LIVE LEGENDS - CAREFUL WITH THAT AXE

It is possible that the contents of this "cheapie" DVD are the same as in the former (2001) Steve Howe interview DVD with a Roger Dean cover art, but since it has no reviews or any information of the contents, I can't tell. I didn't know this DVD is basically an interview, not a live performance collection, when I ordered it at a pretty low price. But as such, this is quite OK actually.

Steve Howe talks about his musical path beginning from childhood and his very first guitars and juvenile band memberships, most of the time with one of his many guitars at hand, and gives brief demonstrations of them. Starting and ending with an acoustic guitar solo, in between he plays (I think it was three) various electric guitars. The interviewer is not seen or heard -- apart from a few words in the end. As a non-native English speaker I always hope DVD's to have subtext, but this has no any.

Naturally the classic era of Yes is dealt in this 52-minute dvd. The archival live clips (that really could be longer!) include e.g e.g. 'Yours Is No Disgrace', 'Clap', 'Roundabout' and 'Tempus Fugit'. A nice feature is showing all the Yes album covers from The Yes Album to Drama, plus the mid-70's solo albums of the Yes members.

In my opinion, musician interviews tend to be rather tiresome to view. Of couse usually they are just bonus material on concert DVD's or re-releases. As this DVD lacks the main thing, so to speak, one cannot value it very highly in the first place. That said, this was, after all, well worth the minimal price I paid. The technical quality is fairly good and there is music enough to keep the viewer interested. 2½ stars -- you can round it upwards if you're into musician interviews and a dedicated Steve Howe fan.