SONGS FROM TSONGAS: 35TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT (DVD)

I have seen Yes two times live. The first time was during the "Going for the one" tour in 1977, a very fresh and inspired Yes played their new album and all their 'classics'. The second time was in 2003, again with Rick Wakeman (he has a kind of Richard Burton-Liz Taylor-like relationship with Yes), this gig was good but I missed a spark and the magic. After seeing this stunning 2-DVD I have to conclude that one year after I had witnessed them in 2003, Yes sound much better and more enthousiastic! The first song "Going for the one" reveals that Anderson can reach no more that high voice from the past but in general he sounds more powerful and stable. Most compositions are slightly re-arranged and especially Steve Howe delivers many new versions of his known soli, awesome! One of the most exciting moments is during the unplugged version of "Roundabout" when Rick Wakeman starts to play jazzy piano, so relaxed and all members seem to enjoy this gig (remember the awful "Tales .." tour!). Another surprising 'unplugged' version is from "Owner of a lonely heart", nice to see Steve Howe during this song. On this 2-DVD Rick Wakeman is a bit on the background (he delivers some splendid work on the Minimoog, Hammond organ and acoustic piano), Chris Squire showscases his skills and a lot of pleasure, Alan White still does his job very decent, Anderson ('the hippie with the iron fist') is smiling as never before but this evening the focus is on Steve Howe: watch his play on the Portuguese 12-string guitar in "I've seen all good people" and "Wonderous stories" and the varied soli in "Sweet dreams" (fresh rendition from the band), "Yours is no disgrace" and "Starship trooper", absolutely BRILLIANT! Despite the flood of live Yes DVD releases, this DVD is a MUST!

I sat and watched most of this last night. A well-recorded (although the drums are mixed a bit low), well-filmed DVD. It's nice to see some old songs such as Sweet Dreams and Every Little Thing and Mind Drive is brilliant. Jon Anderson can still reach the high notes (unlike some of his contemporaries), Chris Squire has lost a few pounds, Rick Wakeman looks like he's filming another episode of Grumpy Old Men but plays really well nevertheless, Steve Howe's playing is the best I've seen for a while and Alan White is as solid as ever. A great purchase for all Yes fans.

Well first of all the song program is aligned with that one performed in Switzerland one year ago-June 2004 (their important show at Estival Jazz in Lugano) and it's not a surprise for me...the early songs of their beginning ("Sweet Dreams" for instance, but also some other classics like "Your move/I've seen all good people" ) have always been played with such a great enthusiasm and according a perfect arrangement as well, being never boring or repetitive!!Secondly their inclusion of unusual songs, such as "Mind drive Part 1 and 2" and "My eyes/Mind drive part 3", is the contribution to their new era, represented by the best recent shows of Yes, since 2001 (otherwise characterized also by the magic return of Rick Wakeman on stage with them, after his -a bit uneven- performance of their "Keys to Ascension Tour" dated 1996).Instead talking about disc two, it's probably better than the first one, except on their new proposal concerning a few 80's hit singles ("Owner of a Lonely Heart" and "Rhythm of love"), which is a bit "strident" in comparison to the epic and magical conclusion of "Starship Trooper" for example...but nevermind, that's a minor note, because the quality recording of the DVD is very good, despite of forgiving them for the important exclusion regarding a great "jewel" such as "Heart of the Sunrise"!!

Having been delayed quite a number of times - three or four times if I'm not mistaken - finally the DVD came out. Filmed in May 2004 during one of their 35th anniversary shows, this DVD gives us the classic Yes line-up of Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, Rick Wakeman and Alan White. With songs spanning their entire career this show features the band's classic "Going for the One", "Your Move/I've Seen All Good People", "Roundabout", "Starship Trooper", "And You and I". To me personally some classics performed here are quite boring as I have seen them many times in many previous release of YES DVD / laserdisc. But, there are some classics that I've never seen them performed live like "Sweet Dream", The Beatles' "Every Little Thing", "Mind Drive".

