Yessongs - The Movie

[walker]

I watched Yessongs yesterday and realized that the performances in the movie are different from those on the 3-album set of the same name. It's from the same tour, obviously, but different venues, I'm guessing. Some differences between the movie and album that stood out (BESIDES Long Distance Runaround & The Fish being omitted altogether) are the intro to 'And You And I' - Squire plays his lines an octave higher in the movie than he does on the album. And White's drum fills in the beginning breaks of 'Yours Is No Disgrace' are noticeably different.

Anyone else notice this? Or should I say: Am I the last one to notice this?

[ajish4]

I watched Yessongs yesterday and realized that the performances in the movie are different from those on the 3-album set of the same name. It's from the same tour, obviously, but different venues, I'm guessing. Some differences between the movie and album that stood out (BESIDES Long Distance Runaround & The Fish being omitted altogether) are the intro to 'And You And I' - Squire plays his lines an octave higher in the movie than he does on the album. And White's drum fills in the beginning breaks of 'Yours Is No Disgrace' are noticeably different.

Anyone else notice this? Or should I say: Am I the last one to notice this?

LOL,

I KNEW there were "differences" back in the day, but currently....I couldn't tell you what they were if there was a million bucks in ti for me.....my bass mentor& quasi teacher back in 77/78 when I was about 15/16 even used to say that Squire (in the beginning) didn't want folks to figure out his lines by watching him play in the movie so the switched some of the parts, slowed some down, changed some etc....but to be honest, it was SO long ago, who knows....

NOW that the smoke has cleared shall we say, I'll pop in the DVD and take a peak in the next day or so. It's been YEARS since I've watched it.

[just_bassics]

Correct, the tracks on the film are not all the same as on the record. Yours is no disgrace is completley different, especially the intro and Steve's solo. Also, the "Death defying" verse was not played os the film and it's not an edit, they just went straight to the outro verse. I think, if my ears tell me correctly, that CTTE and Starship Trouper are the same takes.

I didn't see Yessongs until it came out on VHS around 1985 and was disappointed because I always assumed the film was as long as the record. I still love those long concerts!

Also, several tracks on the LP have Bill Bruford handling the percussion, notably, Perpetual Change, LDR & The Fish.

I told Chris recently that my favorite live Yes film is currently Live at Montreux because they perform almost the entire Fragile LP in that show, minus "Mood for a day" and "5% for Nothing". When I asked him why no official Yes film had contained Heart of the Sunrise, LDR or The Fish before "Montreux", he gave me that "look" and said that he hadn't really noticed!

Montreux also has a sweet version of South Side of the Sky, with Howe and the elder Wakeman trading solos at the end. Worth the price right there, IMHO.

[walker]

I think I have the audio version of the Montreax SSOTS performance. Anderson's vocals sound particularly tough, nice grit. I'd love to cover this song some day soon!

[ram]

I do so like SSOTS - might be one of my faves of all time. Still haven seen them play it live (got to check Yours is No Disgrace last time around)... but I have a couple of different version and like them all.

[BAD RONBO, KiLLeR DWaRfS]

i've got the original movie poster ! got it at a toronto record convention in the mid '80's.

[ram]

yeah watching a tune change for a live performance and the develop as part of a tour or two is really fun. Tune evolution is very interesting to me.

Mark - is your new avatar a cavity shot?

[walker]

Yup Yo! I had my filling removed, as it were. That's the inside of my '68. Saw it for the first time yesterday.

(Sidebar here: viewtopic.php?p=636988#p636988)

Yeah - song maturation. I think it definitely benefits a band to play their songs out live a few times, maybe even for a full tour before recording. But then the purpose of most tours is to promote the album, so I guess that wouldn't be logical now, would it... yeah. Enyhu - live albums are great for that before & after glimpse.

Funny thing - I listened to Yessongs (the album) earlier today, then listened to the movie version for comparison while doing some retouching this eve. Somehow I managed to hit the 2x speed on the movie player inadvertently right when Wakeman's keyboard solo came up. I thought "Wow! He's really tearing it up on this version!" Then the band kicked into Roundabout at double speed and I thought I was losing my mind because the video part still looked pretty much the same. But then the herky-jerky effect of the body movements came in and what was once frightening was suddenly very amusing.

Lots of little details that the movie version reveals - one that I would have been better off not discovering: Anderson kissing the mic at about the 41 minute mark during his La La solo. Eeeww!

[walker]

Oh, brother! I just caught this: You know how Yes usually lists the band members in alphabetical order by last name?

Jon Anderson
Steve Howe
Chris Squire
Rick Wakeman
Alan White

In the Yessongs movie credits, Steve Howe is listed first above Anderson. Odd, I thought. Hints at a bit of egoism on Stevie's part - I mean, why break from the traditional and logical alphabetical arrangement? Did the whole band really agree to that? Later on in the credits, it shows that the movie was edited by a Mr. Philip Howe. Any relation, you suppose? NAH! Couldn't be! Must be a comPLETE coincidence!

Really, Steve? Really?

[ram]

Maybe order of appearance or stage set up left to right - or maybe it is good to have 'friends'????

[walker]

And relatives!

[ram]

Ahhhh - nepotism is a great reason to have family!

[boki-san]

"... one that I would have been better off not discovering: Anderson kissing the mic at about the 41 minute mark during his ..."

boki likes that part

[walker]

Then you can have my portion!