New Yes DVD - Accoustic

[BarryL]

I picked this up last night and if you're a Yes fan, you'll probably find it enjoyable. It's the video from a live accoustic show they did via satelite hookup across the US after the premier showing of thier Yesspeaks video. There's nothing great or must-have about it, but it is fun and on the light side. The video is definately of TV production quality, which is to say, that it is better than a home movie, but not what you would want from a concert video. For example, for the first few songs, when they show Wakeman playing piano, the camara is at the side of the piano. If the camera man only moved back about two feet, we'd actually be able to see the keys that Wakeman was playing, not just his profile. They get it better in the later songs. Also, the rapid jumping from person to person that happens at the beginning is replaced by longer shots of each performer.

There is additional "bonus" material of the pre-telecast rehearsal, but I haven't watched that yet.

Now, I think it was MasterCylinder who said that Dream Theater got the video right on their recent Live at Budakon. That's for sure. I saw the future of Music Videos on the bonus CD. There's an extended track called Instramelody, or something like that, which has five different camera angle choices. The default is the band playing with the regular editing of switching from camera to camara. But then you can select each player individually to see them play the song. In other words, there are four other cameras, one on each performer (LaBrie isn't singing in this one). So if you just want to watch Rudess, for example, you select angle 2. Then, if you want to see Myung, you select angle 3, etc. I loved this feature. I played the song a couple of times, and switched to the performer I wanted to watch at any particular spot in the song. Now that's interactive video at its best! This is a great DVD.

[BarryL]

There is additional "bonus" material of the pre-telecast rehearsal, but I haven't watched that yet.

I watched the bonus video. It's good fun consisting of rehearsal video and the documentary voice of Rick Wakeman. Basically, he pokes fun at the band members for about 30 minutes with his dry, British wit. Very entertaining.