Runaround", followed by a good drums solo played by Bill Bruford. This is followed by "Birthright", which has Howe playing acoustic and electric guitars and a mandolin, Bruford playing very good drums and percussion, Wakeman playing a very good keyboards solo, and Anderson playing a bit of percussion instruments. The next song is "And You and I", played very well, and I consider this version as the best live version that I have listened to from this song. The next song, "Ive Seen All Good `People", is also played very well, and it also has an extended final section on which McDonald, Colbeck, Howe and Wakeman share solos. "Close to the Edge" is also very well played. "Themes" has Wakeman playing good solos too, and "Brother of Mine" is one of my favourite songs from the ABWH studio album, played with a lot of energy with good solos by Howe and Wakeman. For "The Meeting" only Anderson, Wakeman and Colbeck appear on stage, with Wakeman playing the piano and Colbeck the backing keyboards. "Heart of the Sunrise" is well played too, but in this song the electronic drums don`t sound very well for my taste in some parts. "Order of the Universe" is very well played, and it is mostly a rock song with some influences from the 80s Rock Pop music. "Roundabout" is very well played, very similar to the studio version. The concert is finished with a good version of "Starship Trooper", which also has an additional keyboards introduction and also a keyboards section before "Wurm" on which Anderson sings a bit from "Nous Sommes Du Soleil " (from "Ritual") and also gives final thanks to the audience. The final part of "Wurm" has good solos by Wakeman and Howe.

Bruford used mainly an electronic drum kit with also an acoustic snare drum, metal cymbals, two gongs, and a triangle. I am not a fan of the electronic drum kit, but the songs from the ABWH required a lot of changes in the sounds of the drum pads. I thought that Bruford programmed some parts, but no. It seems that he played everything live. Used in this way, the electronic drums sounded very well and offered more choices to Bruford to play interesting percussion sounds in this drum kit.

Anderson sang very well, and like the other members of the band he looks like he was enjoying playing the concert.

Wakeman used eight keyboards which also had a lot of pedals. The new technologies from the eighties really helped him to sound better. He used some Korg, Ensoniq and Roland keyboards, and it also was on stage an old analog Mini- Moog synthesiser which I never saw him play in this concert.

Howe also used a lot of electric and acoustic guitars (Fenders, Gibsons, and maybe others), a pedal steel guitar, plus a mandolin and a vachalia.

The backing vocals were sung by Howe, McDonald and Colbeck. I don`t know if Berlin sang backing vocals too. Of all the members of the band he is the only one from which there are fewer close-ups and he remains "in the dark" for most of the time. It seems that he was playing a five string bass guitar, but I am not really sure about this. He really did a very good job replacing Tony Levin at a very short notice.

Colbeck and McDonald played and sang very well, and gave some freedom to Wakeman and Howe to play in a more relaxed way, particularly in the songs from the ABWH studio album which really required their presence in this tour.

In conclusion, this is a very good video from a very good concert which was played with a lot of enthusiasm and energy from all the musicians. I enjoyed very much to watch to it.

Review Nº 583

"An Evening Of Yes Music Plus" is a DVD of Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman & Howe and that was released in 1994. In reality, this is the only true live DVD by this Yes' version, if we don't consider "In The Big Dream", which is only a video with three promotional video clips "Brother Of Mine", "Order Of The Universe" and "Quartet/I'm Alive)", plus a live version of "Heart Of The Sunrise" filmed during their "An Evening Of Yes Music Plus" live tour, made in 1989.

"An Evening Of Yes Music Plus" is a DVD with a live show that was recorded at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, in California USA, in 1989, when they tour their eponymous debut and only studio album "Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman And Howe". In 1993 it was released a live album with the same name with fifteen tracks. However and in contrary to the release of the live album's version of this concert, the DVD version only saw the light of the day in 1994.

The DVD opens with "Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide To The Orchestra" which is based on a classical oeuvre of Benjamin Britten, and represents the introduction of the live show that substitutes the popular Igor Stravinsky's "Firebird Suite" usually used by Yes to open their live shows. From their self-titled studio album we have "Themes", "Brother Of Mine", "Birthright", "The Meeting", "Order Of The Universe" and extracts of "Teakbois". From "Time And A Word" we have extracts of the title track. From "The Yes Album" we have "The Clap", "I've Seen All Good People" and "Starship Trooper". From "Fragile" we have "Mood For A Day", "Long Distance Runaround", "Heart Of The Sunrise" and "Roudabout". From "Close To The Edge" we have "And You And I" and "Close To The Edge". From "90125" we have extracts of "Owner Of A Lonely Heart". From Wakeman's albums we have extracts of the albums, "Gone But Not Forgotten" of "Coast Of Living", "Catherine Parr" of "The Six Wives Of Henry VIII" and "Merlin The Magician" of "The Myths And Legends Of King Arthur And The Knights Of The Round Table".

This concert by Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman & Howe will always be fondly remembered and cherished by long time Yes' fans. It was seen as a real Yes' reunion and the album and the live tour offered a real competition with the existing Yes' official line up that included, at the time, Chris Squire, Alan White, Trevor Rabin, and Tony Kaye. Here, the band played a host of Yes' classics, as well as a selection of songs from their debut album. They were supported by a few guest players. Jeff Berlin, a bassist very well known because he had already worked with some of band's members. Julian Colbeck, a well known former professional keyboardist that usually collaborates with several bands and musicians. He participates with some additional keyboards. Milton McDonald, a very well known session guitarist who plays with many artists and that participates on this album with some additional vocals and an extra guitar work too.

The music is full of glamour and class. It rips through stellar versions of their classics "Close To The Edge", "And You And I", "Heart Of The Sunrise", "I've Seen All Good People", "Starship Trooper", as well as recent tracks, "Brother Of Mine" and "Order Of The Universe". A real treat is seeing Jon Anderson walking through the crowd and singing his opening solo spot, and you really get the feeling that the singer really loves his fans. Steve Howe especially looks pretty motivated throughout the set, something that seemed lacking from him in the years that followed. It's nice to see so many close ups of Bill Bruford, whose nimble drum work is always a pleasure to behold, but it's a real shame that Berlin be basically ignored by the camera crew. You barely catch a few glimpses of him over this DVD's 2 hours length. That brings us to the main drawback to this release, the quality of the video. There are too many instances where the cameras are on the wrong musician. It isn't perfect, but it's great, because thankfully the audio of this DVD is very good.

Conclusion: It's now passing some time since I reviewed the CD live version of the concert and I reiterate all what I wrote before. "An Evening Of Yes Music Plus" is one of the best live performances I've heard and seen in all my life. It represents one of the best live shows ever performed by Yes. Here we have my favourite line up of the band, but unfortunately is missing to it my favourite bassist, Chris Squire. It shows the four members of Yes in a great shape and the willingness of them is evident throughout all the concert and it became particularly noted at the end of it. Relatively to the quality of the release of the DVD, I'm a bit divided, really. In relation to the sound, I must say that is absolutely irreproachable and amazing. But I can't say the same about the quality of the video. Especially the camera work leaves a lot to be desired. Relatively to the bonus tracks they're all very interesting and complete perfectly well the DVD.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)