Live At the Apollo

After Jon was kicked out of the band, I lost interest and tuned out. Just found out about AWR. Hate I missed this. This is hot, tight, and very enjoyable. This might be my favorite perpetual change version. While i tend to like the classic stuff more, I do dig some of the Rabin stuff. Jon’s voice might sound the best ever- clear and strong. I am not a fan of Jon’s new-age solo stuff so hope he joins up again with another Yes arrangement. I can’t listen to the Davidson stuff. Great album!

I'm not a big Trevor Rabin fan. I think 90125 is very good, but it ain't Yes. And how can you have Yes without Squire? However, these performances have so much life to them that it makes the other version of Yes seem bland in comparison. Jon's voice sounds stronger, better, than in many of the original recordings! Just listen to And You And I...it has never been sung better. I could say the same about most of the performances here. Plus, he has a great, gracious rapport with the audience. The bassist Lee Pomeroy not only does justice to Squire's bass lines, but tastefully embellishes them at times...listen to his solo after the fast intro to Heart of the Sunrise. It's amazing and musical. (Strangely, he plays left handed with his strings strung as if for a right-handed player - never saw that before). And no one does Wakeman like Wakeman (did that even need to be said?). He's having a blast as well. I now appreciate Rabin more than ever...his style on the old material, while more "rock" if you will, than Howe is still just what the song needs, and he stays close to the originals at places where long-time fans like me would be disappointed if it were played different. Louis Molino in drums is more than up to the task and like Pomeroy is filling in effortlessly. One of my favorite live shows from any version of Yes!

This is waaaaay better than the other touring version of Yes! If this Yes lineup combined with Alan White and Steve Howe we would have the almost perfect classic Yes lineup, missing Criss Squire of course. Anyway I hope ARW comes out with a new studio CD soon.

Although this is my favorite version of the two touring versions of Yes, another Union tour would be enjoyable before we lose more members of the original band.

Great album, tight, Trevor Rabin is the real deal. Good chemistry between drums and bass. Chris Squire is pleased. Jon Anderson is one of a kind and excellent. This album is one of their best!!!

At this point the two Yes factions are at equal strength, with whatever each is missing in ‘official’ members ably supplemented by stellar session musicians, so it comes down to which feels and sounds the best. The fact of the matter is that Trevor Rabin can pretty much play anything that Steve Howe can, while Steve Howe strangely resents playing Trevor Rabin songs. Edge: Yes w Rabin, especially on Rabin-penned songs Lift Me Up and Owner Of A Lonely Heart. Jon Anderson, meanwhile, has not suffered vocally the way many classic rock singers have, and sounds on peak form as ever. This wide-ranging collection is a more well-rounded ‘hits’ collection than the other Yes can probably manage at this point. What it lacks in obscure, deep cuts that super hardcore Yes fans might like to hear, it makes up for in precision renditions of the songs you definitely want to hear. Plus, Rick Wakeman crushes everything he lays his fingers on, keytar parts and all. All of the replacement parts on bass and drums do an excellent job filling in for the late Chris Squire and parts normally played by the retired Bill Bruford or other-Yes drummer Alan White. Edge: Yes w Rabin, Anderson and Wakeman. Long story short: It probably won’t ever get much better than this superb live performance. If you’re a Yes fan, this is the most essential recent Yes concert for your collection.

I'm a huge Rabin fan (he's my fave guitarist in music history), so I really wanted to like this. But ARW's members have really soured me on the whole experience by, first of all, bashing Yes (the band they all quit a combined eight times) in the press over and over and then, finally, using the band name without permission of the real Yes. It's not good PR. Of course there are some fans who only like bands which have Jon Anderson in them so they will like this. It's really not a bad album but I think a lot of Yes purists do not like the way Rabin covers the many songs on here originally played by Yes guitarist Steve Howe (who is still in the real Yes). The same kind of thing can be said for the drummer on this album and even many of the keyboard parts are too off base from the original recordings by Yes. So, that's the problem I have with much of this album. The Rabin era songs are nice to hear in a new live release but, as a whole, the album is off-putting to many Yes purists and I can certainly hear why. Also, as many have said, there is a lot of extra overdubbed crowd noise on this album. (Or, if it is real, it's mixed way too loud in most places.) My suggestion: buy maybe one or two of your fave songs from this and then move on, as I did. No need to waste your money on this entire album. Better to buy the new live album from the real Yes which is called "Topographic Drama". It was released last year around Thanksgiving and is tremendously good! And it's by the Yes which was founded in 1968, unlike the band here which was founded in 2010. The genuine Yes still features drummer Alan White, who has been in the band since 1972 and Steve Howe who joined in 1970 (plus Geoff Downes, Billy Sherwood and Jon Davison, who, combined, have been in Yes far longer and have played on many more Yes albums than this fake ARW Yes). Original Yes bassist, Chris Squire, was the only person to have been in Yes for their whole history until he named Sherwood as his replacement shortly before his passing in 2015. All of this makes the band you will hear on this recording the fake Yes. So, don't be fooled! Buyer beware!

This takes me back, moves me forward, and most of all sounds really good! If you like Yes, you will like this...

While the performance has bright spots, it didn’t hold up well to me overall. On the plus side, Rabin-era material has never sounded better and crisp. Also, Jon and Rick sound at the top of their game. The intro jams to the songs were very welcoming too. There are certain things that almost killed this live performance was the added cheer/applause track. Somehow the crowd was hanging on every note? Doubtful. At normal Yes shows, the crowd is immersed and not that quick. The band sounded tight, Lee on bass commands Chris’ bass lines with precision and class too. The drummer is decent for the most part, but seems to trip up on certain parts of song from Alan, and Bill too. Another factor, Trevor struggles with Steve’s parts in certain songs and it’s too apparent. His changes can have a fresh approach, including in “Awaken” where he handles it well. There are other ones where he tries too hard to twist atmosphere into electricity and mucks up the song: “And You And,“ “Heart of the Sunrise” and “Long Distance Runaround.” If you have Apple Music, just stream it and if you’re on the fence don’t grab it. As a Yes fan, you won’t be disappointed, but you’ll be reaching for the previous live albums with the current and past line-ups, including Union and AWBH to help your ears. This live performance is solid, but nothing spectacular at all.

Listen to these guys Live At the Apollo and you can understand why thirty plus years later YES remains a piece of musicial history and a rock dynasty!