TALES FROM YESTERDAY: A VIEW FROM THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE SKY (YES TRIBUTE)

Making a tribute album is one of the hardest things, if the artist is too respectful to the original version turns himself into a copyist and if changes too much the song people thinks they can ruin a masterpiece, I believe a balance should be reached, the artist making a tribute has to be respectful to the original version but at the same time add something of himself. Because if he makes a perfect copy, why should we bother to buy it if there's always the original?

"Tales from Yesterday" is a very uneven album, you can find some carbon copies, a few boring tracks, a couple of less than mediocre, a filler and several excellent songs that Yes could take as a genuine tribute, because the artist has managed to keep the spirit of the original work but making an effort to create something innovative, so without any longer intro, let us check the songs.

Roundabout: Well, if there's something Robert Berry should never do is to change the introduction of this track, there's no Roundabout without it, the vocals are not even decent and the arrangements are like an hybrid between Hard Rock, Fusion and nothing. Honestly I don't understand what he was trying to achieve.

Siberian Khatru: Now, this is how a real tribute track should sound, "STANLEY SNAIL" starts the track absolutely close to the original version giving the listener enough chance to really notice what they are listening, the vocal work is very well worked but the central part of the track is outstanding, in a fraction of second they change from a Prog Rock masterpiece to a fusion oriented song. Being that it's too hard to play like Steve Howe, Mike Keneally takes a harder approach, the closing vocal work is IMO even better that the original, great song.

Mood for a Day: We all know Steve Morse is an excellent guitar player and really there's nothing radically different you can add to "Mood for a Day", but he manages to accelerate the speed and of add some extra work that can be easily listened. Excellent work.

Don't Kill the Whale: I was ready for a song as bad as the original, but surprisingly MAGELLAN does an pretty good job, the piano intro is strong and the keyboards blend with the vocals in order to create a similar atmosphere to Jon Anderson's voice without being as annoying as the original. The cover is very well developed but of course the radical change is in the guitar work which is very hard rock oriented, it's odd, nothing anybody could expect but they manage to take a bland and cheesy song just to change it in something special, outstanding work.

Turn of the Century: This song was one of the reasons why I bought this album, supposedly you can't get better than Steve Howe with the amazing voice of Annie Haslam, sadly the best I can say about this track is that Steve is as good as always and Annie's voice remains intact but I fell asleep after two minutes, boring, predictable and unimaginative.

Release Release: The song starts promising but the voice Mike Baker from SHADOW GALLERY trying to sound as Jon Anderson's breaks my nerves and produced me a nasty sensation, the drum solo is mediocre and the guitar is weak, a waste of space that had to cut before the half because it was producing me pain.

WORLD TRADE (Billy Sherwood's band) makes a very decent version of Wonderous Stories, maybe too close to the original, but at the end pleasant song after the disaster SHADOW GALLERY made. The only question I make myself is why two bands choose songs from Tormato?

South Side of the Sky by Cairo is another good and faithful track, excellent work by all the band, it's incredible how much better sounds with a voice that doesn't try to sound like Jon Anderson.

Well, it was about time for something special, Patrick Moraz does a magical piano version of Soon, his style and technique is perfect, he did it perfectly in Relayer with all the band and he does it perfectly alone.

Yes has many albums that reach the status of masterpiece, why should anybody cover a song from 90125? Well Changes is the "lets say best" track from a terrible album and "ENCHANT" manages to do a decent version, much better than the original but still not a good song.

Honestly didn't imagined that Peter Banks with Robert Berry could make such a solid version of Astral Traveler the guitar work is absolutely impressive, strong and extremely coherent, nice work guys another excellent track!

The Clap: Again Steve Morse does a faster version, but that's the whole difference, one Steve Howe solo was ok but two in the same album and by the same artist sounds like they needed three minutes to fill the album, correct copy but nothing else.

What the album needed was a solid closer and they got it JERONIMO ROAD does an outstanding cover of Starship Trooper, Adam Wakeman has learned some tricks from dad and adds some new interesting things, Damian Wilson has a very good voice and of course the always excellent drumming of Tony Fernandez make an excellent tribute song.

Now the hard part, how should I rate such an uneven album? There are really bad tracks but the good ones don't deserve to be taken down, so will be conservative, not essential but still get it if you are a Yes fan, some memorable and some forgettable moments, three stars.