I'd like to start out with a complaint. For reasons beyond my understanding, Yesshows is presented here on *2* CDs (disregard what Amazon says about this- you get a two-disc set) despite the fact that they both add up to less than 80 minutes of music, thus being able to fit on one disc. A real waste of space and CDs. At least it's not reflected in the price.

On to the actual content of the album. The opener Parallels is great, and surpasses its lackluster studio counterpart. The early Yes classic Time And A Word is well-performed too, and Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman, who were not in the band for the studio version, add flair. Steve Howe flubs the opening to Going For The One, but instead of detracting from it, adds an element of charm.

The Gates Of Delirium. Beautiful. Powerful. Passionate. Perfect. That's all I need to say about it. It easily surpasses the studio version (which is still near-perfect).

Don't Kill The Whale is nearly identical to the studio version, but that's not a bad thing, because it's a jam song at heart. The band then gets into a "soul" groove (Jon Anderson's words, not mine) before launching into the daunting Ritual. It may be seven minutes longer than the Tales From Topographic Oceans studio version, but it easily surpasses it. Ritual is divided up into two seperate tracks here to allow for easier digestion. And as a "sound chaser" of sorts (sorry for the pun) to help you catch your breath, the album closes with the pithy and gentle Wonderous Stories.

Yesshows also has a good sound quality throughout, especially on The Gates Of Delirium.

This is an essential live album if you enjoy this era of Yes.

This is Yes' second live album, and focuses on songs from the three studio albums preceding it. All the tracks here are played beautifully and powerfully; the versions of "Time and a Word", "Gates of Delerium", and "Ritual" are especially brilliant. What I like about Yes in a live context is how they can make a subtle change in a song (like the organ solo on "Parallels" being given to the synthesizer instead) and that change gives the song a completely new flavor. The same effect is achieved in "Ritual" when they move the bass into a more prominent role for the solo.
I'd like to comment on that bass solo - I think it's the best live bass solo I've heard. The way Squire plays at an unusual range (most of this solo is played in the same range as a guitar's low E string) has always fascinated me. Another thing about this solo is how the rest of the band just lets go and lets Squire take over - in particular listen to Moraz: he's just tinkling along, playing the same triplet pattern.
Listen closely to "Gates" and you'll hear some apalling mistakes made by Howe - in the beginning of the song he enters too slowly, throwing everyone off track for a moment, and at 13:45 he starts his solo in the wrong octave, and has to add half a measure and cram some notes together to get back on track. But in spite of these errors, the group remains solid, and ends up playing "Gates" better than they did in the studio. Anderson's voice on this track is at its harshest, and in perfect form (as usual).

Ideal for any true Yes fan from the '70's.As for you later Yes fans that were big on their several huge CD's from the '80's and early '90's,you might want to pass on this one.I got to see Yes play live twice in the last few years and something I never thought I'd get a chance to see,when guitarist Steve Howe and keyboardist Rick Wakeman rejoined the group,is that several of these lengthy tracks were being played during their live sets.GREAT!Cuts like "The Gates Of Delirium"(22:40)and "Ritual-Part 2"(17:07).I believe they've been also playing "Wonderous Stories" and "Don't Kill The Whale" as well.One Yes tune that I will never grow tired of opens this double-disc release,the unreal "Parallels".The first dozen times I ever heard this cut,I was nearly in a state of trance.Vintage progressive as ONLY Yes can perform it.Great choice here.

I like the way Yes jams along with Stravinsky's "The Firebird Suite" before opening the show with "Parallels" (one of Chris Squire's finest songs ever). Patrick Moaz does a great job on "The Gates of Delirium" and even on "Ritual". However, this version of "Ritual" is too long and Jon Anderson's tribal noises over Alan White's cymbal-bashing are plenty annoying! You wish Alan would be allowed to solo unadulterated. "Wonderous Stories" and "Going for the One" hold up well. "Don't Kill The Whale" shows Anderson at his most politically correct, but Rick Wakeman and Steve Howe both add a new dimension to an early standard "Time & a Word".

Released in 1980, this excellent live set would be the last "official" album to capture Yes during the 1976-1978 timeframe and was released during a time when Yes had disbanded (at least until 1983) following the release of Drama (1980). The lineup on this live set included Jon Anderson (lead vocals, acoustic guitar); Steve Howe (electric and acoustic guitars); Rick Wakeman (mini moog, Hammond organ, piano, mellotron on all tracks except for Ritual and Gates of Delirium); Patrick Moraz (synthesizers, organ, piano, mellotron on Ritual and Gates of Delirium); Chris Squire (Rickenbacker bass; eight string bass); and Alan White (drums and percussion).

As I recall, in the early 1980s this album hit my turntable very frequently along with other live prog albums from the period including Seconds Out (Genesis, 1977) and Bursting Out (Jethro Tull, 1978). I think that of all of those albums, Yesshows struck me as the most wild and imaginative of the lot, and features some simply unbelievable performances by the band, especially the bass tour de force on the 28'22" version of Ritual and the searing version of Gates of Delirium. Speaking of Ritual, this lengthy piece was split on the original vinyl version, which was a little irritating - having the piece here in its entirety is quite nice.

The album was produced by bassist Chris Squire and consisted of a series of demo mixes collected from various world tours conducted during 1976-1978. Upon its release, reactions from the band members were a bit mixed (Rick thought it was disgraceful), although Chris liked it. As a fan of the band, I have to confess that I love the album, and although it is a lot more polished than Yessongs (1973), does not lose any of the ferocious energy that characterized live Yes during their peak. I suppose that my only complaint is that Yesshows could very well have been released as a triple album and include (at the time) recently released masterworks like Awaken (from Going for the One, 1977). Although I do not mind the shorter tunes Don't Kill the Whale, Going for the One, Parallels, Wondrous Stories and Time and a Word, the shorter pieces just do not convey the sense of adventure and virtuosity that made Yes one of my favorite bands.

All in all, this is an excellent and extremely well recorded live album by Yes that features great versions of their studio works, especially Gates of Delirium and Ritual, and more or less forms a bookend to their definitive works from the 1970s. Although this version of the CD was remastered by Atlantic in 1994, it is of low quality in comparison with the recently remastered Yes albums by Rhino. My hope is that someday Rhino will properly remaster Yesshows - maybe then other tracks could be added, making this great live album even better.