The Performance

The film kicks off Disc One with the shooting of the stage from the crowd's view. It shows a gigantic stage design with surreal nature design by Yes's long-time and legendary sleeve / cover designer Roger Dean. The stage reminds me of the cover of ABWH "An Evening of Yes Music Plus". With the playback of "Firebird Suite" each member of the band come out on stage and Jon Anderson plays some cymbals work during the Firebird Suite. Right after the intro part the band blasts the crowd with "Going For the One" that casts Steve Howe playing his Hawaiian / lap guitar. The band performs this song excellently with a bit deteriorated voice quality of Jon Anderson - never mind, it's an aging problem, every one experiences it. What surprises me is that the band plays a classic song that I have never heard them playing in their concert: "Sweet Dream". Nothing special when the band plays "Your Move/I've Seen All Good People" as it sounds the same with their previous releases and I'm getting bored with the song already. It has always been in the set list of their show.

Another great attraction is when the band plays - for the first time in their history - a song created in mid nineties, an epic called "Mind Drive". It's a wonderful and flawless performance, continued with "South Side of The Sky" from "Fragile" album.It then continues with the band's classic "Turn of The Century" and "My Eyes/Mind Drive part 3". Disc One concludes with the favorite classic track "Yours is No Disgrace". After this song the band takes musical break.

One thing that I observe during the band's performance throughout Disc One is that the band is kind like having a lack of passion and energy for the show. Yes, Jon Anderson tried to recover the situation by making some connections to the audience during musical break like before the band plays Mind Drive. But it does not help to improve the situation. Steve Hove never give his smile, Jon is not as he used to be, Rick is quiet. Chris Squire who used to be humorous but this time does not seem to be that happy. Alan White receives a very little share of screen so I cannot observe how he looks. Being a 35th anniversary, it's not good at all having this situation.

The first half of Disc Two contains the band's unplugged performance in a similar style with Yes Acoustic DVD. It starts off with Rick Wakeman (who does not look like changing his gear, unlike other band members) come up on stage with his piano followed by Jon who then sings the first part of ABWH (Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe)'s "The Meeting" while waiting for other band members come up on stage one by one. It's good thread having this short version of ABWH stuff even though I have seen the complete version from ABWH "An Evening of Yes Music Plus". The band continues with the acoustic version of "Long distance runaround", "Wonderous stories", "Time is Time", "Roundabout" and "Show Me". If you have watched the YES Acoustic DVD, this performance is similar but with different venue. Each member uses a non electric instrument - even Alan White changes his drum set with the simple one using single tom.

Rick Wakeman piano solo during "Roundabout" is excellent. My progmate Hardiansyah Rizal is right. He sent his short message to my cellular phone telling his sentimental feeling when he watched this DVD last night; seeing "Show Me" had put some tears that remind him to the great memory of him seeing the band's alive during Yes second leg tour in Singapore 25 September 2003. Yes I do remember that and I share the same feeling with him as I watched the Singapore concert as well with other Indonesian prog mates - including him. What a big surprise is when the band plays Rabin-era top hit that made the Yes name so popular: "Owner of A Lonely Heart". My salute goes to Mr Howe and Mr Wakeman who perform this track excellently even though they did not contribute in the original studio version.

During the transition from completely unplugged session into an electric band, Steve Howe performs his acoustic guitar solo "Second Initial" wonderfully even though without a smile. The band then changes the setting and returns back with full electric band performing another Rabin era song: "Rhythm of Love". Again my salute to Mr. Howe who does great guitar solo in this song, also to Mr Wakeman. Starting with this track, the band sees themselves having passion and energy about the show. During the first part of this track, Jon Anderson walks down the stage and sings the song while running around the crowd. So nice of him. The mood is now energetic and I can feel the soul of the show. Especially, when "Ritual" is performed, I like the improvisation where Chris Squire gives his bass guitar solo and at the end he plays it with Rick Wakeman's synthesizer work - in a humorous setting. It's really cool. The band continues with The Beatles "Every little thing" which I have never heard them played live before. "Starship Trooper" with some improvisation at the ending part finally concludes the show.

Summary

Even though it's not as grandiose as Yessymphonic live DVD, this live set is recommended. Especially, if you are a Yes fan, you should not miss this DVD. Afterall, it's a 35th Anniversary tour - it's a historical event. Sound and picture quality are excellent. Even though no extra, but the DVD offers an interview with Roger Dean. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW.

4 1/3 Stars ... An excellent concert DVD that unfortunately has its few flaws and does not reach the greatness of the symphonic one. All the musicians are playing well, but they do seem tired. The reason is that this recorded concert is their last one in their tour, so everyone (especially Anderson) sounds a little tired. Putting that little problem aside, the musicianship is still superb, the camera work professional, and the sound quality as good as Yes Symphonic Live. Another interesting thing is the acoustic section in the first half of the second disk.

