Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography

YES ACOUSTIC: GUARANTEED NO HISS

Yes

Symphonic Prog


From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Yes Yes Acoustic: Guaranteed No Hiss album cover
3.63 | 106 ratings | 13 reviews | 24% 5 stars

Excellent addition to any
prog rock music collection

Write a review

Buy YES Music
from Progarchives.com partners
DVD/Video, released in 2004

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Tiger Rag
2. Long Distance Runaround
3. South Side of the Sky
4. Show Me
5. Roundabout
6. Time is Time
7. I've Seen All Good People

Special features: 30 minute behind the scenes documentary narrated by Rick Wakeman



Total Time: Approx 37 minutes
(67 minutes including special features)



Line-up / Musicians

- Steve Howe / guitars, vocals
- Chris Squire / bass, vocals
- Alan White / drums
- Rick Wakeman / keyboards
- Jon Anderson / lead vocals



Releases information

DVD Classic Pictures DVD7090X (2004)

Thanks to frenchie for the addition
and to Snow Dog for the last updates
Edit this entry

Buy YES Yes Acoustic: Guaranteed No Hiss Music



YES Yes Acoustic: Guaranteed No Hiss ratings distribution


3.63
(106 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(24%)
24%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(42%)
42%
Good, but non-essential (28%)
28%
Collectors/fans only (5%)
5%
Poor. Only for completionists (2%)
2%

YES Yes Acoustic: Guaranteed No Hiss reviews


Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by Gatot
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
4 stars It depends on which angle do you want to view this unplugged version of YES music. If you do not enjoy the kind of unplugged music, this is definitely a bad choice because it would not favor you at all. But if you like version of acoustic music, you still need to get familiar with Yes music before seeing this DVD. Why? It's quite difficult to start liking Yes from their live acoustic music because you have definitely missed its original sound.

For me personally, I actually do not like unplugged music. No wonder when my rockin's friend who currently live in Swiss, Krisna Dhianta, brought this DVD set as a gift for me I did not spin it right away because I know that I would not enjoy it. Couple of weeks after the DVD with me, I finally got a chance to spin and .. guess what? It did not bite me at all .. it was so dull to my ears, I mean it. So, I just put it at my shelf. This happened quite a long ago (since the DVD was released) until last week. The trigger was simple: I was preparing a material to be broadcasted at FM Radio Network (Trijaya) down here at my country in the Satrurday Night Rock when I would feature YES as a legendary band to discuss. As I was so busy preparing the playlist and reading many books (including YES Stories) finally I found this DVD again at my shelf. So I did try to spin .. and do you know what happened? It gave me different kind of experience and I started appreciating this DVD!

Put it this way . I have been hearing the music of YES since I was 14 years old with "Roundabout" as the first track. I have known exactly all subtleties pertinent to this song right from the elegant acoustic guitar opening until the heavy rhythm art and guitar / keyboard solos during interlude. Oh yes, I have known it for so long. All details have resided in my memory cells. But this time what I'm watching is "totally different" style of music for the same song. It gives me unique experience. Judging from the performance of the band itself, I don't think this is the best live performance they have played ever. But, for sure, this is their first unplugged version ever!

"Southside of The Sky" is also another song that I have known it quite well the subtleties of each segment event during Rick's piano solo. But, listening to the other style gives me great experience. In fact the piano solo by Rick Wakeman in this track is very intricate and interesting for my ears.

Overall, it's an excellent addition to any prog music collection. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Review by SouthSideoftheSky
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Symphonic Team
2 stars This DVD has a very short running time and most of the songs are also featured on the acoustic set on the Songs From Tsongas DVD. The acoustic version of South Side Of The Sky is great an was not featured (in this particular version) on the Tsongas DVD, but apart from that track there are not many reasons to buy both these DVD's and I would go for Tsongas as it offers much the same plus a lot more.

The only problem I have with this short performance is that Jon talks too much between the songs. And that there is no live audience as this was filmed for a one night only cinema show!

The bonus documentary about how and why it was done is really funny and features Wakeman as narrator. And as the comedian he is he makes fun of Steve and Chris a lot. Gave me a couple of good laughs!

I enjoy this DVD but still I feel that this is a product for hard core Yes fans primarily. If the Tsongas DVD didn't exist I would give this three stars for the beautiful acoustic renditions of these songs, but as it stands this is a two star DVD.

