YES - Keys to Ascension or Keystudio???
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Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Recommendations/Featured albums
Forum Description: Make or seek recommendations and discuss specific prog albums
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=57525
Printed Date: June 11 2025 at 04:13
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Topic: YES - Keys to Ascension or Keystudio???
Posted By: darkshade
Subject: YES - Keys to Ascension or Keystudio???
Date Posted: April 28 2009 at 19:30
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i want some new Yes to explore. I have all their studio albums up until Drama. My friend has Yessongs but it hasnt made a believer out of me when it comes to live Yes. I find their studio work untouchable, even live. I dont get the same feeling from their live renditions (opinion based on Yessongs and Symphonic Yes DVD) and im a big live music fan... so im checking out Keys to Ascension, but noticed that there's also the album Keystudio. A friend of mine recommended one of those 2 albums to me a long time ago, and i forgot which one it was. maybe one of you guys would know which album is best to go with. KtA is obviously 2 discs, but i dont care about price. Keystudio seems to be all studio (which i guess means new songs? which is kind of what i want) your help would be very appreciated. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/MysticBoogy" rel="nofollow - My Last.fm 
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Replies:
Posted By: Padraic
Date Posted: April 28 2009 at 19:34
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The Keys to Ascension concerts (San Luis Obispo, I think?) are really terrific, take a look at the tracklist and you'll see all the great classic material. A freaking great performance of Siberian Khatru starts off, great performance of America, and so on. I saw Yes a couple times around that time, mid- to late 90s, when they were doing a ton of classic material, I think they had Khoroshev on keys (or was that early 2000s? bad memory). Anyway, those shows were really, really excellent - the guys were on top form! The Keystudio stuff is also quite good, I think, but IMO I'd get that live set first. But I'm far from an expert on modern Yes material, I'm sure others will chime in. |
Posted By: Padraic
Date Posted: April 28 2009 at 19:39
Really not what you're after, but I would be remiss if I didn't recommend Yesshows. Myself, I am also not the hugest fan of Yessongs, I don't love it like a lot of other Yes heads. But Yesshows has some terrific material - the performance of Gates is phenomenal, and the massive performance of Ritual with Moraz on keys is off the charts stunning. |
darkshade wrote:Posted By: The Quiet One
Date Posted: April 28 2009 at 19:50
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If you want new stuff, just check Keystudio, then The Ladder or Magnification. Good live stuff Yessongs, didn't like it? I really can't recomend you anything else live by them.. |
Posted By: NotAProghead
Date Posted: April 28 2009 at 19:52
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I have "Keys to Ascension" DVD and "Keystudio" CD, I think it's a good choice. ------------- Who are you and who am I to say we know the reason why... (D. Gilmour) |
Posted By: darkshade
Date Posted: April 28 2009 at 20:04
i wouldnt say i didnt like it, it just didnt blow my mind like all of Yes' 70s studio work did. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/MysticBoogy" rel="nofollow - My Last.fm
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Posted By: Pekka
Date Posted: April 28 2009 at 22:20
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Keystudio can be very hard to find nowadays, so if you have an Ipod or some other portable player that you use a lot, then do what I did. Get Keys to Ascension 1 & 2 and arrange the live songs to your player as a continuous show and the studio songs as they are on Keystudio. You get the best Yes live album and a decent studio album. I prefer Magnification from the newer material, though. ------------- http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=42652" rel="nofollow - It's on PA! 
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Posted By: lazland
Date Posted: April 29 2009 at 12:52
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I reviewed these recently, and I was distinctly underwhelmed by most of the studio stuff on Keys To Ascension (both CDs). The live set, though, is absolutely indispensable, and worth buying just for these. The energy that comes out of a performance by a band simply so happy to be together again is electric. I also love Yesshows & Yessongs - very different LPs, but excellent records of the band at different stages of their career. I would also absolutely recommend Songs from Tsongas on DVD, which is simply a joy to behold. ------------- Enhance your life. Get down to www.lazland.org Now also broadcasting on www.progzilla.com Every Saturday, 4.00 p.m. UK time! |
Posted By: Padraic
Date Posted: April 29 2009 at 12:56
| Yeah, I forgot - if you just buy KtA and KtA 2, you get all the Keystudio material anyway, right? Someone correct me if I'm wrong. |
Posted By: JLocke
Date Posted: April 29 2009 at 12:57
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Keystudio is a great way to go. Hell, I have it, but I always call it ''Keys to Ascention'', mainly because in essence, it is. The only difference between the two is that the KtE albums were studio tracks mixed in with live performances, where as Keystudio is a compilation of the two releases, only housing the new, studio tracks. If you really want the full experience, though, skip Keystudio and just get both Keys To Ascention releases instead. |
Posted By: chopper
Date Posted: April 29 2009 at 16:28
| The live tracks on Keys are excellent, definitely worth getting. The vocals on "Onward" are stunning. |
Posted By: Epignosis
Date Posted: April 29 2009 at 16:36
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Keystudio? Honestly, I'd pass unless you can get it at a good price. Two or three great tracks, but nothing more ("That, That Is" is pretty horrific). If you want fantastic new material, I highly recommend The Ladder or Magnification. Either are excellent. As for live music, the Keys to Ascension CDs are very good, but God oh God do not bother with the DVD- it's terrible in both sound and picture (one can tell Anderson's vocals are completely overdubbed and they sound awful). If you want a taste of both live music and music from The Ladder, you can't go wrong with Lives at the House of Blues. That one contains both classics and music from The Ladder. However, be warned that "Ritual" and "Time and a Word" are pithy little "duo" excerpts from Anerderon and Khoroshev- a real disappointment initially. But the opener- "Yours is No Disgrace-" is the best version of the song that exists as far as I'm concered. ------------- https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays" rel="nofollow - https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays |
Posted By: The Quiet One
Date Posted: April 29 2009 at 16:52
| ^indeed, The Ladder and Magnification, while less epic-ish, they're more consistent great, though I wouldn't consider them anywhere near their 70's classics. |
Posted By: MovingPictures07
Date Posted: April 29 2009 at 16:57
I agree, only I recommend the Ladder much more highly than Magnification. ------------- 
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Posted By: Bitterblogger
Date Posted: April 29 2009 at 19:25
Wow, I couldn't disagree more relative to "That That Is." I think it's one of their outstanding epic tracks of all time.
