Union Live is here

The long-awaited and much-delayed "Union Live" boxset is now out, and I have a copy in front of me now. Much to my surprise, Rob Ayling of Gonzo/Voiceprint kindly sent me a copy. I say much to my surprise because I've frequently been rude about the quality of Voiceprint releases before now!

The Union tour was an iconic one for fans generally (and my first time seeing Yes). The surprise was that a live release did not straight away. However, one did emerge, albeit one only available in Japan, first on LaserDisc (if you remember those) and then on DVD. This was taken from the final North American date (8 Aug 1991) on the Union tour, and the sixth to last date of the whole tour: the Shoreline Ampitheater in Mountain View, California. However, the bad news, apart from the release only coming out in Japan, was that this wasn't a full show (only about two thirds of the set) and far from being their best performance.

Nevertheless, the Japanese release was much sought after and Internet ordering thankfully made it reasonably accessible if you knew where to look. I've had a copy for many years and I know many other Yes fans have too. Still, one can understand why there were long plans mooted for a more general re-release of the recording.

Meanwhile, there were two other video recordings going around in trading circles, both full sets of better shows. The 9 May Denver show was professionally shot, rumoured to be at Rabin's behest, although the bootleg version is some way from being pristine recording quality. Then there's a video of the opening tour date (9 April, Pensacola, Florida) shot from the audience.

Gonzo have now re-released the Mountain View material, and if you've got the Japanese release, this is exactly the same. This limited edition 2DVD/2CD boxset has a 1 hour 58 minute DVD with that material, with the two CDs containing the same again in audio-only form. Release details are unclear, but it appears that a single DVD release and a 2CD release will follow at some point.

But it's the second bonus DVD where all the interest lies. Gonzo have included both the Denver and Pensacola shows. I don't know what attempts were made to get master tapes or to clean up the source material, or how the versions here compare with the versions circulating in trading circles. But what we get, as the Gonzo ordering website makes very clear, are very much bootleg-quality. It would be difficult to release these two shows on their own, so Gonzo have sensibly combined the Mountain View show with these two bootlegs as bonuses.

So, what does bootleg-quality mean? Well, both are watchable. Denver (2 hours 43 minutes) is like a second-generation copy of an off-air VHS, if you can imagine that. It was professionally filmed, although the video editing isn't always great – perhaps suggesting not many cameras were involved. The sound is OK: there are occasional glitches, but the main problem is a mix with very little bass. The amateur camera work on the Pensacola show (3 hours) makes it look very different, shaking all the time as it does, yet actually the audio quality is a bit better than for Denver. Both Denver and Pensacola are also 'in the round' compared to the normal stage arrangement of Mountain View.

The bonus DVD also has a selection of audio tracks. There are three Mountain View songs omitted from the video, but here as 5.1 mixes: "And You and I", "Shock to the System" and "Lift Me Up". Then there are also stereo soundboard recordings of "And You and I" and "Shock to the System" (from 29 Jun 1991 London) and the drum duet and "Changes" (from 24 Jul 1991 Burgettstown, US). These are some real gems and make you wonder if all of these shows exist in audio form.

The boxset also includes a reproduction of the tour programme, which is nice but, having been shrunk in size, fairly eye-straining to read. You also get a replica stage pass and stage crew sticker, which sort of rattle around and you'll spend forever worrying you're going to lose them!

The multiple shows mostly had the same set, but there are some differences, as the table below tries to summarise.

Track	Mountain View (video) - DVD 1	Mountain View (audio) - CD tracks, or audio on DVD 2	Pensacola - DVD 2	Denver - DVD 2	additional DVD 2 audio tracks
Intro: Firebird Suite	1	1/1	1	1a
Yours is No Disgrace	2	1/2	2	1b
Rhythm of Love	3	1/3	3	2
City of Love	-	-	4	-
Heart of the Sunrise	4	1/4	5	4
Howe solo (usually Clap/Mood for a Day)	5	1/5	6 ("Leaves of Green"), 7 ("Concerto in D/Clap")	5
Make It Easy/Owner of a Lonely Heart	6	1/6	8	6
And You and I	-	bonus DVD	9	7	29 Jun 1991
Drum Duet	-	-	10	8	24 Jul 1991
Hold On	-	-	11	9
Shock to the System		bonus DVD	12	3	29 Jun 1991
I've Seen All Good People	7	1/7	-	10
Solly's Beard	8	2/1	13	12
Saving My Heart	9	2/2	-	-
Changes	-	-	14	11 (inc. Kaye solo)	24 Jul 1991
Take the Water to the Mountain	-	-	15	-
Soon	-	-	16	-
Long Distance Runaround	-	-	17	13
Whitefish	10a	2/3a	18	14a
Amazing Grace	10b	2/3b	19	14b
Lift Me Up	-	bonus DVD	20	15
Wakeman solo	11	2/4	21	16
Awaken	12	2/5	22	17
Roundabout	13	2/6	23	18
Starship Trooper	-	-	24	-

What was the best-selling Yes-related album of 2010?

