Essentially Yes

Performer: Yes
Distributor: Fontana Distribution

Notes: This mammoth five-CD set collects a variety of the progressive music legends' late-period releases, from 1994's TALK to 2001's MAGNIFICATION. Taken as a whole, it's a demonstration of the band's continued vitality and willingness to experiment, particularly in the orchestral arrangements of the latter album, their first to feature an orchestra since 1970's TIME AND A WORD. For good measure, there's also a CD featuring live selections from a 2003 concert in Montreux. Many of Yes' post-1987 studio albums seemed to have slipped through the cracks, as seemingly only hardcore fans are familiar with such releases as 1994's Talk, 1997's Open Your Eyes, 1999's The Ladder, and 2001's Magnification. But now you have another chance to discover these latter-day Yes efforts in one fell swoop, as 2006 saw the release of the five-disc Essentially Yes. Included are all four aforementioned albums, as well as a fifth disc that collects highlights from 2007's Live at Montreux 2003. For decades by this point, Yes studio albums had become increasingly clean-sounding affairs with near-perfect playing, and the four studio albums here all follow this same blueprint -- as evidenced by such tracks as "Homeworld (The Ladder)," "The Calling," and "Wonderlove." And the live disc is the same as well (the grit of 1973's Yessongs is replaced with perfectly executed renditions of the classics). If you don't already own these titles, it probably makes sense to acquire them via Essentially Yes. ~ Greg Prato

The longest-running prog-rock group in the business, Yes flew on the strength of Jon Anderson's high, angelic voice and the group's instrumental virtuosity. The band began in England, rising from the ashes of pop-psych outfits like Tomorrow, Bodast, and Mabel Greer's Toyshop. Extending the technical facility of psychedelia and downplaying the trippiness, it helped forge the template for progressive rock and reigned as its most popular practitioners in the '70s. Over the years, Yes has weathered personnel changes, lawsuits, and changing public tastes while holding on to its original vision.

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