The Concert :

Disc 1 (65:17) 1. "Intro/Firebird suite" shows the stage with the psycheledic looking things designed by Roger Dean. The musicians come when the famous classical work is playing and Alan backs it up with some percussion. 2. "Going for the one" starts the concert really badly and should be skipped in my opinion. Fortunately, Sweet Dreams is much better, Alan White plays a short solo in it and you see shining drum decorations flying, the song is performed very well and has some nice soloing. "Your Move" is not needed, I've seen it live many times. However, this version is good and Rick Wakeman rock&rolling is fun. "Mind Drive" is an ugly patch of the DVD. It starts excellently with a futuristic and heavy repetitive riff and explodes in a great chorus. Unfortunately, the rest is very incoherent and uncomfortable to listen to. "South Side of the Sky" redeems the first disc. While it lacks a bit of energy in the verses/choruses, it makes up for them in the piano solo and the outro solo duet between Steve Howe and Wakeman which is amusing. "Turn of the Century" is a bit too mellow for a concert, but after Anderson sings 'I'm sure we knoooooooooow", there is a classical instrumental section that is one of the big highlight moments of the concert: The piano and the electric guitar meld beautifully and Squire does a beautiful ascending bass riff. "My Eyes" is kinda forgettable, but fun to listen to with Wakeman's voice keyboards. "Mind Drive Part 3" finishes the mediocre epic well. Finally "Yours is no Disgrace" is well performed and Steve Howe plays a breathtaking extended guitar solo that would leave you in awe from the musical virtuosity of Howe.

Disc 2 (85:14) 1. "The meeting room/The meeting" is a nice melodic piano-led song with pretty singing. The piano playing is excellent here. " Long distance runaround" is the good pop song that we all know played acoustically. "Wonderous Stories" is another beautiful melodic song featuring a portuguese guitar. "Time is time" is not very exciting but has good slide-guitar playing from Howe. "Roundabout" is really interesting!!! This time, it is played as a groovy-blues piece, and it amazes me that Wakeman can play blues so well (hear the piano solo). "Show me" is a vocal-led melodic track that is not very interesting. "Owner of a lonely heart" is yet on another concert! This time, it sounds better acoustically (the orchestra sounds replaced by piano chords) and the piano solo is nice. "Second initial" is a good guitar solo piece in the vein of The Clap. "Rhythm of Love" is a forgettable pop song. However, it is fun to see Anderson meeting the crowd. "And You And I" is great as always (Althrough Chris has to stop playing that harmonica!). "Ritual" ... why again? I don't like this song very much ... fortunately, it has the 'we love when we play' section and the drumming section which I both love. "Every little thing" is a fun beatles song with good riffing. Lastly, Starship trooper closes the show and does not disappoint! The 'Wurm' buildup is as intense and enjoyable as the studio version and contains a wild synth solo.

In conclusion, this is an excellent DVD. Despite its flaws, I think any prog fan with a casual interest in Yes should consider getting it and any diehard can't go without this.

My Rating : B+

This is the first DVD I ever bought...and actually i dodnt want to buy it. At first I wanted to buy either Led Zeppelin´s doble DVD or Yes´s Symphonic Live...but Zeppelin´s was way to expensive and I couldn´t find Symphonic...so I said to myself "Well, Tsongas can´t be that bad...why not?". I must say if Symphonic is better than Tsongas then...I don´t know I must be beyond brilliant, because this one is excellent! Outstanding performance, great scenarium (thanks to Roger Dean), great sound and high visual quality. Howe: AMAZING! He shines thrue out the two whole show. But what really surprised me was to find the five of them such good shape and playing so good, and really enjoying it! A lot of songs are played wonderully, Yours is no disgrace...outstanding! Mind drive, what a pleasent surprise!!! Excellent! And you and I...this song always comes out great live. But maybe the realy jewel of the DVD is Ritual...I dont usually find live versions of a song to be better than the original...but this is the big exception! I always liked the song...but this version is one of my favorite Yes epics!!! Excellent DVD...the classic Yes seems to be better than ever on stage!!!

