Steve Howe, one of the original members of ’70s progressive rock band ‘Yes,’ performed with the band in July at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. (Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images)
The set comes in 2DVD, Blu-ray, and Digital Formats and the first-ever release of Songs From Tsongas as a 3CD set.
The Special Edition contains music from two different concerts from Yes’s 35th Anniversary Tour in 2004, the last to feature the classic line-up of Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman and Alan White.
Few bands were as influential back then as this English aggregation.
The 1970’s saw the band release such classics as The Yes Album, Fragile (both in 1971), Close to the Edge (1972), Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973), Relayer (1974) and Going for the One (1977).
Best Albums of the Year So Far As we head into the last quarter of the year; here are out picks for the best 10 albums of the year so far. We’ll be back with the final list come late-December:
- If You Wait – London Grammar
- Overgrown – James Blake
- Ghost Stories – Coldplay
- Morning Phase – Beck
- La Sesion Cubana – Zucchero
- Voices – Phantogram
- Ultraviolence – Lana Del Rey
- Silver Rails – Jack Bruce
- In The Lonely Hour – Sam Smith
- Lost in the Dream-The War On Drugs
–Winchester
For most of this period, the band included Anderson, Squire, Howe, Wakeman on keyboards, and White or Bill Bruford on drums.
The rise of punk rock and the New Romantic movement in the late ’70s led to the commercial and critical failure of their last release Tormato (1978).
Anderson and Wakeman left the band in 1980, and it fully disbanded in December of that year. Howe and Downes subsequently created the band Asia.
Squire, Howe and White recorded the album Drama with keyboardist Geoffrey Downes and new vocalist Trevor Horn.
Downes and Horn later formed The Buggles, which had the honor of having the first music video air on MTV. It was appropriately titled “Video Killed The Radio Star.”
In addition to the Tsongas show, the DVD is packed with an additional 70 minutes of never-before-released highlights from Lugarno, which we actually preferred.
The Lugano disc features the group in a somewhat different setting. It’s an outdoor show that has a stripped-down stage and full on rock versions of the acoustic tracks from Tsongas.
The crowd wields a multitude of umbrellas against the pouring rain, which is clearly not preventing them having a great time! It’s a terrific visual and the group is awesome.
All of their hits are here, including “Going For The One,” “Roundabout,” “Owner Of A Lonely Heart,” “And You And I,” “Starship Trooper,” “Wondrous Stories,” “I’ve Seen All Good People,” “Yours Is No Disgrace,” “Ritual,” “Turn Of The Century,” and many more.
Yes changed the face of popular music and in the early 1970’s were indeed rock-gods. The music may be almost 40 years old, but it is as strong as ever.
Our favorite? Squire’s inspired bass solo on “The Fish.”
Names in the News
Carmine Appice, Leslie Gold, David Salidor, Steve Walter, Lincoln Foley, Victor Kastel, Randy Alexander, Steve Paul, Vincent Amelio, Robert Funaro, Donnie Kehr, Donna Quinter, Jacqueline Hubbard, Jacqueline Boyd, Clint Eastwood, Stan Rosenfield, Jay Bernstein, cfs