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Review:
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The only way to see the REAL Yes this year will be
in this video. While the band currently touring as Yes does
feature members of the band from their classic line up,
it's missing one key person--Jon Anderson. There's only
been one other time that he's been MIA and that's when he
left Yes during the period of "Drama" where the rest of
the band recruited member fromer Buggles singer Trevor Horn
to fill Anderson's shoes. It's a pity that the rest of the
band couldn't wait for Anderson for while the new singer
they've recruited does a fine job of imitating Anderson
it's till an imitation making this the only Yes cover band
to have members of Yes in the line up. The line up of the
band has rotated over the last 40 years but, with the exception
of one studio album and tour, Yes has ALWAYS featured Anderson
center stage. You could argue that Chris Squire, Alan White
and Steve Howe ARE Yes without Anderson but that's like
arguing that The Beatles could be The Beatles without John
Lennon or that The Police could still be The Police without
Sting. It just doesn't work without your front man and Anderson
is much more than a front man. ***
"Yes-The Director's Cut" features many of the members
classic line-up from 2003 tour celebrating their 35th Anniversary.
The performances were recorded at N.I.A. Birmingham and
Glastonbury. Naturally Anderson is a part of it but so is
Squire, White, Rick Wakeman and Howe. The performances also
include mini-interviews with the band intercut with the
performances. The band focuses primarily on the recordings
that this line up worked on. The songs they tackle include:
***
"Siberian Khatru", "Magnification", "Don't Kill The
Whale", "In The Presence Of", "We Have Heaven", "South Side
Of The Sky", "And You And I", "To Be Over", "Clap", "Show
Me", Heart Of The Sunrise", "Long Distance Runaround", "The
Fish" (we also get a nice long Rick Wakeman solo after "Show
Me"). ***
These tracks all show up on disc one. Disc two kicks
off with "Awaken", "I've Seen All Good People", "Roundabout"
plus we get additional performances of other songs from
the Glastonbury show "Siberian Khatru", "Magnification",
"Don't Kill The Whale", "We Have Heaven", "South Side of
the Sky", "And You And I", "Heart Of The Sunrise", "Awaken",
"Ive Seen All Good People", "Roundabout". ---
Image & Sound:
The show looks extremely good with nice natural looking
colors (often a tough accomplishment under concert lights).
There were some minor digital artifacts but they weren't
distracting. Audio is available in three options stereo,
Dolby 5.1 and the superior DTS format which always lends
itself well to concert performances based on the better
dynamic range of that format. Each sounds extremely good
with the edge going to the DTS. --
Special Features:
There aren't any special features listed under an "extras"
menu. Instead, we get additional songs from the original
show plus the Glastonbury show. The nice thing for fans
is that you get different performances of the same song
with variations in the performances whether it be a stronger
lead vocal from Anderson, better solo from Howe or Wakeman
or just a better vibe from the band. ---
Final Words: An exceptional performance by one of the
most important band in prog's history, "Yes: The Director's
Cut" features some never before seen performances as well
as some alternate performances of the some of the band's
most popular songs. The image and sound are exceptional
for the most part in this excellent concert documentary.
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