YESSPEAK

Talk

Yesspeak is, as is implied by the title, the band members talking about the band and its history. This is not an audio/video recording of a live concert. The band members talk at length, both individually and collectively about their time in the band, and various happenings along the way. Many of the anecdotes have been heard before, either on previous DVDs such as "YesYears", or in band biographies like the excellent book "Close to the edge, the story of Yes" by Chris Welch.

The interviews are backed by live Yes tracks, taken from their current tour at the time. One of the main gripes about the DVD is that the music is too far forward in the mix, making it difficult at times to make out what the band members are saying. While there is no interviewer as such, an unseen Roger Daltrey (of the WHO) acts as master of ceremonies, performing the role with gushing enthusiasm.

Each band member is afforded a considerable amount of time (over 20 minutes), each being filmed in a different location. Alan White for example chooses his boat on Lake Washington in Seattle, while his offspring frolic in the water behind him. Rick Wakeman comes across very much as the joker of the pack, belying the "Grumpy old man" image he has recently decided to groom for television.

While the interviews are interesting and in reasonable depth, one does get the impression that we are only getting a superficial view of the band members, and that a lot of juicy stories remain untold, perhaps being held back for the band member's autobiographies. The anecdotes appear to have been carefully sanitised, to ensure that none of the members who contribute are seen to be criticised by their peers. This feeling is exacerbated by the fact that only the five current members are included, with former members such as Bill Bruford, Tony Kaye, Patrick Moraz, etc., being notable by their absence.

The two DVDs are best watched in bite sized chunks, each of the ten sections being sufficient for a single sitting. Understandably, this is not the sort of DVD which bears repeated viewing, once every couple of years would probably be sufficient. In years to come, "YesSpeak" will constitute a useful historical document. Personally, although it is somewhat older, I found "YesYears" to be more rewarding, but younger fans of the band in particular will find the background information provided here to be particularly interesting. Those old enough to have lived through it will consider the DVD to be very much akin to reminiscing about the old days down at the pub. (The days when no self respecting schoolboy would be seen without carrying an LP such as "Close to the edge" under his arm).

Among the DVD bonus features are a full length audio recording of an entire concert performed during the then current tour. Among the highlights are a superb performance of "South side of the sky", featuring a fine duel between Wakeman and Howe.

I don't know where you are standing in terms of Yes. If you think this is your prog hero, this DVD must be a MUST for you as it tells a lot of stories about the band and its classic line up. As this is one f my prog heroes, I consider owning this DVD is a must. Because the focus of this DVD is on the SPEAK therefore you should not be surprised that this DVD comprises a series of "let me tell you my story" kind of thing. For me personally, this is a very enjoyable DVD set. I can see clearly the story behind YES. The DVD contains 10 chapters that build into the history of Yes Past and Present.

I would have expected this DVD should cover all members who contributed to Yes until today and not just focusing on Jon Anderson, Alan White, Rick Wakeman, Chris Squire, Steve Howe. What about Peter Banks who initiated band name as YES? What about Bill Bruford - the drummer who has a very unique tom and snare sounds? What about Trevor Rabin and Trevor Horn who replaced Jon Anderson during Drama? Why Tony Kaye leaving the band? What about Patric Moraz who contributed to the making of Yes the most magnificent track ever: "The Gates of Delirium"?

Then it's okay as the Director has decided not to include the other line-up. I enjoy watching this DVD as in every "speak" there must be YES in concet as background featuring all repertoires of their past until present like "Siberian Khatru", "Magnification", "Don't Kill The Whale", "Southside of The Sky". I enjoy the part when each member of the line-up was interviewed under the "Sacred Ground" and "Full Circle".

Overall, this is a MUST for YES fans.

Inside Yes!

Last friday while i was waiting for someone, i took a look at my DVD collection which is pretty limited, i don't really own a lot of them, but i have some Yes' DVD's, i saw this documental called Yesspeak which was released some in 2003 when the band toured for their 35th anniversary, one of the oldest bands in the whole world and one of the first bands i listened to when i came to the prog rock realm, so despite i actually don't listen to them as much as i used to, their music still causes me goosebumbps and great memories, the only time i saw them was back in 2004, as a part of that 35th anniversary tour, and it has been one of the best concerts i have ever been to,this DVD reminds me a lot to the concert and i clearly remember i was impressed by their way of playing, they were monsters on stage, i remember when they finished the performance of Ritual i jumped out of my seat and began to scream and give them lots of applauses, because i felt terribly excited and what is better is that i felt tha with a song i had never listened to, seeing those musicians playing the same or better that when they were youngs, it's a unique experience.

Well now the DVD, first i will say that this is not a concert of a video DVD, but a documental narrated by Roger Daltrey( yes, the same Roger Daltrey you know) which lasts almost 3 hours and contains great band's experiences and a lot of stuff that any Yes fan would be pleased to know about.

Yesspeak is divided in 10 chapters, and as i said above it was recorded during their 35th anniversary tour, mainly when they toured Europe, it is a very interesting documental where the musicians are the considered classic line-up (not original line-up) with Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, Rick Wakeman and Alan White, probably the line-up that most of Yes fans will remember as the best. The first chapters talk about the places where each member lives or love to be, what they like to do when not touring, their family and rea life out of the pressure that a tour carries, it is interesting to know a little bit more about this people, i mean not as a musicians, but as a single person.

Then there are 5 chapters that are dedicated to every of the 5 members, all of them say a lot of memories, in the case of Anderson and Squire, how did they create Yes, or in the case of the others how did they came to Yes, what were they doing at the moment and what did they think about the band at the moment, believe me there are curious stories, this kind of interview documental as a background has several Yes songs recorded in the same 35th anniv tour, so we are listening to their classic tunes while also listening to the members speaking.

This is a deep documental that shares a bit (or a lot) of every of that 5 members, their different personalities and ideas, their versions of how come Yes has lastes 35 long years, their respect to each other, a lot of things that any Yes fan will love, the only thing i could say i would love to see that is not here, is a brief interview with all the members that Yes have had during the years, you know Banks, Kaye and Bruford for instance who were founder members, that is the only thing i would have liked to see.

So i, being a lover of their music have enjoyed a lot watching to this DVD, and i would say 3 things, the first is that if you consider a fan of this icon of prog rock, you must have this DVD, if you like Yes but are not a real fan, it is however highly recommendable to you, and if you don't like Yes music, then don't even look at this.

My final grade is 3 stars, you choose if you want to see it or not but for me it was worth it. Enjoy it!

I find this to be a very frustrating DVD. Whilst I was perfectly aware through the title that this would mainly be a documentary, I was greatly attracted by the monumental set listing advertised on the cover.

This is not a concert DVD, although the viewer will hear segments of some Yes numbers in the background, and then occasionally a minute or two of an actual concert will appear on screen. It was this that I found to be extremely annoying. Just as I'm really getting into a live track, BANG, off goes the picture and the interview, with say Alan White is back on. This could have been so much better had they played FULL tracks, interspersed with the interviews. Whilst excerpts of some pieces are really short, fortunately, quite a lot of the live performance of Awaken, my favourite Yes track, is included!

As to the actual interviews, each member of the classic line-up is interviewed at length by Roger Daltrey, who does a decent job as interviewer. The actual content is interesting, but once you've seen this once it will be some time before you feel the need to see it again.

For the keen Yes fan, this is well worth having, especially if you get it cheap like me!! For anybody else, I could not really recommend it.

This deserves 2.5 stars, however I will have to round this down to 2 stars. It is a shame, as this DVD could have been so much better.