Yes-Progeny - Seven shows from Seventy Two Box Set

[kap'n krunch]

Thought the hype was overplaying it; well, it was not...the box is a treasure..you can really hear how these guys were creating GREAT covers of their songs (cause that's what you do when you play one of your songs live)...
For ANY Yes fan, this is well worth it..
And, the icing on the cake, , some lovely Roger Dean artwork that compliments the "Yessongs" era ...(Could we get some prints/posters of some of these, Roger?)

DEFINITELY WORTH IT!!!

 

[holland123]

Agreed, but definitely overload for a casual fan, listened to 3 of these shows and the nicest bit is that these were not mixed all to the center of the soundfield like every version of the yessongs collection was, you have howe on one side and wakeman on the other, nice seperation.

 

[jimfisheye]

Hmmm...

All the talk about restoring the tapes, decoding the dolby correctly for the first time, hearing the recordings like never before, etc, etc. And then just a 16 bit portable release?
Going to wait for a proper 24 bit release on this.

 

[kap'n krunch]

I'm supposing that the transfers were done in 96/24 at least, so it has a bit of "trickle down" goodness...

Yes, great separation and crisp mix...Alan's drums did not sound good (apologies for the recent "drum sound bashing" I have started unintentionally), no wonder Yessongs sounds the way it does up to a point..

My ONLY gripe is the fact that there is a LOT of humming and "ground noise" that could have been VERY easily fixed with modern technology without detracting from the original sound...

 

[jimfisheye]

Decided to bite on this anyway (as it looks for all the world that it will only ever get a portable quality release).

What can you say... Seven great Yes shows to listen to and they sound FAR better than the audience recordings floating around!

And... it's now VERY clear why they only made a 16 bit portable release for this one. It gets about a 6 or 7 out of 10 for fidelity. All the talk in the liner notes about restoring the tapes, decoding the dolby correctly for the first time, etc. They did in fact get this up to more or less professional standards but you can tell it was a struggle. The notes give one the impression that this is going to be an improvement over the fidelity of the Yessongs release which is why I initially thought to wait for a proper HD release. Quite the opposite in fact. These recordings are very much inferior to the Yessongs album (for all it's flaws). You can mostly hear all the instruments (except the bass is pretty stepped on a lot of the time) but the dynamics are very flat throughout.

Don't take that as a negative review. It is what it is. And the fact that the recordings exist in any form and sound this good is a great thing.

If you like hearing this band play live, this could be one of your favorite new releases.


Now if they could just dig out those Bruford shows from the end of the Fragile tour...

 

[ssully]

Decided to bite on this anyway (as it looks for all the world that it will only ever get a portable quality release).



What can you say... Seven great Yes shows to listen to and they sound FAR better than the audience recordings floating around!

And... it's now VERY clear why they only made a 16 bit portable release for this one. It gets about a 6 or 7 out of 10 for fidelity. All the talk in the liner notes about restoring the tapes, decoding the dolby correctly for the first time, etc. They did in fact get this up to more or less professional standards but you can tell it was a struggle. The notes give one the impression that this is going to be an improvement over the fidelity of the Yessongs release which is why I initially thought to wait for a proper HD release. Quite the opposite in fact. These recordings are very much inferior to the Yessongs album (for all it's flaws). You can mostly hear all the instruments (except the bass is pretty stepped on a lot of the time) but the dynamics are very flat throughout.

What is the 'portable' business? Is this the new 'audiophile' meme to replace 'CD is lossy/low-rez"?

These are analog tapes from 1972, recorded live with plenty of extraneous noise. None of these tracks approaches anything near digital silence. 24 bits is not going to lift veils, turn night to day, etc.

These tapes are no less dynamic than Yessongs...if anything, the original release probably had less dynamic range, due to analog compression during mixing and mastering.

 

[jimfisheye]

Call it what you want. I don't have anything against portable/lossy/small device formats. 'Portable' seems like the most positive word to use.

