Tuesday, May 30, 2023

Yes - BBC Sessions, Volume 4: QPR Football Stadium, London, Britain, 5-10-1975

First off, a minor administrative note: I had previously posted a 1978 BBC by Yes and called it "BBC Sessions, Volume 4," because I thought that one was the fourth. But then I discovered this one. So I've renamed the 1978 concert "Volume 5." Here's the link if you want to get it with the correct cover art and mp3 tags and such:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2022/07/yes-bbc-sessions-volume-4-friday-rock.html

Now, let's get to this bootleg album. In 1975, Yes was riding high. Their most recent album, "Relayer," released in 1974, was a critical and commercial success. Prog rock was all the rage. That would come crashing down in 1977, with the rise of punk rock, but that was still in the future. This was still the time of complicated epic songs often over 20 minutes, and there's no less than three of those here ("Ritual," "Gates of Delirium," and "Close to the Edge.")

It turns out this was a good time for a BBC concert, because there's no official live album from around this time period. This might be the best concert recording featuring keyboardist Patrick Moraz, because he was only with the band for one album (due to the guy he'd replaced, Rick Wakeman, wanting to come back).

The sound quality is very good, though not perfect. I helped a bit by using the audio program UVR5 to boost the vocals relative to the instruments.

This is a long concert. The album is two hours and 22 minutes long.

01 Sound Chaser (Yes)
02 Close to the Edge (Yes)
03 talk (Yes)
04 To Be Over (Yes)
05 talk (Yes)
06 The Gates of Delirium (Yes)
07 Your Move (Yes)
08 Mood for a Day [Instrumental] (Yes)
09 Long Distance Runaround (Yes)
10 Moraz Solo [Instrumental] (Yes)
11 The Clap [Instrumental] (Yes)
12 talk (Yes)
13 And You and I (Yes)
14 Ritual (Yes)
15 Roundabout (Yes)
16 Sweet Dreams (Yes)
17 Yours Is No Disgrace (Yes)

https://www.imagenetz.de/fGoec

Sometimes when I make album covers, I'm torn between accuracy and quality. Meaning, should I choose a photo from that exact concert that's low-res, or another one from something else that looks a lot better? I'd be curious if people have a preference in situations like that. In this case, I went for the low-res. This cover is a screenshot taken from a video of this exact concert.

5 comments:

  1. First off, thanks for all that you post. It is much appreciated. Then, to address your inquiry, I would choose quality over low-res accuracy. There's hardly a person in the world that could identify a photo as not being from that one particular concert which, for instance, took place 50 years ago. But I think everyone can appreciate good artwork, a top quality CD cover.

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    1. I don't think it's a matter of people being there and remembering, but more of a matter of looking at the pic and knowing that was exactly what they looked like when they made the music. But I see your point of view too.

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  2. I have to agree with Christopher. If you feel inspired enough, you may even create "thematic" covers that don't show the musicians at all, like the "Lighter than Air" and "Bron-Yr-Aur" Led Zeppelin albums you posted some time ago ...

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  3. Album cover ... easy ... Quality over low-res accuracy. Thanks for posting.

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    1. Hmmm. I'm starting to see a pattern here...

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