Yes - Keys to Ascension

Starring:Yes
Studio: Image Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
The music of Yes has an almost otherworldy sound that is occasionally hard to reconcile with the sight of five very ordinary blokes standing on a stage. As a result, Yes were arguably always better to listen to than watch. Keys to Ascension attempts to bridge the disparity between the band and their music with cutaway footage of forests and waterfalls and plenty of Roger Dean artwork. Sometimes it works; more often it feels contrived, as in "Turn of the Century," where attention is distracted from Steve Howe's fretwork by a pop video-style presentation of the Pygmalion story as told by the lyrics.

This is the classic Yes lineup of Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, Rick Wakeman, and Alan White, captured in concert in California in 1996 (the same concerts spawned no less than two double-CD albums). In a very generous 150 minutes of music making, they give what amounts to a greatest-hits tour of the classic Yes canon from "Time and a Word" through The Yes Album, Fragile, Close to the Edge, Tales from Topographic Oceans, Going for the Once, and Tormato. For enthusiasts, it's a treat to watch Howe swapping from Martin six-string to Gibson semi-acoustic to electric mandolin to 12-string to pedal steel, sometimes all in the same song; or watch Chris Squire's apparently effortless bass technique. Occasionally they drift into Spinal Tap territory (Squire's triple neck in "Awaken"!) and overall there's a polished politeness to proceedings that hints at a band going through the motions, which is hardly surprising given that the latest material here dates from 1978. --Mark Walker
Description
Yes have reformed in their most celebrated line-up--Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman and Alan White--and this reunion has been greeted with anticipation by millions of fans worldwide. Keys to Ascension was recorded in March 1996 during a series of brilliantly staged live concerts at the Freemont Theatre in San Luis Obispo, California. The band gelled magnificently and "Keys to Ascension" proves that all the magic is still there--great vision, stunning technical ability, incredible improvisational skills and imaginative presentation of ideas...timeless Yes music. Songs: Siberian Khatru, Close to the Edge, I've Seen All Good People, Time and a Word, And You and I, The Revealing Science of God, Going for the One, Turn of the Century, America, Onward, Awaken, Roundabout, Starship Trooper. 147 minutes.

Yes - Keys to Ascension
Average customer rating:

Some of the Gods of Progressive Rock have graced the stage, once again

YES THIS IS WORTH IT! Are you kidding?

Can't Watch It!

Keys Of Attention To Keys To Ascension....

Yes. Of course it's good...(no pun intended).

Yes - Keys to Ascension
Starring: Yes
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000055XSW
Release Date: 2001-01-02

Amazon.com

The music of Yes has an almost otherworldy sound that is occasionally hard to reconcile with the sight of five very ordinary blokes standing on a stage. As a result, Yes were arguably always better to listen to than watch. Keys to Ascension attempts to bridge the disparity between the band and their music with cutaway footage of forests and waterfalls and plenty of Roger Dean artwork. Sometimes it works; more often it feels contrived, as in "Turn of the Century," where attention is distracted from Steve Howe's fretwork by a pop video-style presentation of the Pygmalion story as told by the lyrics.

Description

Yes have reformed in their most celebrated line-up--Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman and Alan White--and this reunion has been greeted with anticipation by millions of fans worldwide. Keys to Ascension was recorded in March 1996 during a series of brilliantly staged live concerts at the Freemont Theatre in San Luis Obispo, California. The band gelled magnificently and "Keys to Ascension" proves that all the magic is still there--great vision, stunning technical ability, incredible improvisational skills and imaginative presentation of ideas...timeless Yes music. Songs: Siberian Khatru, Close to the Edge, I've Seen All Good People, Time and a Word, And You and I, The Revealing Science of God, Going for the One, Turn of the Century, America, Onward, Awaken, Roundabout, Starship Trooper. 147 minutes.

Customer Reviews:

Some of the Gods of Progressive Rock have graced the stage, once again.......2007-01-16

In 1996, Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Alan White, Steve Howe, and Rick Wakeman return to the stage at the Fremont Theatre in San Luis Obispo, in California.

