Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS
Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Doug Curran and Jeffrey Crecelius
This week, Mark and I were unable to get together so we both recorded separately, like we used to do years ago. Here we have ‘retro’ or ‘classic’ YMP I suppose. Anyway, we both enjoyed listening to/watching 2 different versions of And You And I – one from the brilliant Symphonic Live DVD and the other from the BBC Prog Prom event last week.
I have embedded both versions into the show notes for this week so do watch those and see what you think of our reactions.
- Which version is ‘better’?
- Is it fair to compare them?
- What was the rest of the concert like?
Yes – The Tormato Story & Tales from Topographic Oceans – Yes Album Listening Guide
Available now!
YMP Patrons:
Producers:
- Joseph Cottrell
- Wayne Hall
- Jeffrey Crecelius
- Doug Curran
Patrons:
| Aaron Steelman | Steve Luzietti | Lind |
| Al Dell’Angelo | Terence Sadler | Lobate Scarp |
| Barry Gorsky | John Thomson | Mark Baggs |
| Bill Whittaker | Steve Perry | Mark James Lang |
| Bob Martilotta | Thomas DeVries | Mark Slater |
| Brian Harris | John Viola | Martin Kjellberg |
| Brian Sullivan | Steve Rode | Michael Handerhan |
| Chris Bandini | Tim Stannard | Michael O’Connor |
| Craig Estenes | Steve Scott | Miguel Falcão |
| Dave Owen | Chip Palmer | Paul Hailes |
| David | Guy DeRome | Paul Tomei |
| David Heyden | Steve Moss | Rachel Hadaway |
| David Pannell | Geoffrey Mason | Robert Nasir |
| David Watkinson | Henrik Antonsson | Robert Vandiver |
| Declan Logue | Hogne Bø Pettersen | Ronnie Neeley |
| Dem | Steven Roehr | Scott Colombo |
| Brian | Todd Dudley | Simon Barrow |
| Fergus Cubbage | John Holden | Stephen Lambe |
| Fred Barringer | Douglas Caldwell | Steve Dill |
| Gary Betts | John Cowan | Jamie McQuinn |
| Geoff Bailie | Ray Riethmeier | Ken Fuller |
Discover more from Yes Music Podcast
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
6 replies on “Prog at the Proms or Yes Symphonic? – 732”
“And You And I” is at 36:00 on the Proms video.
I’ll take Symphonic Live any day of the week over the Prog Prom version.
Hi there Kevin and Mark,
The PROMs version of And You And I was certainly interesting. There were many things I really like about it. To me though, it just wasn’t daring enough. I think I’d rather have heard it without the rock band on stage, with more of the musical drama handled by the orchestra, specially the percussion section. The band drummer sort of got in the way at times, and the synth player could have been covered by some more interesting orchestral arrangement – perhaps bassoons, clarinets, oboes and some brass would have given more colour to those lines.
In my opinion, the Symphonic Live version is a better interpretation. There is a good balance between the muscle we all know the band are famous for, and the finesse the orchestra brings. Jon’s voice nicely adds the “icing” on top of this wonderful confection. So my vote goes to the real Yes with the accompanying orchestra.
All this being said, if you want to know my all-time favourite live performance of And You And I, I still love the ABWH version on “An Evening Of Yes Music Plus”. I saw it performed here in Montreal back in 1989, and it was stunning.
Cheers fellows.
Steve Perry
I agree with you about this arrangement Stephen. Afterwards, I listened to the live one on Yessongs which sounds so much more symphonic. It’s my favourite live recording of it.
The Prom arrangement was far too ‘conservative’, it could have been so adventurous. It felt too pared down and dependent on the rock band which defeats the purpose offing orchestral.
I’ve not heard the Yes Symphonic one.
Overall I enjoyed the Prog Prom but had to disengage my more cynical/ critical side. As Kevin said, the Proms are about bringing music to a wider audience – many of the audience that night would have been prog fans but I know for a fact there were people there who didn’t know any of the music beforehand (as I think is the case for many Prom concerts). So for what it was I thought it was good and I thought the Staves did a good job with And You And I. I first heard it on Radio 3 which I thought worked better than the TV broadcast – not distracted by the sight of the uninspiring guitar players etc.
Generally I think when rock and classical music merge, both lose something. Although I enjoy Yes Symphonic, even that suffers from slightly unimaginative arrangements which are limited by the structure of the songs. I’d love to hear a fully orchestral interpretation of some Yes classics, where an arranger is allowed to be fully creative with the music and not confined by rock drums, guitar parts etc. Or maybe a choral arrangement … Kevin, over to you?!
One man’s meat …
I preferred the TV broadcast as it didn’t have the radio announcer stupidly talking over some of the music.
Obviously some of the audience don’t know the music as they applauded before the end of And You and I
I didn’t like most of the singers’ performances. one of the Staves was really poor. Guy Garvey was below average.
The vocal performance which stood out for me was Peter Hammill, very touching.
I agree that full blown orchestral arrangements of Yes would be great.