Most albums mentioned on the Where Are They Now? site probably only sell in the thousands and we rarely get to hear any definitive sales figures. I was told Survival & Other Stories sold about 1500 copies on the Anderson Wakeman tour, but that has not yet been available anywhere else. Thus, in the absence of data, it's hard to know which albums have sold better.

However, we can probably say that one of the best-selling of 2010 was Asia's Omega. That's because Omega made various national charts: #29 in Japan and the top 60 in Germany, Sweden, Norway and Switzerland, plus #13 on the UK indie chart. It also did well on the Amazon (US and Canada) and CD Universe sales charts. So, Omega, the best-selling album by a Yesman... well, it would be were it not for Trevor Horn.

Robbie Williams' In and Out of Consciousness: Greatest Hits 1990–2010 includes 3 songs from 2009's Reality Killed the Video Star produced by Horn and two new tracks, one of which, “Shame” with fellow Take That member Gary Barlow, was also produced by Horn and released as a single. "Shame" went #2 in the UK, #1 in Hungary, #4 in Europe, #7 in Italy, #11 in Germany and so on. It was certified Silver in the UK (i.e. 60k). In and Out of Consciousness: Greatest Hits 1990–2010 made #1 in the UK, Germany, Austria and Europe; selling 120k copies in the UK in its first week (the second fastest selling album of 2010 in the UK). It also made the top five in Italy, Spain, Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Portugal, Switzerland, Ireland, Croatia. It was the 40th best selling album of 2010 in Europe. It has now gone Platinum in the UK (300k), and Gold in Austria (10k), Belgium (15k), Germany (100k), Italy (30k) and Portugal (10k). So, that's at least 465,000 certified sales.

That's the highest sales for a project by any Yesman, but not for any project featuring a Yesman. To explain... "In High Places" was a song by Mike Oldfield with Jon Anderson, and a section of Jon singing has now been sampled by Kanye West for his latest album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. That album made the US #1, selling 496k copies in its first week, and 822.5k in its first five weeks. It made #1 in Canada with first week sales of 29k. It made #16 in the UK, and went Silver. It made #6 in Australia, and went Gold (35k). It also made the top 20 in the Germany, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Ireland and New Zealand. So, that's at least 886,500 sales, 886,500 people hearing Jon sing!

However, if we talk about audience rather than sales, then Trevor Rabin probably wins. He did the music for "The Sorcerer's Apprentice". The film has grossed $225,363,077 at cinemas and in DVD sales. I don't know exactly what that means in terms of the number of people seeing the film, but perhaps something of the order of 10 million have heard his score.

Poll: what were you most looking forward to in 2010?

A final catch-up on old poll results... I'd asked you, "2010 sees several projects outside Yes itself involving multiple Yes men: which interests you most?" 66 voted with the following results:

Anderson Wakeman Project: 40 (61%)    
Asia: 14 (21)%    
Yoso: 5 (8%)
Mystery: 2 (3%)    
CIRCA:: 1 (2%)

invalid votes: 4

Seems to me that there's a strong relationship there between the number of classic Yes members involved and interest in the project -- perhaps that's not surprising.

Anyway, did the year live up to your hopes for it?

Poll: Best Yes-related album of the first half of 2010

And continuing a theme... the best Yes-related album of the first half of 2010, as voted by you.

1. Omega (Asia, w/ Howe, Downes): 55 (45%)
2. One Among the Living (Mystery, w/ David, O. Wakeman): 25 (20%)
3. Oneirology (Billy Sherwood): 11 (9%)
4. Past, Present and Future (Rick Wakeman): 6 (5%)
5= Shaman Mirror Medicine Tree (Rich Goodhart, w/ Anderson): 5 (4%)
5= Homebrew 4 (Steve Howe, w/ Downes): 5 (4%)
5= Emotion & Commotion (Jeff Beck, w/ Horn): 5 (4%)
8. Travelling (Steve Howe Trio): 4 (3%)
9. Palatza Delo Sports, Udine, Italy, March 19, 1974 (King Crimson, w/ Bruford): 2 (2%)
10= Once in a Blue Moon—The Lost Album (Rod Stewart, w/ Horn): 1 (1%)
10= San Diego State Univ, San Diego, CA, June 08, 1984 (King Crimson, w/ Bruford): 1 (1%)
10= Tarrant County Convention Centre, Fort Worth, TX, June 06, 1974 (King Crimson, w/ Bruford): 1 (1%)

There were 123 votes, including 2 invalid votes. There were no votes for two World Cup-related albums with some Horn production work or for Top Musicians Play Queen (w/ Sherwood).