For me it was very pleasant to watch these senior gents performing their classic songs at an excellent show designed by - who else but Roger Dean! Keeping in mind that after their lousy 1983 album I practically stopped following their career. I even thought they were no more, before I joined ProgArchives 2 years ago. Boy, how wrong was I. This video is impeccable performance of nearly 3 hrs that should please all YES fans - both old and novices. Anderson, Howe, Squire, Wakeman and White - they all must be congratulated. Squire is particularly attractive on stage. Highly recommended to all.

I had great expectations for this DVD. The only part of it that lived up to those expectations is the acoustic set on the second disc. Here the band seems happy performing their songs, and what a great collection of songs they choose to do acoustically! Even Owner Of A Lonely Heart, a song I usually don't like very much, is great here. My only complaint about the acoustic part of this show is that Jon Anderson speaks too much inbetween the songs (even the other band members seems to be annoyed by this). Apart from that, the acoustic set is perfect and it is worth buying the DVD just for this!

The rest, however, did not impress me that much. As a huge Rick Wakeman fan I was particulary disapointed, since Rick does not seem to be enjoying himself as usual (on the electric part of the show, that is) and also he has some technical problems with his moog. None of the performances are uninspired, but they do not shine as they do on the excellent House Of Yes DVD.

The setlist has some interesting surprises like Sweet Dreams from the 60's and Rythm Of Love from the 80's, both of which are much better here than they were in their original versions. Wakeman was not in the band when these two songs were originally recorded, but here Rick adds brand new keyboard solos to these songs! Amazing! These additions makes these versions far better than they ever were before!

Not the best Yes DVD but well worth having.

From the outstanding production beginning with the trademark 'Intro/Firebird suite' to the awesome power of 'Starship trooper', this DVD is a treasure. Every moment of this groundbreaking stage show is captured in crystal clear visuals and glorious sound. The best lineup of Yes play their greatest songs and it is a truly wonderful and remarkable achievement that they can sing and play so well at this late stage of their exceptional career.

There are so many highlights it is difficult to mention them all but of note are the tracks on CD1 'Going for the one', 'Your move/Iâ??ve seen all good people', 'Mind drive Part 1 and 2', 'South side of the sky' and 'Yours is no disgrace.'

CD 2 features the acoustic set and we see Howe playing to perfection in 'The meeting room/The meeting'. The acoustic versions of 'Long distance runaround', 'Wonderous stories' and 'Roundabout' are interesting, but I prefer the original arrangements. I do like the acoustic version of 'Owner of a lonely heart' as a change of pace.

They strap back on their electric equipment for the next tracks, 'Rhythm of love', and my personal favourite of the DVD, 'And you and I'. This track is a show stopper and features beautiful lighting that strikes Roger Dean's amazing set with a sense of timelessness and majesty. 'Ritual' is the 19 minute epic from 'Topographic' and is a crowd pleaser, and then they play the early classic, 'Every little thing'. As mentioned it ends with the brilliant 'Starship Trooper'.

No need to go into the bonus features, though they are excellent. These tracks alone are worth the purchase price. An absolute masterpiece from the masters of prog.

Buy it? In a Word, Yes!

Yes - Songs From Tsongas DVD

Review by ProgKidJoel

Yes' 35th Anniversary DVD, Songs from Tsongas, is a great collection of a two live sets - One electric and the other acoustic. The latter is by far the most exciting, energizing, and its what makes this 2DVD live show worth a purchase. In addition to some great renditions, there's some great conversation between tracks by Jon Anderson. The first disc is also near-perfect, featuring a great set played with an amazing energy to send chills down the spine of any YES or prog fan, especially in MIND DRIVE. TURN OF THE CENTURY is also particularly amazing in this recording, and this track really shines live.

The members were all evidently well-rehearsed before this show, and this is visible through their onslaught of brutal renditions and consistent musicianship on both of the sets, which is nothing less than a spectacular show, which any band should be proud of on their 35th Anniversary.

Sonically, this is a fantastic live recording, features good camera angles and great video quality. My only complaint is the occasional use of inappropriate cameras - That is to say, shots of thing which aren't necessary to be shown at the time, for example, during a keyboard solo we have a shot of Steve Howe playing guitar chords... Good none the less, but it seems the cameras are sometimes away from the action, which is a little unsatisfactory. As a backdrop to this live show, we have a great Roger Dean projection show, which is tailor-made to fit every song perfectly, and it does exactly that. This adds massively to the atmosphere of the show.

A great DVD, and compulsory watching for any Yes fan for the live version of Mind Drive alone!

Enjoy, and grab it when you can.

-Joel