Some analog recordings from 1972 can surpass the abilities of portable formats such as the CD. This is not one of those recordings. This is also not a bad thing. That these recordings exist in a quality level above "What the heck is that noise?" is amazing in itself.
I'd also say that Yessongs probably would "fit" into the 16 bit format just fine itself. At least the best versions I've heard. (Love to be proven wrong on that.) But at the same time it's noticeably more dynamic than these new releases. Some of the press on this made me think it was going to be "Yessongs Unveiled" sound and I'd be missing something with just the CDs. Not the case.

So... if you were wondering about that... just go out and buy this. It's better sound than we are usually treated to with unedited live shows.

Probably getting spoiled with the bluray discs...

 

[ssully]

Call it what you want. I don't have anything against portable/lossy/small device formats. 'Portable' seems like the most positive word to use.

What is it supposed to mean? What formats aren't 'portable'?

Some analog recordings from 1972 can surpass the abilities of portable formats such as the CD.

No analog media can offer a combination of rock-solid frequency response from 0 to 20kHz, dynamic range greater than 96 dB, zero background noise, complete channel separation and pitch stability... which is what CD *offers* (even if it is not always exploited)

I'd also say that Yessongs probably would "fit" into the 16 bit format just fine itself. At least the best versions I've heard. (Love to be proven wrong on that.) But at the same time it's noticeably more dynamic than these new releases.

Dynamic range is an objective quality of a recording. I've seen no evidence yet that any version of Yessongs is 'more dynamic' than Progeny. Indeed, the producers of the new mixes claim to have aimed for maximum natural dynamic range.

Some of the press on this made me think it was going to be "Yessongs Unveiled" sound and I'd be missing something with just the CDs. Not the case.

What press said you'd be missing something with 'just' the CDs? Your only alternative would be the LPs...which I would hardly call a 'hi rez' format compared to 16/44 digital.

 

[kap'n krunch]

... It gets about a 6 or 7 out of 10 for fidelity....

Hmm, well, to me, it sounds VERY good.
As far as fidelity , for me , it's a 9 or even a 10...
The thing is , that is how the band SOUNDED onstage, Howe's odd guitar sound (not to say ugly), all the problems with Wakeman's rig (ground noises, clicks, stuck notes, out of tune Mellotrons..), Alan's cardboard sounding drumkit...the one who sounds best , instrument wise, is the Fish, funny how a band that sounded so good in the studio winds up with this not so good sound onstage..also , the monitor guy was probably stoned ALL The time...levels were all over the place and Howe asking to HEAR his gtr...Rick's keyboards sudden volume changes...

I am really digging this, listening to it in order and appreciating all the different approaches to some songs (the jamming at the end of CTTE,etc)...

 

[blue.monk]

The box arrived today and I just finished the Toronto show. LOVE IT! The Kap'n's comments are right on the mark. I may get through the Ottawa show tonight as well. "Sing, bird of prey, beauty begins at the foot of you..."

 

[kap'n krunch]

On my morning commute today, and since I'm listening to these back to back...

I FOUND the ACTUAL recording for "Yours is no disgrace" that is featured on Yessongs- on the box set!!!!

Funny how EDITED it is (bring out the blade and the tape!!! and bring a lot of splicing tape cause there are several....), but , it's all there...

Also , it's curious that the version on Yessongs virtually starts almost at the beginning of the song/jam...so the fade in was a "courtesy fade in"....

Not gonna say which disc it's on....so BUY THIS , it IS worth it..

(Thanks blue.monk!)

 

[kap'n krunch]

BTW "Yours is no disgrace" is my FAVE song on Yessongs!!!! So I was SMILING ALL DAY!!!!! STILL AM!!!!!

 

[Electric Moo]

I just bought this 14 disc set, and IMO it's absolutely amazing. So good to hear these guys ripping it up in their prime.

Lots of unique instrumental bits per show, so it doesn't get dull for me at all. I enjoy all the clams, technical probs too: it's a piece of history & a testament to the talent they had to pull all this off live.

Being able to clearly hear Howe & Wakeman panned L/R is fun too, am really digging the mix!!

Side one of Yessongs always bugged me. I much prefer the mixes here. Highly recommended!