9012 LIVE (DVD)

This concert video was filmed in Edmonton, Canada, in September 28, 1984.This video is a selection of songs performed during that concert, because during that tour YES played more songs in concert:"And You & I", "Roundabout", "Yours is No Disgrace", "Hearts","Our Song", "Roundabout", etc. (For more information:www.forgottenyesterdays.com ). It is a very good concert with the line-up of the "90125" album, even if the passing of time let me see that the quality of the images is not very good, being filmed more than 20 years ago. But the sound is good, even if Tony Kaye`s keyboards are mixed lower than the rest of the instruments. This video is "decorated" with some scenes from the 1950s and "visual effects" done by a company called Charlex. Despite that this video was nominated for some special awards (it didn`t win, I think), I can`t understand what is the relation of these 50s scenes to YES` music and image. In fact, I think that it could have been better to leave the concert images without these "strange scenes", which sometimes appear in some songs (like in "Changes") apparently to illustrate the meaning of the lyrics. Anyway, this video has performances of 7 songs from the "90125" album, plus two songs from "The YES album". The credits which appear in the back cover of the "9012LIVE-The Solos" mini-album (credits which I included when I added this video to the Progarchives data base; the video doesn`t include these credits; the video only lists the names of the members of YES with individual pictures of them at the end of the video) say that Tony Kaye and Alan White sang backing vocals.The only song in which they appear "singing" is in "Leave It", but this is not true, IMO, because it seems after seeing several times this video that, with the exception of Trevor Rabin`s and Jon Anderson`s shared lead vocals and Trevor`s guitar in this song, the rest of the music and vocals are really played from tapes, with the band really doing a playback. Alan White in the first part of this song appears at the front of the stage "playing" two Simmons electric drum pads, something that, for drummers at least, is like discovering a playback or "acting" (where are the bass drum and the cymbals?; Alan White smiles a bit while he is doing this "singing and playing electric drums" acted part!). Apart from this song, all the music and vocals in the other songs are played and sung "live in concert", with the additional help from some programming done in the keyboards.The songs from the "90125" are played very well. Two of these songs appear in the mini-LP called "9012LIVE-The Solos", released in late 1985 ( to promote this then forthcoming video, I think): "Hold On " and "Changes". (The solos released in that mini-LP, which were also played during this tour, were recorded in Dortmund, Germany, in June 24, 1984)."Owner of a Lonely Heart" starts with an instrumental Intro taken from the song "Make it Easy", which was released in the "Yesyears" Box Set in 1991.The two songs from "The YES Album" are played well, but differently to the original versions. For example,`the "Your Move" section from "I`ve Seen All Good People" is played by Trevor Rabin in an acoustic guitar, not with a Vachalia, like Steve Howe did. "Starship Trooper" is played more as a "rocker", with some "heavy" lead guitar parts by Rabin and a brief organ solo by Tony Kaye. The final results in both songs are good, anyway, even if some of the 70s fans don`t like to see this line-up playing old YES Prog songs from the 70s. Jon Anderson plays a bit of acoustic guitar in "I`ve Seen All Good People", and in other songs (the "Würm" section of "Starship Trooper" and in "Changes") he plays a keyboard. In the credits section which appears at the end of the video, there is a credit for "additional keyboards and programming" for keyboards technician Casey Young (he played the additional keyboards backstage, I think, as only the 5 YES musicians appear on the stage; I also can hear an additional rhythm electric guitar part not played by Rabin in "Changes"; maybe Young played this guitar too, who knows?).This video has been unavailable for buying for some years, but in YES` official website they recently announced that this video is going to be released in DVD this year (for more information: www.yesworld.com )

Update (11-June-2009): last year I bought the DVD version of this concert video. It has the concert with and without the visual designs and scenes done by Charlex. Of course, the best version of this video is the one which doesn`t have the things done by Charlex. The only disappointment was that the full concert wasn`t released again (three particular songs I would like to see played live are "Hearts", "Yours is no Disgrace" and "And You and I", which were played during that tour, but again they were not included inthe DVD). It also includes in the Special Features Section a version of "Roundabout" played and recorded during the same concert. This live version is not very good, becuase Trevor Rabin didn`t play it very well and similar to the original studio version. The introductory guitar part, for example, was played by him using the volume control of his guitar to make it sound very different to the original version. The next parts of the song are better, but not enough to be considered as a good version. In contrast to Rabin`s style which really didn`t fit the style of the song,Tony Kaye really played a very good organ solo, and he also played very well in the other parts of the song. The DVD aslo has in the Special Features Section one "behind the scenes" documentary done by Steven Soderbergh, and also interviews with all the band members of that line-up. Tony Kaye while being interviewed remembers being fired from YES in 1971 because at that time he didn`t like the sound of the synthesizers and the mellotron. But by the time of this interview he says that he liked the new synthesizers of the eighties.

