No chamber feeling or pocket symphonies this time around: the YES-men rock the Brummieland at their most beautifully lax. That was a strange situation when the forefront melodic part of the quintessential prog ensemble found themselves outside the fold, yet, fortunately, by then Rick Wakeman, Jon Anderson and Steve Howe
were masters of their own show and, together, could cover all bases. To flesh
out their rhythmic rear, the three called for another YES alumnus, Bill Bruford
who, with jazzy inclinations for a secret agenda, brought in his KING CRIMSON
partner Tony Levin. In such circumstances, the name of their game became
"looseness", and if previous live releases from ABWH oozed regular
grandiloquence, this one blows the topographic oceans away.
The change is never more obvious than in "Heart Of
The Sunrise" that is the public is teased with before it's actually unleashed to
trade its usual tight rebound for a fusion sprawl, and, of course, in the
opening solo workouts from those tuneful three. Of them, only the singer evokes,
over his own acoustic strum, a freshly flavored tune, "Teakbois", having set the
contextual scene with "Time And A Word" and cutting short this long-distance
glance with "Owner Of A Lonely Heart" (there's a sound glitch on there yet it
came from the stage not the recording). And it's together that the band deliver
most of their only studio album interspersing it with past classics which, save
for Howe's standard showcase for "Clap" and expanded "Mood For A Day", crisp as
ever, are given a very vibrant treatment here. In his turn, Wakeman enhances the
mood with his own classical swirl with a hint of "Six Wives" and adds gentle
touch to "Soon" (pitched in the heart of "Starship Trooper") that he originally
didn't play on, while Levin and Bruford engage into a percussive duet within
"Themes", and it's interesting to see how the full line-up change gears midway
through "Long Distance Runaround" or come unhinge in "Order Of The
Universe".
Yet tight but loose is "Birthright" where all the individual threads weave the wholesome seriousness of heavenly Rio, and that's where additional players, guitarist Milton McDonald and keyboardist Julian Colbeck (whose short film enhances the package, together with a replica of tour program, on DVD) come in handy. The result of the collective effort is paradoxically effortless and, for all its complexity, lightweight. Which, for so called dinosaurs, is a phenomenal feat.
****1/3
...and check out the ABWH artist page at Gonzo
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