Yes Tales

When Yes joined forces with a symphony orchestra for the first time on their 2001 studio album, Magnification, the most common reaction was probably "I thought they'd done it already," since the legendary outfit's cerebral, progressive rock had frequently seemed more steeped in classical music than rock itself. But, as if to prove that they are in fact a rock band, the almost seminal lineup of Yes – Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, Alan White, minus ever-mercurial keyboardist Rick Wakeman – subsequently took to the concert trail accompanied by the European Festival Orchestra, conducted by Wilhelm Keitel, for a tour during which they wisely mixed just a smattering of new songs in among many of their most beloved '70s masterworks…

Compiled by Chris Squire (in case you're wondering how "The Fish" made it this far upstream), Classic Yes was Atlantic's initial attempt to distill the band's best music. The key to this collection is in the title: this is the band's "classic" music. Anything prior to The Yes Album is cut out, no attempt is made to salvage snippets from Relayer or Tales from Topographic Oceans; Drama and Tormato are dispensed with…

With 1971's Fragile having left Yes poised quivering on the brink of what friend and foe acknowledged was the peak of the band's achievement, Close to the Edge was never going to be an easy album to make. Drummer Bill Bruford was already shifting restlessly against Jon Anderson's increasingly mystic/mystifying lyricism, while contemporary reports of the recording sessions depicted bandmate Rick Wakeman, too, as little more than an observer to the vast tapestry that Anderson, Steve Howe, and Chris Squire were creating…

Yes' second (and least successful) album was a transitional effort; the group trying for a more produced and sophisticated sound through the use of an orchestra. Even so, the results weren't conventional, because the group didn't tone down or turn down its sound…

This two-CD set is that odd musical griffin: a live disc plus a studio disc. While the live material is rendered well, it's dispiriting that two of Yes' three live albums of the '90s rehash material adequately covered in Yessongs and Yesshows. While the appearance of Steve Howe's classical guitar on the lovely "Turn of the Century" is a pleasant surprise, the rest of the live album is nothing that you haven't heard before…