A clear winner for Omega there, and interesting to see the album with the two newcomers, Benoît and Oliver, coming a good second. I think I voted for Travelling myself, although these days I think it's third placed Oneirology that I'd support.

Poll: Best Yes-related album of the second half of 2009

Another catch-up on an older poll's result... I asked you all what was the best Yes-related album of the second half of 2009.

1= Steve Hackett: Out of the Tunnel's Mouth (w/ Squire)     18
1= Rick Wakeman: The Six Wives Of Henry VIII - Live At Hampton Court Palace [Eagle Rock release]     18
3. King Crimson: Live in Zurich, November 15, 1973 (w/ Bruford)     4
4= The Strawbs: Dancing to the Devil's Beat (w/ O. Wakeman)     3
4= Rick Wakeman: Always with You     3
4= Moraz-Bruford: In Tokyo     3
4= Trevor Rabin: G-Force OST     3
4= Eureka: Shackleton's Voyage (w/ Sherwood)     3
9= pianocircus feat. Bill Bruford play the music of Colin Riley: Skin & Wire     2
9= Jim Ladd's Headsets: Chapter 2: Sides (w/ Sherwood)     2
9= Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs: Under the Covers, Vol. 2 (w/ Howe)     2
11= King Crimson: Community Theatre, Berkeley, CA, June 16, 1973 (w/ Bruford)     1
11= King Crimson: The Town Hall, New York, NY, June 03, 1995 (w/ Bruford)     1

Several Horn productions (for Aviv Geffen, Robbie Williams and Kid Harpoon), several further archival live Crimson releases, Sherwood's An All-Star Salute to Christmas and Jerusalem's Escalator received no votes.

The voting was dominated by two albums and ended in a dead heat. The initial Concert Live release of Rick's Hampton Court show won the poll for the first half of 2009, and the subsequent general release Eagle Rock version ties here. Rick Wakeman's model of how to celebrate the past clearly worked for fans. The other leading album was Steve Hackett's Out of the Tunnel's Mouth, featuring Chris Squire on the opening two tracks -- a good omen for the Squackett album now finished and expected in 2011?

Personally, I think you're all wrong! Skin & Wire, Bruford's final studio recording, stood out for me in its experimentalism and the quality of playing. Not perhaps an easy album at first, but one that rewards repeated listening.

A poll for the best Yes-related album of the second half of 2010 will be on the main site soon. How will key releases like Anderson/Wakeman's The Living Tree, Yoso's debut, Elements, fare?

Poll: Best previously unreleased Yes song to come out in the '00s?

Catching up on some older poll results... I asked you all what was the best, previously unreleased Yes song to be officially released in the last decade. There were 119 votes, and the results were...

The Big Medley [on The Word is Live]     26
We Can Fly from Here [on The Word is Live]     23
Some are Born [on expanded Tormato]     11
Golden Age [on expanded Drama]     10
Richard [on In a Word]     6
Countryside [on expanded Tormato]     6
It's Over [on expanded 90125]     6
(Have We Really Got to) Go Through This [on expanded Drama and The Word is Live]     5
It's Love [on The Word is Live]     4
Vevey (Revisited) [on expanded Going for the One]     3
Days [on expanded Tormato]     3
Everybody's Song [on expanded Tormato]     3
Children of the Light: Lightning [on Keystudio]     2
You Can be Saved [on expanded Tormato]     2
High [on expanded Tormato]     2
Song No. 4 (Satellite) [on expanded Drama]     2
Picasso [on expanded Tormato]     1
In the Tower [on expanded Drama]     1
Friend of a Friend [on expanded Drama]     1
Hello Chicago [on The Word is Live]     1
invalid vote...     1

"Tango", "Never Done Before" and "Crossfire", all from In a Word, received no votes. Apart from the medley, the most popular individual song was "We Can Fly from Here", so it's interesting that the current band are planning to record a version of this for the new album.

