Published on May 20, 1998
British progressive-rock band Yes has been through more
personnel flips than your typical roller-coaster. With bassist
Chris Squire being the only constant in the ever-changing lineup,
Yes should have thought about installing a revolving door on their
practice room.
After eight members from various incarnations reunited for the
dreadful one-off
Union, some people thought the glory days of Yes were over.
However, if any band embodied the “never say never” epitomy, Yes
did —
Keys To Ascension captures the classic lineup of Jon
Anderson, Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman, Alan White and Squire live
(save for two new cuts), and having lost little of the magic they
once showed.
This nearly two-hour set takes seven old standbys from Yes’s
thirty-year back catalog, and adds two new studio cuts into the
mix. And while their true glory years are behind them, the end
result here isn’t bad at all.
The live material, while good, is nothing more than a retro-act,
with most songs dating back to the early ’70s. Despite the passage
of three decades, Anderson’s voice hasn’t changed at all —
surprising, only because many lead vocalists experience some sort
of change the longer they perform.
In fact, the only real change is in Wakeman’s keyboards. In the
’70s, they had the bombastic sound familiar to the technology of
the times. In the ’90s, he has definitely moved away from the
Hammonds to the Rolands — the sound is much more synthesized, and
is actually not as strong. In this case, I’ll fault the technology
— either that, or he needed to be brought up more in the mix.
Howe remains an amazing guitarist, though it sounds like some of
his chops — especially in the opening and bridges of “Roundabout”
— might be slowing down just a tad. White shows why he remained
behind the skins with Yes for so long, and Squire — well, no one
has ever made a Rickenbacker four-string sound so sweet.
Recorded in San Luis Obispo, California, Yes shows why their
music was some of the most influential in both the ’70s and in the
entire progressive rock genre. Cuts like “Siberian Khatru” and
“Starship Trooper” have gotten better with age, and I will always
love “Roundabout.” Even a selection from
Tales From Topographic Oceans sounds fresh here — and
long-time readers know how I feel about that album. (I’d rather
castrate myself with a steak knife from Ponderosa than listen to
that album again… but I think I’ve gone off-topic.)
Of the live selections, “America” is the only one that
disappoints — even though it sounds almost exactly like the
original version. If anything, I wish that more live material had
been included on this collection. Then again, maybe that’s what
Keys To Ascension II (released on a different label) was
for.
The two studio cuts here — “Be The One” and “That, That Is” —
show that some doses of reality have made their way into the cosmic
oneness/weirdness that made up part of Yes’s career. Both songs
have their moments, though neither strikes me as being superior.
Still, after almost 20 years of not playing together with this
exact lineup, not a bad first effort upon reuniting.
However, a permanent line-up was not to be — from what I’ve
read, Wakeman departed the band yet again. Then again, this might
have been a good thing; does Yes really want to tour the country as
an “oldies” band, or do they want to continue developing new
material and possibly lead progressive rock back into the public
eye? That’s really the only problem with
Keys To Ascension — though the playing is good, the band is
trying to recapture glories of old with the songs of old. Even the
live double-album from Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe,
An Evening Of Yes Music Plus, mixed the old in with the new.
(A studio album,
Open Your Eyes, did soon follow, in defense of Yes.)
Those who grew up with Yes being AM radio staples will no doubt
enjoy
Keys To Ascension, as will those like myself who have
enjoyed Yes a good portion of their lives. But even though
everything old is new again, one wonders when the focus will shift
back to the new.