A new
Yes box is like a new Star Trek film. The same core group will buy it/see it whether it's crap or not, resulting in an endless cycle of repackaging that exploits the fans who made the franchises so popular in the first place.
Yes have always seemed more of an industry than a band, so it comes as no surprise that their deeply rooted PR machine has dug up another collection of "previously unreleased gems," wrapped it in one of Roger Dean's hippie/sci-fi landscapes, and slapped on an exhaustive booklet of play-by-play anecdotes from fans and fellow musicians. Anyone who has followed the group's prolific history knows that its members have splintered and regrouped so many times that their side projects alone demand the box treatment.
The Word Is Live collects performances caught between 1970-1988 -- the years 1972-1975, despite boasting the group's most lauded roster, seem to have never existed here. The band's 2003 reunion tour is also skipped over, focusing instead on the fragmented
Big Generator lineup of the late '80s. Rabid fans will no doubt empty their wallets for this admittedly attractive box, but the jury's out on whether or not they'll play it more than once. ~ James Christopher Monger