FROM A PAGE / IN THE PRESENT - LIVE FROM LYON
Yes
•Symphonic Prog
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3.29
| 76 ratings | 4 reviews | 21% 5 stars
Good, but non-essential |
Boxset/Compilation, released in 2019 Songs / Tracks Listing LP / CD 1 (Studio) (25:43) - Benoit David / lead vocals
Four previously unreleased 2010 recordings intended for release on "Fly From Here", plus "In The Present - Live From Lyon" December 1, 2009 recordings (CD only), including the Japanese only bonus track Second Initial. and to projeKct for the last updates Edit this entry |
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YES From a Page / In the Present - Live from Lyon ratings distribution
(76 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(21%)Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(29%)Good, but non-essential (34%)Collectors/fans only (12%)Poor. Only for completionists (4%)
YES From a Page / In the Present - Live from Lyon reviews
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Collaborators/Experts Reviews
PROG REVIEWER
A bit more on that: From a Page was sung by lead vocalist Beno�t David, and three of the four tracks were written by keyboardist Oliver Wakeman, who also produced the album. The fourth track is credited to the whole band: Wakeman, David, bassist Chris Squire, drummer Alan White, and guitarist Steve Howe. Wakeman was dismissed in 2011 and David in 2010, and Squire died in 2015. So as part of the Yes catalog, these songs are anomalous, especially insofar as they were released out of chronological order.
Some fans have complained that the impetus for the release was profit. I can certainly see this viewpoint; I paid US$29.10 (�22.60) for a three-CD set,* which is as of this writing the only way to procure a digital copy of the four songs. Another view is that this is an Oliver Wakeman solo EP (or maybe a Wakeman/David release) whose steep price is justified by rebranding it as 'Yes.' The impetus for releasing it in 2019 might then be a lull in new Yes product (exacerbated, ironically, by this release, insofar as these four tunes can't be used on a new album) and concern that competing product might be forthcoming from the rouge offshoot 'Yes featuring Anderson, Rabin, and Wakeman.' Indeed, if Squire's Fish Out of Water or Rick Wakeman's** Six Wives of Henry VIII are correctly considered solo albums with substantial help from the rest of Yes, From a Page is probably a solo (or duo) recording as well. However, it probably couldn't be marketed for $29.
Enough backstory. As Wakeman discusses in the helpful liner notes, From a Page was assembled from session takes using Pro Tools - - although its cut-and-paste nature would be evident anyway; the first hint is the pitch-shifting of David's vocals. But this isn't really a detriment to my ears; I'm very impressed with Wakeman's ability to put together a plausible 26-minute EP out of what must have been potshards. The exception seems to be 'To the Moment,' the first song, which might have been relatively intact. 'To the Moment' is also the outlier in terms of quality. It's a far cry from the band's best work, but it's the only solid track among the four. In retrospect, perhaps it should've been a 2010 non-album single.***
The remaining From a Page songs have a half-baked feel. I suspect that the group writing credit on 'Gift of Love' was a business formality (or necessity). Take that away, and not only does this EP not seem to be a Yes album, it appears to be a handful of Wakeman demos waiting to be fleshed out by the rest of the band. Nonetheless, they're promising demos, which is, I'm sad to report, more than I can say about Heaven and Earth.
I'd only recommend From a Page to serious Yes fans and/or collectors. Someday 'To the Moment' will probably be available as a digital download, and well-adjusted Yes fans might want to download that. ====
*This set also includes the previously released 2-CD Live from Lyon, which I'd already paid for. A single vinyl disc, including just the new songs (plus a 'Single Mix' of 'To the Moment') can be had for the same price.
**Father of Oliver.
***I know, I know: (a) Yes has never done such things, and (b) a 2010 non-album single by a rock dinosaur without an upcoming album would've made no commercial sense.
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Symphonic Team
Yes surprised their fans last year when they released this mini-album featuring previously unreleased material. From a Page has four songs, all of which originate in 2010 when the line-up included Oliver Wakeman and Benoit David in addition to the core of Chris Squire, Steve Howe, and Alan White. One of the songs is credited to the band as a whole, while the remaining three are credited to Oliver Wakeman alone.
At the time, these songs were developed for a new album project, but were dropped when that evolved into what would become Fly From Here, and Oliver Wakeman was replaced with a returning Geoff Downes. The song From the Turn of a Card was used by Wakeman for his collaboration with Gordon Giltrap, and the vocals featured here are the identical ones by Benoit David, but with new piano backing recorded by Wakeman. Some musical ideas from The Gift of Love were later used on The Game from the album Heaven & Earth, but the two songs are nonetheless rather different.
The other two tracks, To the Moment and Words on a Page, have not surfaced previously in any shape or form. And these two are also the best tracks here. Overall, From a Page holds about 25 minutes of 'new' Yes music, which is not bad considering how starved we fans are of new Yes material. After all, the band has only released three full-length studio albums in the last 20 years. I for one am happy that these recordings finally have seen the light of day, offering a glimpse into a lost period of Yes history.
Latest members reviews
With From a Page we finally get the opportunity of hearing what could have made Fly From Here a great album and not a mediocre one (IMHO, of course). In this review I will focus on the four 'new' tracks composed back in 2011: To the moment (8.5/10). One of the best songs Yes has composed in the ... (read more)
Report this review (#2306981) | Posted by Soul2Create | Tuesday, January 14, 2020 | Review Permanlink
From a Page is an unexpected gift from Oliver Wakeman who decided after the death of Chris Squire to re-work on some lost recordings from the 2008-2010 Yes period. These four tracks shows what Fly from Here could have included if Oliver Wakeman had not been replaced by Geoff Downes to recreate the ... (read more)
Report this review (#2278204) | Posted by Gus82 | Tuesday, November 5, 2019 | Review Permanlink
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