Stars: Yes

Summary: The tracklist features 'Siberian Khatru', 'Circus Of Heaven', 'The Ancient', 'Starship Trooper', 'I've Seen All Good People' and 'Roundabout'.

One of the seminal progressive rock bands, Yes are known for their mystical concept albums and extremely long song epics. This programme, recorded at a concert in 1979, captures the band during their middle era.

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The classic Yes line-up (Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, Rick Wakeman, Alan White) playing some of their finest music: that's the good news about Yes--Live in Philadelphia, 1979. The bad news is that the picture is mediocre, the sound is awful and the content is a 50-minute TV programme (minus credits) edited from a complete performance. The concert opens with the barnstorming "Siberian Khatru" from Close to the Edge, before the lightweight "Circus of Heaven" (from Tormato) offers a delicate contrast, and the pace changes again as Alan White unleashes a powerful drum solo. The packaging claims the next track is "The Ancient" from Tales from Topographic Oceans, but it's actually a two-minute extract followed by a fade to black.

The remainder of the disc is essentially Yes' standard encores: "Starship Trooper", "I've Seen All Good People" and "Roundabout", though it would have been nice to have seen the show which preceded them. Yes are in fine form and offer a spectacular light show to match their musical pyrotechnics, but with the gig cut to shreds and the appalling technical quality of the disc it's hard to recommend this to any but the most die hard of collectors. Try the much more recent Yes--Live in Amsterdaminstead.

On the DVD:Yes--Live in Philadelphiais a concert filmed for a 1979 TV programme cropped to 16:9 ratio, so that even anamorphic enhancement can't compensate for the butchered visual compositions. One of the purposes of DVD is to present everything in its original ratio, not to reformat old programmes to fill widescreen TVs. The picture also looks soft, lacks detail and often displays a shimmering rippling effect right across the screen. The sound claims to be Dolby Digital 5.1 and perhaps, technically, it is, but if so it is the same mono TV soundtrack fed separately to each channel. Not only that, but it is harsh, metallic mono with no depth, definition or bass, reducing Yes' complex multi-layered arrangements to an indigestible sonic hash.

Notably, no one from Yes has lent their name to this DVD, so rock journalist Chris Welch provides an introduction and commentary. Unfortunately he struggles to say anything that isn't obvious or banal, lapsing into silence for considerable periods. --Gary S Dalkin

Aspect Ratio:	16:9 Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 0
Special Features:	Review, Audio Commentary From Rock Journalist Chris Welch
Year:	1979
Release Date:	July 25, 2005
Runtime:	50 minutes
Certification:	Exempt.
Catalogue Number:	S V E M 0054
Keywords:	Music, Live, Rock, Pop, Philadelphia, Yes, Performing, Arts, Popular
Genre:	Music/Performing Arts