Review by Epignosis
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
4 stars At once was I surprised and thrilled to just see this sitting on the rack during a routine shopping experience at the local Wal-Mart. I scooped it up immediately and checked out the track list after realizing I was holing in my hands something I had often dreamt of- acoustic versions of Yes classics. I had some complaints, and I hadn't even bought the damn thing: There are no epic tracks, not even a single one of those ten minute pieces I would have loved to have heard given the unplugged treatment (like "Siberian Khatru" or "Starship Trooper"). Pretty much what's here is Fragile (less "Heart of the Sunrise"), two songs from Magnification, and the obligatory song from The Yes Album. Also, the Songs from Tsongas DVD contains many of these acoustic renditions, making this somewhat unnecessary, to be honest, although my opinion is that the performances here are far superior. The upside to having this DVD, however, comes in the form of the dry and wry Rick Wakeman, who narrates an absolutely hilarious and lengthy behind-the-scenes look at this performance. The atmosphere of this performance is solemn, and yet at the same time, quite informal (the concert could look like a funeral one minute, and the next minute someone is making a joke). The introduction, "Tiger Rag," is just good fun to watch and always gets me in the mood for the rest of the show. Here, one can hear an even sprightlier version of "Long Distance Runaround," a Chicago blues version of "Roundabout," and believe it or not, a countrified (almost bluegrass) rendition of "South Side of the Sky" (followed by a stirring piano solo from Wakeman). Is this essential? By no means- but it's entertaining as all get out. The behind the scenes footage more than makes up for the lack of musical content.
Review by AtomicCrimsonRush
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
3 stars This is a cheap Yes concert experience, better than I expected with the special features. It runs for just over an hour so does not deliver too much in the form of material. The doco by Rick Wakeman is okay and makes up for time, providing a few laughs with the grumpy old man's wry sense of wit, discussing the pitfalls of rehearsals. However, it would have been great to get other unplugged Yes songs such as 'Starship Trooper' rather than just a 33 minute set of standards.

The set list is pleasant enough and it is very good quality acoustically and visually. 'Long Distance Runaround' and 'South Side of the Sky' are highlights, and there are also nice vocals on the ballad 'Show Me'. 'Roundabout' and 'All Good People' that appear as always, but a lot of this acoustic treatment is heard on the "Tsongas" DVD, so this is nothing new under the sun.

It is great to see Jon Anderson before he was expelled from the group and of course his vocals are on song throughout. Wakeman is always a delight on keyboards, but Squire looks occasionally uncomfortable with the material, forgetting some sections of songs. Yes sound great unplugged though not a candle as to how they sound with the band in full flight. I recommend it though as it is so cheap and I picked this up for a bargain on Amazon for less than $4. Another Yes DVD to add to the collection for this price was irresistible.

Review by Guillermo
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars This video and "mini-concert", is, in my opinion, a "strange" thing in YES` discography and videography. Why they decided to do this kind of "unplugged concert" in a Film or TV production studio in Los Angeles, on Monday 26-January-2004, which looks like it was played before very few people, and was broadcasted to a few cinemas in several cities in the U.S? Maybe it only was an experiment, and a very informal experiment. I have to say that since this DVD was released I have seen it a lot of times being sold in record shops in my city, even at reduced prices, and i never have been really interested in buying it. It was until recently that I saw it in a "suggestion for watching it" list in youtube that I finally decided to watch it to write a review about it. Unfortunately, the "behind the scenes" extras from the DVD are not included in youtube, so I can`t include in my review commentaries about them. But reading in previous reviews that Rick Wakeman contributed funny things to those extras, I can think that it really could be funny and interesting to watch to them some day. Wakeman is a funny person as Jon Anderson has commented sometimes and as I have seen in some videos that I have watched in youtube on which he appears interviewing some other very famous Rock musicians for some TV and on line web video programmes (one interview done to his son Adam is very funny and you can also watch to it in youtube if you want). But I am going to write a review about the music in this DVD.

