TALES FROM YESTERDAY: A VIEW FROM THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE SKY (YES TRIBUTE)

This is actually one of the better tribute albums of the many that Magna Carta has put out over the years. The lineups are diverse (although I have to say that there are a few too many appearances by actual members of Yes - a tribute should come from the fans, not the band itself), and most of the performances aren't too close to the originals.

Robert Berry, a staple of these tributes, begins the album with a pretty good rendition of Roundabout, although he turns the break section into pure arena rock, and completely misses the musical point.

Mike Kennealy, Kevin Gilbert, Nick D'Virgilio and Bryan Bellar, performing under the group name Stanley Snail (Get it? "Gold Stanley Snail, torn through the distance of man..."?), play Siberian Khatru fairly straight, until they add a cool Zappa-like jam section in the middle.

Steve Morse plays the two famous Steve Howe solos, Mood For A Day and Clap. The first isw quite good, as Morse has much smoother classical guitar chops than Howe.

Magellan does some interesting work in Don't Kill The Whale. It's disjointed at times, but I like it.

Steve Howe (who also makes a brief appearance in Roundabout) plays Turn Of The Century, which has the added bonus of Annie Haslam's beautiful voice.

Shadow Gallery plays Release Release good enough to outshine the original. But Billy Sherwood joins up with his World Trade drummer to make Wonderous Stories more boring than the Yes version. And Cairo plays South Side Of The Sky way too close to the original arrangement. That's too bad, as one of the things I was anticipating was how Mark Robertson could take over this track.

Patrick Moraz wastes his time on the album with a piano solo version of Soon. Enchant does a fair job on Changes, but would have added more by selecting a more complex piece. Peter Banks plays the best version of Astral Traveller you will probably hear.

Adam Wakeman and his band Jeronimo Road close the album with a truncated Starship Trooper. The musical performance on this is excellent, but the vocals are not up to par.

In all, this is an extremely good tribute album, and a worthwhile addition to a Yes collection.