Anderson Wakeman Project 360 at IndigO2, London, 15 Nov 2010

I'd expected the Anderson Wakeman Project 360 to be pretty similar to their 2006 tour.

It wasn't.

Based on this performance, Anderson's voice has not recovered. I have only the utmost sympathy for what he went through in 2008 and I hope his voice does continue to recover, but right now, it hasn't. I've described before the nasal quality you hear with Anderson's voice on The Living Tree and Survival & Other Stories, and that was present, but more apparent was when Anderson would slip into a throaty rasp. He is still distinctively Jon and his pitch control is fine. His mid-range is reasonable, particularly on the songs he knows well, but he struggles on some of the higher and lower notes. He has no sustain, and erratic volume control, often no volume. In the second of two one-hour sets, they had turned the volume of his microphone way up, which helped but had the effect that you could hear his sibilants hissing. This was the last show of his longest tour since his 2008 health problems, so perhaps he was better earlier in the tour; some reviews suggest so. However, I can't imagine Jon, with this voice, making it through even one Yes show.

Plenty have commented on Anderson's guitar playing. He's pretty poor, and while that sort of works in his one man show, it was often a distraction here. But I expected decent playing from Wakeman and he was dropping notes and demonstrated no fluidity.

This relaxed approach, Wakeman's cheap-sounding synths and Anderson's basic guitar playing, worked some of the time. Songs like "Time and a Word" (an odd mishmash of styles that surprisingly worked, their enthusiasm coming through) or "Wonderous Stories" suited the format, but others, like an abbreviated "Starship Trooper" and a lacklustre "Yours is No Disgrace", did not work at all for me. We got a horrible, dirty mush of electronic keyboard sounds that sucked any potential out of "Turn of the Century" and "Soon", whereas the clear piano setting for Wakeman's synth for "The Meeting" was much better. The performance made me appreciate what a wonderful instrument the grand piano is! On just piano in 2006, Wakeman was able to conjure up the majesty of the great Yes pieces, but on two electronic keyboards here, we got too many cheesy burps and tinkly notes.

The set list seems to reflect Jon's choices with its similarity to his solo sets. Thus, the oddity of so many songs that Wakeman didn't play on originally ("Sweet Dreams", "Time and a Word", "Yours is No Disgrace", "Starship Trooper", "Soon", "Owner of a Lonely Heart"). Anderson "royally screwed up" (his words) "Owner of a Lonely Heart" and they had to re-start it.

The epic feel and dynamics of the classic Yes songs, that the pair surprised me by capturing on their 2006 tour, was largely lost in these karaoke versions. The exception was a great "South Side of the Sky" (barring some poor keyboard sound choices in Wakeman's closing solo) and perhaps parts of "And You and I". Much more than 2006, the absence of the other three Yesmen was very apparent.

The new songs were close to the album versions, and the same praise and criticism applies. "Morning Star" was an up-tempo highlight. Anderson's explanations of his lyrics was interesting, although they sometimes only seemed to emphasise how little work had gone into some of the material, like his description of the random numbers in "23/34/11". (So, if it's 23 days, 24 hours and 11 minutes, isn't that actually 24 days and 11 minutes?) Anderson seems to feel an instant response matters more than working on something.

The humour, the shtick, mostly worked. There was a certain welcoming bonhomie, like a friendly club act. The pair dealt well with an annoying heckler in the first set. Some of the jokes were quite funny, although one was appalling. Jon, on occasion, seemed uncomfortable at the bawdiness, and sometimes just rather lost.

Compare the Steve Howe Trio, another reduced line-up playing plenty of Yes covers. The Trio breathes new life into the music, Howe attacks the music with more vigour than in Yes, new angles emerge. Not like here, not like this night. This was two old men relaxing on a big fluffy cushion of nostalgia. The Anderson Wakeman Project 360 felt like an epilogue, a winding down. The audience cheered and applauded the pair for what they'd done in the past, but there was little in the evening's performance to warrant the reaction they got, or the high ticket price.

There are those who criticise the current Yes, saying that seeing Yes in a reduced state, without Jon, playing to smaller crowds, the slower tempos, is damaging the legacy. I've argued against that view before but find myself more understanding of it as a certain melancholy descended on me in the Anderson Wakeman show. This is a pale imitation of what they once achieved, even compared to 2006: Jon's voice gone, both of them playing poorly, songs stripped of their magnificence. There were highlights, and we had a pleasant evening out, but this was a huge disappointment.

(For those of you awaiting my review of Survival & Other Stories, it will be along soon!)