The "unplugged" albums and videos series was really a fad from mostly the nineties. So, in my opinion, with YES doing this kind of "unplugged concert " in the early years of this century really was a bit "strange", in my opinion. Anyway, they decided to do this kind of thing in a very relaxed way, The duration of the concert is really brief (nearly 38 minutes), and it starts with what Jon Anderson calls "a soundcheck" with them improvising a bit with a musical piece called "Tiger Rag", with particularly Wakeman and Alan White looking like having a lot of fun. Anderson looks in most parts of this video like "directing" the band, doing his job as "leader of the band" and "communicator" with the audience. Chris Squire looks a bit tired and maybe not as interested as the other members of the band in doing this "unplugged" thing. Alan White plays very well as always. Steve Howe looks a bit tired too, but playing very well too. But the most "inspired" musician in this mini-concert is Wakeman, playing very well the piano in all the songs, particularly playing and improvising very good piano parts in "South Side of the Sky" (with even Anderson and Squire praising his playing as "that was very beautiful" at the end of the song). "Show Me" and "Time is Time" are vey well played too. It is also interesting to watch to and to listen to some old songs played with different arrangements ("Long Distance Runaround", "South Side of the Sky", "Roundabout" and "I've Seen All Good People").

In conclusion: while this "unplugged" video is not very interesting for my taste, it has some very good musical things . It also shows that maybe this was the best line-up of the band, with every musician doing their jobs very well, showing a lot of experience from the years that they have played together and in their individual musical careers. They are very good musicians. But this "unplugged" experiment still looks for me as an "atypical" thing from them that they even did in their next tour in 2004 (their "35th Anniversary Tour"), but fortunately not as a whole concert. So, this video is more for the most dedicated fans of the "unplugged concert series ".

Review by TCat
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin
4 stars 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.

Latest members reviews

3 stars There are many negative and positive aspects in the "unplugged": Eric Clapton may list the positive ones. Personally I would be inclined to consider certain "unplugged" real constraints due to fashion. This, in my defense (which, then, I would understand if I'm wrong), is a factor that leads m ... (read more)

Report this review (#701649) | Posted by 1967/ 1976 | Saturday, March 31, 2012 | Review Permanlink

4 stars I bought this in a package that was YesAcoustic/YesSpeak sort of a double feature and found that the YesSpeak portion was worth a watch or two and the YesAcoustic was worth many watches! I particularly love that Steve Howe's guitar style is conducive to acoustic leads and is not hindered by the s ... (read more)

Report this review (#166000) | Posted by endlessepic | Monday, April 7, 2008 | Review Permanlink

5 stars Wow! When I heard the intro of the concert,I thought it would be a crap concert. Boy I was wrong! Even though it is short,the song selection is perfect for this kind of concert. All tracks are done very smart, with new arrangments. My favorite is "South side of the sky" followed by the bluesy ... (read more)

Report this review (#140361) | Posted by Frier_John | Monday, September 24, 2007 | Review Permanlink

4 stars It is very difficult to judge a recorded live performance because a large portion of the charm and ambience encountered in a live show is impossible to convey on CD or DVD. It is even more difficult if you're judging technical virtuosos YES, especially in an Acoustic set! I was first worried ... (read more)

Report this review (#116087) | Posted by erouhban | Friday, March 23, 2007 | Review Permanlink

4 stars Too short! Yes, that is the main problem with this DVD. Gorgeous is an excellent word to describe it, but too short. OK, let start. This was a live performance in a studio, or something like a little hall, with just a couple of people as public, so you can hear them applauding by the end o ... (read more)

Report this review (#106623) | Posted by Proglodita | Monday, January 8, 2007 | Review Permanlink

4 stars So this is what they would have sounded like before electricity was discovered. I think Yes has proven that they transcend time. The acoustic versions of the songs sound very similar to the Electric versions. Some of the songs did change a bit. they changed the pace of roundabout, but it' ... (read more)

Report this review (#93463) | Posted by jalas | Thursday, October 5, 2006 | Review Permanlink

3 stars A little dissapointed with this, having seen them do some acoustic numbers brilliantly on their last (2004) tour. There's no real atmosphere here, or if there was one, it's not captured on the film; but the basic idea does work, particularly where they re-arrange the number, so its not just the o ... (read more)

Report this review (#37988) | Posted by Phil | Wednesday, June 29, 2005 | Review Permanlink

Post a review of YES "Yes Acoustic: Guaranteed No Hiss"

You must be a forum member to post a review, please register here if you are not.

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.