Live At Montreux 2003 (2007)

Live At Montreux 2003 (2007)

Like its title says, this album was recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2003. But while it’s not a return to the more jazz-rock sound of their first two albums; it’s more than just a set by the classic line up (Anderson, Howe, Wakeman, Squire, and White) performing the expected back catalog, with a few surprises. Amid the versions of “Siberian Khatru,” “Roundabout,” etc., we get a revival of “Don’t Kill The Whale,” a very solid version of the title track from 2001’s Magnification (minus the orchestra), a nearly 20-minute journey through “Awaken” from Going For The One, and more. Chris Squire’s bass feature, “The Fish,” is nearly nine minutes long, and impressive as hell in a somewhat fusion-y way. Indeed, they do seem to have taken their surroundings into account and tweaked the arrangements of the songs to be just slightly more jazz-festival-friendly. I mean, don’t get me wrong, they haven’t hired a saxophonist or anything, but the instrumental portions feel just slightly more relaxed and indulgent, rather than high-intensity and bent on blasting the listener into submission with technique alone. Rick Wakeman’s keyboards are more twinkly and lush, and Alan White seems to have attached a lot more chimes to his drum kit, particularly on “Awaken.” Jon Anderson is practically crooning on the soft middle section of “Heart Of The Sunrise,” as Wakeman plays cocktail-ish piano behind him.

Like most of the flood of Yes live albums released in the last 30 years, this isn’t a truly necessary document. But it demonstrates that they’re not just human jukeboxes, that they do tweak their material at times, so if you’re already disappearing down the rabbit hole, it’s worth at least one Spotify stream.