Out of all the CD's and DVD's of Yes performing live, this is my favorite line-up of tunes. All three tracks of "Close To The Edge" are here, plus "The Revealing Science of God" (the only track that I truly favored off the "Tales of Topographic Oceans" album), and of course, "Roundabout", "I've Seen All Good People", and their masterpiece from "Going For the One", the track "Awaken". Plus more.

This performance has 13 songs from their better album rock days (the 1970's), and this performance is about 2 and a half hours long. There are some disappointments though about this DVD performance. I really wish that they didn't super-impose their camera-work so much in the film. You'll see a close-up of one performer, plus you'll see all of them filmed about 30 feet from the stage, and maybe you'll see some outside sunset scene or swaying trees. All this overlapping each other on the film at the same time. It kinda creates a psychedelic imagery. But, it's not as bad as all that psychedelic art that they had super-imposed all over Emerson, Lake, and Palmer on their DVD of "Pictures at An Exhibition" (that was a true overkill and was truly disappointing). Plus on this Yes performance, you will see some rapid-pace freeze frame imagery that is an eyesore too. Fast-paced freeze frames that make the whole scene appear choppy.

There wasn't too much interaction with the audience, and there was hardly any applause. The camera breaks away after every performance so who knows what order these songs have played. Who knows if these recordings were all done on the same night. It seemed like this was a small theatre designed for old aging rock group has-beens which might be the case for some artists as old as they are, but I can still image that Yes could have a larger audience and a hugely respectful concert hall audience. Maybe this show wasn't promoted very well, and maybe that theatre could only handle about 300 people. I'll bet the show sold out fast because that audience was not too big.

Anyway, this DVD of Keys to Ascension is a pretty good keeper for any Yes fan.

YES THIS IS WORTH IT! Are you kidding?.......2006-05-29

If every YES release was just another common concert dvd, we would be wishing for more concert visuals and psychedelic atmosphere, as this band is known for. Keys tries, albeit in an awkward way, to fill that void, and for me it succeeds pretty well (many of the most atmospheric songs are presented just for that purpose).

A good chunk of the inserted video are close-ups of various leads (over the full-stage image, or half screen), which I find invaluable for the glimpses of key moments of these great songs. Wakeman and Howe get most of the cameos appropriately, since they are the primary soloists (Squire is not forgotten, don't worry). Many other cool shots and angles are shown for a standing on the stage feel - you often feel you are right there with the drums. The flowery additions are not overwhelming ... just interspersed for trippy effect. I'm watching on a very large front projection screen with a nice audio system, so maybe that makes all the difference (so the visual clutter can be sorted out) ... I find it to be very enjoyable!

As others have said, this is a set-list to die for basically and all of the performances are spot-on for the most part, in my opinion. I have Philly too - if you think there is ANY comparison in quality to this, I would wonder where you came up with that crazy notion, Philly is very short with very low quality production and nothing close to this song selection (it is STILL worth getting though). Symphonic is a superior production in many ways, as is Tsongas and House of YES when comparing the more recent offerings, but the actual playing and pure YES magic here is at a very high level in my opinion.

Someone else pointed out that the old YES feel is very present on these performances: ALL OF THE CLOSE TO THE EDGE ALBUM, THE REVEALING SCIENCE OF GOD (up close and personal, really fantastic), the heaviest bits of the Going for the One album, America (the long version), beautiful renditions of Time and a Word, Roundabout and Onward, AWAKEN, the ever fun and jammin' I've Seen All Good people and Starship Trooper... I ask you again, WHAT'S NOT TO LIKE?

I enjoy floating around with the visuals as I watch the individual performances (I am a musician and have always been totally inspired by this band). They show close-ups of hands (YES, all of us musicians would like a multi-angle option to focus on any player at will ... that would be sweet) more often than most concert dvd's, and I have many. By the way, Steve's performance is excellent, as usual; they all seem to be completely dialed-in. It is astonishing how well they have preserved the YES magic!

No, it's not sheer perfection by any means, but all big fans of 70's YES should be halfway to the Pearly Gates and ready to open them with these keys. The so-called huge flaws everyone seems to be obsessing about just aren't an issue in my mind. YES members don't need to cheat to perform their great songs, they are consummate professionals in every way.

