Yessongs

Live album by Yes

Released

18 May 1973

Recorded

Various locations in North America and the Rainbow Theatre, London from February–December 1972

Genre

Progressive rock

Length

2:09:55

Label

Atlantic

Producer

Yes, Eddie Offord

Yes chronology

Close to the Edge
(1972)

Yessongs
(1973)

Tales from Topographic Oceans
(1973)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Rolling Stone	(not rated)

Yessongs is the first live album by the English rock band Yes, released in May 1973 on Atlantic Records. The album is a compilation of recordings taken from their Fragile (1971) and Close to the Edge (1972) tours between February and December 1972, from various locations in North America and the Rainbow Theatre in London. Two tracks feature Bill Bruford on drums; the remaining songs feature his replacement, Alan White.

Yessongs received a mostly positive critical reception, though much of its criticism was directed at its sound quality. However, the album was a commercial success for the band, reaching No. 7 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 12 on the U.S. Billboard 200. In 1998, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling over one million copies. In 2015, several shows that were used for Yessongs were released in their entirety as Progeny: Seven Shows from Seventy-Two.

The album opens with the final section from Igor Stravinsky's orchestral work The Firebird, which has been a standard opening for the majority of Yes concerts since 1971. The two tracks from the Fragile tour — "Perpetual Change" and "Long Distance Runaround/The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)" — feature Bill Bruford on drums. The remaining tracks have his successor, Alan White. Bruford performs a drum solo on "Perpetual Change", which is preceded by an extended guitar performance by Howe accompanied by Bruford and Squire. "The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)" is considerably longer than the studio version with bassist Chris Squire playing an extended solo. Keyboardist Rick Wakeman performs a medley of excerpts from his solo album The Six Wives of Henry VIII. Singer Jon Anderson sings a passage from Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring before the medley. "Mood for a Day" is an unaccompanied guitar performance by Steve Howe, who also takes extended solos during "Yours Is No Disgrace" and at the end of "Starship Trooper".

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Wikipedia