I love the song - too bad they stopped playing it after Bill left - and I've got to agree about the live take on Yessongs. In much of their best work there's a kind of ecstatic lifting feeling, up into the sky or into an inner centre of freedom and joy, and the final five or six minutes of the live take exude just that. There really is a feeling of cosmic dance, propelled by those multiple rhythms that layer effortlessly over each other. The stretch after about 9:35 when it turns more quiet, then anticipating, then Bruford is picking up, pacing the beat upwards and then they break into (10:25) this "big wheel"-like crescendo - that turn is pure ecstasy in a religious sense, jubilant love and joy.
The polyrhythmic quality and the feeling of cosmic light makes me think of Sibelius' fifth symphony, first movement, which was played on the BBC in the live broadcast of the first moon landing in 1969 (and which they might well have heard...)
@tinderbox I too have find the Yessongs live version uplifting and moving. Jon Anderson is a big Sibelius fan so you may be right about the influence. There is a new official live version on Like It Is - Live at the Bristol Hippodrome, which feels smaller and less ambitious but still has extra energy compared to the studio version.
@tinderbox I too have find the Yessongs live version uplifting and moving. Jon Anderson is a big Sibelius fan so you may be right about the influence. There is a new official live version on Like It Is - Live at the Bristol Hippodrome, which feels smaller and less ambitious but still has extra energy compared to the studio version.
I love the song - too bad they stopped playing it after Bill left - and I've got to agree about the live take on Yessongs. In much of their best work there's a kind of ecstatic lifting feeling, up into the sky or into an inner centre of freedom and joy, and the final five or six minutes of the live take exude just that. There really is a feeling of cosmic dance, propelled by those multiple rhythms that layer effortlessly over each other. The stretch after about 9:35 when it turns more quiet, then anticipating, then Bruford is picking up, pacing the beat upwards and then they break into (10:25) this "big wheel"-like crescendo - that turn is pure ecstasy in a religious sense, jubilant love and joy. The polyrhythmic quality and the feeling of cosmic light makes me think of Sibelius' fifth symphony, first movement, which was played on the BBC in the live broadcast of the first moon landing in 1969 (and which they might well have heard...)
@tinderbox I too have find the Yessongs live version uplifting and moving. Jon Anderson is a big Sibelius fan so you may be right about the influence. There is a new official live version on Like It Is - Live at the Bristol Hippodrome, which feels smaller and less ambitious but still has extra energy compared to the studio version.
@tinderbox I too have find the Yessongs live version uplifting and moving. Jon Anderson is a big Sibelius fan so you may be right about the influence. There is a new official live version on Like It Is - Live at the Bristol Hippodrome, which feels smaller and less ambitious but still has extra energy compared to the studio version.