The best things in life really are free. On January 28, Tower Records in Sherman Oaks, California, hosted a rare in-store performance by Yes, whose three-disc The Ultimate Yes: 35th Anniversary Collection has just been released on Rhino. Fans spilled onto the sidewalks and around the corner, carrying Yes albums old and new for an after-show signing.
Several hundred people displaced aisles of CDs, and digital cameras flashed furiously. Introduced by Gary Moore from local rock station KLOS -- where the previous day Yes had performed in studio on Jim Ladd's Living Room -- Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, Alan White, and Rick Wakeman took the stage to a loud welcome. Situated with their acoustic instruments, they began their 40-minute set with "Long Distance Runaround." Another track from Ultimate, "South Side Of The Sky," was next, followed by a brief demonstration from, as Anderson put it, the "Alan White school of drumming."
Anderson then announced the next song, saying that the band had performed it only once live. Someone in the crowd guessed it to be from their 2001 Magnification DVD-Audio, and sure enough it was -- "Time Is Time," to be exact. "Roundabout," currently making the radio rounds in a new acoustic version, brought a handclap sing-along, before "Show Me" and the first movement of "I've Seen All Good People" finished the set.
The audience cleared the store quickly to line up for the signing. According to one fan, the wait for an autograph was estimated at three hours. I spoke to a couple of people to find out how they liked the Rhino releases. First I ran into Chris Goss, one-time member of Masters Of Reality and producer for the likes of Kyuss, Queens Of The Stone Age, and Nebula (check out these great bands if you haven't already). Goss was visibly excited to see his heroes, and all I had to mention was that I work for Rhino for him say "Great job!" on Ultimate and the reissues.
As I passed the back of the line on my way home, I overheard two guys talking about "Rhino's Close To The Edge," so I asked one of them, Craig, what he thought about the reissues. He was pleased, saying that the artwork and enhanced packaging were the main reasons he'd bought all of them. Not one to fairly judge the remastering, he had deferred to an audiophile friend, who liked what he heard and also compared the waveforms of both CD editions on his computer. Reissues by a long shot.
While it might be true that the best stuff is free, it's comforting to know that a few bucks can still buy a nice tri-fold digipak filled with good-sounding songs.
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