This is now finally available on DVD. It is from a concert performed by the '90125' line-up (Rabin/Kaye/Anderson/White/Squire) in Edmonton in 1984, though it is not the complete concert. If you like the Rabin line-up then you will probably enjoy this: of the 9 tracks on the original film, all but 2 come from 90125. This is a classic film, especially their rendition of Starship Trooper, which has more energy and excitement than any other version I have heard by any line-up - an exhilerating and orgasmic moment! There are some other excellent performances here too - particularly Hold On and It Can Happen - and Chris Squire plays a very prominent role, though I could do with a little less of the posturing by Rabin.

The DVD comes with extras, the most significant being the 'director's cut' version, which is the concert footage without any of the extra 'visual effects' which most people - especially those not familiar with the original video - will prefer. It is a pity that the bonus track - Roundabout, which was cut from the original film - could not have been inserted into the main film instead of being accessed separately.

I just had to laugh.

Welcome to the most 80s show you'll ever see. Yes is there too, but the 80s are more noticable. In this set they perform a large part of their then recent album 90125, but with some awesome costumes, and some clips flying around the screen. As far as performance goes, they perform quite well, and if you're a fan of the corrisponding album you'll likely like this set. For the rest, however, you do have SEEN ALL GOOD PEOPLE, STARSHIP TROOPER, and (on DVD) ROUNDABOUT, each performed quite well (except with Rabin and not Howe the god), but still with the costumes...

The Dvd offers some nice additions, you can watch the concert without the flying pictures and there's a nicely lengthed interview segment. For the big prog heads out there though the biggest draw is the ability to laugh at Yes's purely awesome costumes. Very 80s. This is one more for the fans, 2 stars. Want a good live video by yes, there's plenty of others to choose from.

This video features the worst line-up Yes ever had - touring in support of their worst album ever! The good thing about this new DVD re-release of this recording from the 80's is that it features the show both with and without the (horrible!) special effects made for the original release. The DVD also includes a documentary and a bonus track (Roundabout) from the same tour.

Rick Wakeman and Steve Howe are, of course, nowhere to be found on this recording. They are replaced here by Tony Kaye on keyboards and Trevor Rabin on guitar. Tony Kaye was a member of Yes in the very early days but was replaced by Wakeman for the Fragile album. Kaye's playing is nowhere near the ability of Wakeman and that becomes painfully clear on this recording. Rabin is better but he does certainly not come anywhere near Steve Howe's playing. In their defence I must say that neither Kaye nor Rabin tries to be Wakeman or Howe, they are aware that they are inferior players and they do have their own (though significantly less interesting) styles. (If you want to see Tony Kaye in great shape I recommend the much better recent DVD by new Yes-spinoff band Circa).

The setlist features almost exclusively material from the then new album 90125. One of the reasons for this is probably that the new musicians in the band would have been unable to play the difficult and complex music of earlier Yes albums. The only classic Yes songs they preform here are I've Seen All Good People, Starship Trooper and, as a bonus feature here, Roundabout. Especially on Roundabout it becomes painfully clear that Rabin is not Howe and Kaye is not Wakeman. The new material, as you all know, is considerably less demanding. The best performance here is by drummer Alan White.

The picture and sound quality are good but there is not much you want to see. The clothes they wear are among the worst things I have ever seen in my life! Chris Squire is dressed in a white doctors robe, with something supposed to look like a beating heart attached to his shoulder!? Very weird and very bad taste! Jon Anderson looks like he is about to go jogging! The stage set is also quite strange.

The possibility to see the concert without the horrible special effects is very welcome, but the most interesting thing on this DVD is the documentary which features interviews with the members explaining and commenting on recent Yes history - about the recent line-up changes and what happened after their previous albums Tormato and Drama.

Thanks to the bonus features this DVD is worthy of three stars.

Yes - 9012LIVE

Review by ProgKidJoel

Yes' 9012LIVE is the only live DVD the band has released during their pop-rock stint, and rightly so - Its obviously not the best or proggiest material the band has ever released. Its underrated by many, but its admittedly not their best. Its a great live performance of an average album, and features some of the worst hair and outfits you will ever see.

The two best live renditions are easily CHANGES and HOLD ON, both featuring some decent improvisation and some delicious live stunts. These two really bring the concert to life, and enhances the overall performance and enjoyment you'll get from this solid set. The major downfall of this disc would have to be the live performance of STARSHIP TROOPER - Its just can't be done without Howe... A dissapointing and somewhat regretful closer to an otherwise good DVD.

The sound and picture is good on this disc, although what you're seeing isn't so pretty as far as hair, colour coordination and hair goes. I guess its a good thing they dressed 80's for an 80's performance of an 80's album. The concert could have been filmed better, but the quality is consistent and leaves little to be desired sonically or visually.

This one is great for big YES fans, but its lack of Steve Howe and crappy rendition of STARSHIP TROOPER reduce its overall score.

Enjoy! -Joel