INSIDE YES 1968-1973

This edition of the "Inside" DVD series covers the band's early years from 1968 to 1973. To date, the rest of the story has not been told in this particular format. As usual, Bob Carruthers gathers together an eclectic group of people to talk about the band and the albums they released during the period. While on some "Inside" DVDs, the assembled critics have credible links with the band, here they are simply a melting pot of journalists, session musicians, and hangers on, some of whom do not even appear to be particularly keen on the band. Collectively, they provide us with comments which range from the bleeding obvious, through tedious cord sequence descriptions and ending up with blatant misinformation. The saving grace is the presence of Steve Howe, who adds some brief but useful commentary to the proceedings.

As usual for this type of product the live sequences, all of which are extracts, are taken from what is available. On the plus side, these do include some rare glimpses of the pre "Fragile" line up, although some of the renditions of the early songs included here are not by the line up which actually recorded them.

While the main feature is quite short, running to just over an hour, a significant enhancement to this product is the inclusion of a full length documentary called "Views". This fascinating programme offers a wonderful insight into the work of Roger Dean, who not only came up with the sleeve illustrations for some of Yes' finest albums, but also created masterpieces for many other bands such as Uriah Heep and Asia. Dean talks at length about some of his best known works, what inspired them, how he works, and many other aspects of his work. The programme is introduced by Rick Wakeman, who strides around like a demented Richard Attenborough trying to outfox the admirably patient cameraman. The background music is provided by Wakeman and a recent Uriah Heep line up. This documentary alone makes the package highly appealing.

Reverting to the Yes programme, the many official releases by Yes documenting their history, and cumulating in the "YesSpeak" DVD render this one far from essential. Do however try to get hold of the "Views" programme.

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