Enjoy this great slice of the YES journey (on Amazon, 5 stars simply means I LOVE IT); thank you YES for this great offering. If they release another cleaned up or expanded version someday, all the better and I will certainly get it. Hearing your wonderous stories - all for the price of a cheap t-shirt, @*#^ YES THIS IS WORTH IT!

Can't Watch It! .......2006-04-15

This DVD is simply one of the worst concert productions I have ever had the misfortune to see and pay for.

And yes, I LOVE YES folks, that's why I bought it!

The effects are unwatchable and when you finally realize it's all out of sync and put haphazardly together from at least two different performances...even edits from different performances during the same shot of a rippin solo...(see Steve Howe, steel slide, And You And I)...Well, need I say more?

Stay away from this one folks, even the lowly "Live In Philly" is better than this, and many other Yes DVD's are much better!

Keys Of Attention To Keys To Ascension...........2006-04-14

I was lucky enough to be right there !!
Second row !!
Even went to Chris Squire's Birthday Party
after the show !!
But being the new guy i was stuck watching
everybody's coats & stuff while they all
were about & minglng.
The concert was GREAT !!!
Even made the video in the audience !!
But when i saw the release i thought,
What the heck !!!
Its ruined with all that interference on the
video !!
I want to see the band play !! Not see
special effects !! Some of my friends who
were lucky enough to video tape the shows
have a better example of how a performance
should be shot.
When i want to view that show at San Luis Obispo
i watch the bootleg videos, much better as
far as seeing the BAND PLAY !!!
No breaking away from the performance .
Oh, & by the way, it was told to most people that
it was OK to shoot the show on video cams !!
It wasn't until the last show & the last few songs
that the security people were telling everyone
to STOP SHOOTING !!!
Too bad, they probley had the best performance
shots without special effects in the way !!!
Wonder if YES will ever release that show
without the special effects !!
But being there was so very cOOl !!
Come on !! Give us another chance to watch
a nice progressive 70's band play live without
all that imagination nonsense !!! I mean, its nice, but
not for a concert video !!!
Hello there !! Keys To Attention !! Give us another new
release of SLO !!! With only the BAND !!!

Yes. Of course it's good...(no pun intended)........2005-12-15

Until recently, I have resisted purchasing Yes DVD's only because so many of them seem to be so similar and from recent time periods: late 90's-early 2000's although "late 90's" is rapidly becoming old! Now that's darn scary...) Anyway, I feel the cream of the crop is Yessongs and the increasingly hard to find Live at the Q.P.R. from 1975 but only because of the vintage, classic footage and not necessarily the tunes (although the Q.P.R. disc contains the incredible Sound Chaser, albeit with butchered sound quality, alas). What lured me in to KTA was the mind-blowing set list, particularly Siberian Khatru, Awaken, and The Revealing Science of God. I just couldn't resist any longer and I scanned many of the reviews on Amazon trying to decide which one's to get. I chose Symphonic Live which I believe is the superior disc and I tried to ignore the many negative reviews of KTA but the one prevailing criticism that I can't help but agree with is the over abundance of watery, flowery animation imagery that regularly occurs throughout the ENTIRE recording. Too often, the screen is overly cluttered and distracting. Generally speaking, if you're familiar with Yes's music and you've logged countless hours absorbing their incredible sound-works you may as well ignore all the negative comments about the musicians themselves which is why I give this DVD four stars. The performances are incredible. Remember, this is YES PERFORMING LIVE. And of course, in a perfect world the camera would be on every musician at precisely the moment when that incredible lick, or bass run, or keyboard flourish, or drum fill was being executed but NO LIVE CONCERT DVD WORKS THIS WAY. That said, I still thought there were many excellent shots of Wakeman (particularly during The Revealing Science of God). If only he was on the Symphonic Live disc! After weighing the pros and cons of each though, the Symphonic Live disc gets my vote because of the better camera work, better sound quality (only by a little though), and the option to TURN OFF the animation. Bottom line: This is the ALMOST original line up of Yes performing their incredible songs live. You really can't go wrong...

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