The Word Is Live

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The Word Is Live
Live album from Yes

Publication
(s)

2005

Label (s) ATCO / Elektra / Rhino (Warner Strategic Marketing)

Format (s)

3CD box

Genre (s)

Progressive rock

Title (number)

26th

running time

229: 46

occupation
  • Jon Anderson - vocals (1–19, 23–26), rhythm guitar (9–12), acoustic guitar (15–17), percussion (13, 14)

production

Yes, Steve Woolard and David McLees (compilation), Jeff Griffin (1–2), Trevor Rabin (mix on 23–26)

chronology
Magnification
(studio album 2001)
The Ultimate Yes - 35th Anniversary Collection
(Compilation 2004) 		The Word Is Live -

The Word Is Live is a live 3 CD box set by the British progressive rock band Yes from 2005. It contains recordings from 1970 to 1988, including some tracks that YES only played live and are therefore on cannot be found on any other album.

The album title is based on the line of text “The Word is Love” from the song “Time and a Word” from the album of the same name .

Track list

CD 1:

  1. Then [Anderson] (5:25)
  2. For Everyone [Anderson / Squire] (4:45)
  3. Astral Traveler [Anderson] (7:24)
  4. Everydays ( Stephen Stills ) (11:01)
  5. Yours is No Disgrace [Anderson / Bruford / Howe / Kaye / Squire] (11:45)
  6. I've Seen All Good People (7:52)
    1. Your Move [Anderson]
    2. All Good People [Squire]
  7. America ( Paul Simon ) (16:21)
  8. It's Love ( Felix Cavaliere / Eddie Brigati ) (11:07)

CD 2:

  1. Apocalypse [Anderson / Bruford / Howe / Squire] (3:08)
  2. Siberian Khatru [Anderson] (10:11)
  3. Sound Chaser [Anderson / Howe / Moraz / Squire / White] (11:17)
  4. Sweet Dreams [Anderson / Foster] (6:22)
  5. Future Times / Rejoice (6:59)
    1. Future Times [Anderson / Howe / Squire / Wakeman / White]
    2. Rejoice [Anderson]
  6. Circus of Heaven [Anderson] (4:52)
  7. The Big Medley (25:53)
    1. Time and a Word [Anderson / David Foster]
    2. Long Distance Runaround [Anderson]
    3. Survival [Anderson]
    4. The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus) [Squire]
    5. Perpetual Change [Anderson / Squire]
    6. Soon [Anderson / Howe / Moraz / Squire / White]
  8. Hello Chicago [Anderson / Howe / Squire / Wakeman / White] (2:11)
  9. Roundabout [Anderson / Howe] (8:42)

CD 3:

  1. Heart of the Sunrise [Anderson / Squire / Bruford] (10:56)
  2. Awaken [Anderson / Howe] (17:53)
  3. Go Through This [Howe] (4:21)
  4. We Can Fly from Here ( Geoffrey Downes / Trevor Horn ) (6:46)
  5. Tempus Fugit [Downes / Horn / Howe / Squire / White] (5:53)
  6. Rhythm of Love [Kaye / Rabin / Anderson / Squire] (6:42)
  7. Hold On [Rabin / Anderson / Squire] (7:24)
  8. Shoot High, Aim Low [White / Kaye / Rabin / Anderson / Squire] (8:27)
  9. Make It Easy / Owner of a Lonely Heart [Rabin; Rabin / Anderson / Squire / Horn] (6:09)

Remarks:

  • Then and For Everyone come from John Peel's Sunday show on March 12, 1970. The recordings were as early as 1997 on Something's Coming / Beyond and Before published
  • The songs from Astral Traveler to It's Love were recorded on The Yes Album tour, Astral Traveler and Everydays in Konserthuset, Gothenburg , Sweden on January 24, 1971, the rest in the Crystal Palace Bowl in London on July 31, 1971
  • Apocalypse , Siberian Khatru and Sound Chaser were recorded at Cobo Hall in Detroit on August 17, 1976 (Solo albums tour)
  • From the relayer tour dates Sweet Dreams ( Queens Park Rangers Football Ground, London , May 10, 1975), this recording was already on the DVD Live at the QPR published
  • Future Times / Rejoice , Circus of Heaven and Heart of the Sunrise are from a concert on October 8, 1978 at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, California , The Big Medley was recorded at The Forum in Inglewood, California on October 5, 1978, Hello Chicago was recorded Recorded on June 9, 1979 at the Chicago International Amphitheater in Chicago , Roundabout and Awaken in the same hall a day later. All these concerts were played as part of the Tormato tour.
  • The songs Go Through This and We Can Fly from Here as well as Tempus Fugit by Drama , which had not been released on any Yes album until then, come from the drama tour . The recordings were made in New York's Madison Square Garden on September 6, 1980
  • Rhythm of Love , Hold On , Shoot High, Aim Low and Make It Easy / Owner of a Lonely Heart are from a concert on the Big Generator Tour at the Houston Summit on February 19, 1988
  • A pre-released promo CD contained the following songs:
  1. Yours is No Disgrace
  2. I've Seen All Good People
  3. America
  4. It's love
  5. Siberian Khatru
  6. Sound chaser

Cover

The cover and the 62-page companion book were designed by fantasy artist Roger Dean and his brother Martyn Dean with the support of Greg Allen. The booklet contains essays by Greg Lake , Yes webmaster Mike Tiano, musicologist Bill Martin, Doug & Glenn Gottlieb, Brian Ives and Tim Jones. It also includes some shorter contributions from colleagues including John Frusciante , Taylor Hawkins, and Geddy Lee .

Review

What is particularly interesting about this box are the previously unreleased pieces. Only the recordings of Then and For Everyone had been released before, a few other pieces had appeared in different versions. The Word is Live thus contains a number of rarities.

For Everyone is a track from the early Yes, which is a precursor to a part ( Disillusion ) from the later Starship Trooper (from The Yes album ). There is no studio version - and the piece was only played live 4 times. America is played here by the early line-up (with Bruford, Howe and Kaye) and sometimes differs greatly from the versions that have already been released. It's Love is a previously unheard cover version of a piece by The Young Rascals , enriched by an improvisational part , which was only played 10 times by Yes from 1969 to 1971. The tour song is a short piece with which Yes thanked their fans for coming. It was part of the program of a Yes concert in the 1970s. Such a tour song was published for the first time. Go through this and We can fly from here were played by the drama cast (47 times during the drama tour) but not released at the time. However, We Can Fly was re-recorded 31 years later in the form of a long suite for the album Fly from Here produced by Horn .

The mostly poor quality of the recordings was criticized. Only the last four tracks, the recordings from the Big Generator tour, are of acceptable quality. The criticism particularly concerned the songs Go through this and We can fly from here , the first releases of which one had wished for in a significantly better quality.

Web links