I'll split the difference relative to The Ladder/Magnification. You'd have a great single disc if you took the best stuff off of each. "If Only You Knew"? Yeech!
But since the original poster wanted live recommendations, I'll plug the "Union" tour, which, admittedly, takes some effort, but well worth it.
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Posted By: Epignosis
Date Posted: April 29 2009 at 19:50
Fair enough, but these lyrics (sung to a quirky, upbeat, happy ass melody) are enough for me: Julie's sick and tired of her job n' all the reasons lately She took it out on God and laid her soul to hell and let the baby die Julie's child was born without a need or a reason for being She took it as a message from a real and a distant life Shirley gets to help her with the child though she's strung out on crack time Shirley never knew what it was to be held in real love Together getting high to get to mess up their night Anything to get up so they're losing their mind Just to get high, breaking out from this life, gotta get them a drug to get higher ------------- https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays" rel="nofollow - https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays |
Posted By: darkshade
Date Posted: May 02 2009 at 11:41
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thanks guys. Im going to do what Keppa4v suggested. Get KtA1&2 and split up the studio from the live on my iPod. Ill give live Yes another shot, maybe this album will change my opinion. As for The Ladder/Magnification, Ive heard bits and pieces of both albums, and couldnt complain about them. I mean, they're no 70s Yes, but still good music. Once i get KtA i'll probably look into those 2. Magnification seems more interesting, being there's an orchestra right? ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/MysticBoogy" rel="nofollow - My Last.fm
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Posted By: Epignosis
Date Posted: May 02 2009 at 11:49
Yes, there is an orchestra. They sound great. ------------- https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays" rel="nofollow - https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays |
Posted By: The Hemulen
Date Posted: May 02 2009 at 12:06
Ditto... though I'm not certain it's such a good thing, myself! The performances on the DVD are excellent but the production is awful, especially the terrible spurious footage interspersed throughout the disc which I think is meant to act as a kind of visual accompaniment to the music but comes across as woefully tacky. The vast majority of Keystudio was also a huge disappointment. My advice would be to get the Keys to Ascension albums (even though I don't have them myself) as that way you get all the new studio stuff (whether you'll like that or not I wouldn't like to say) AND some top-notch live performances without any visual crap to detract from the experience.
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Posted By: Moogtron III
Date Posted: May 02 2009 at 20:45
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I'm not very much impressed by new studio tracks, although they make nice background music, I must say. Mind you, not bad at all, but not on a par with the classic '70's stuff.
The live tracks are another thing, though. As Trouserpress said, in terms of performance, not production.
So I'd get the KtA cd's, especially the first one. The KtA dvd is nice as well: a different mix of songs, and with nice images.
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Posted By: NotAProghead
Date Posted: May 02 2009 at 21:19
I know lots of DVDs with much worse production. I don't find the footage on "Keys to Ascension" DVD too annoying, but to see how musicians play, to see emotions in their faces is a good bonus. In addition, this DVD has good DD 5.1 mix. And there are ways not to see all these things - for example close your eyes or switch off your TV-set  .------------- Who are you and who am I to say we know the reason why... (D. Gilmour) |
Posted By: tdfloyd
Date Posted: June 16 2009 at 19:18
Got to go with Magnification on this one. It's in heavy rotation now for me. If you like an orchestra with your rock music, this is a lesson on how it should be done. Excellent sound with both the band and orchestra having plenty of room to shine. The Ladder is a very good album too, just not as good.
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Posted By: HolyMoly
Date Posted: June 17 2009 at 07:48
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Magnification is great - highly recommended. I haven't gotten into The Ladder as much, but I haven't given it a good listen yet either. As far as live stuff, I've never liked Yessongs all that much, sounds a bit muddy compared to the albums. Yesshows, however, is fantastic, and covers my favorite period of the band - Tales through GFTO in superior live renditions. The Keys to Ascension sets are recommended primarily because of the great live sound you get with a (relatively) contemporary recording. The performances seem a little slower and "heavier" than prior live versions (e.g. Close to the Edge is closer in tempo to its studio counterpart than other faster live versions I've heard), which to me is a good thing, but others may disagree. As far as the Keystudio material, I think it's ok. I like the fact that they went for the epic-length tracks, and those certainly have their moments, but they're not on the level of their early epics - how could they be? ------------- My other avatar is a Porsche It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is lightly greased. -Kehlog Albran |
Posted By: Snow Dog
Date Posted: June 17 2009 at 07:58
I really, really don't agree. For me That, That Is, is one of the best Yes pieces of modern times. I was delighted when I first heard it. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Snow_Dog" rel="nofollow"> 
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