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This week, Mark and I return to one of our favourite pastimes – listening to Yes tracks through time. We each chose 3 different live recordings of Awaken to listen to and then discuss. So it’s time to put your Roger Dean thinking caps on and see if you would have chosen the same versions as us.
Let us know if you agree with us!
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Theme music
The music I use is the last movement of Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite. This has been used as introduction music at many Yes concerts.
11 replies on “Yes Tracks Through Time – Awaken – 664”
I don’t have any clever way to help remember it, but the xylophone and marimba both have wooden bars, and the glockenspiel (aka orchestra bells) and vibraphone both have metal bars. I guess technically xylophones made nowadays may use a synthetic material for the bars, but they’re still meant to look and sound like wood. I’ll have to listen to the clip in question to give my best guess of which mallet instrument Alan is playing. Great topic for an episode, fellas! I love the Tracks Through Time series.
Hi Rachel,
Thank you very much for your comment. That’s actually quite helpful. After reading what you wrote, I believe it’s a marimba Alan is playing. Still..I’m curious to hear what you think.
Thanks for listening and your comment.
Mark Anthony K
Really enjoyed this topic and the thoughtful detail you both provided in your selections. Awaken is my favorite song (as I know it as also that of many of the listeners) and I have plenty of bootlegged live versions. However of all of the versions, I continue to come back to the 2002-2004 versions. During that time period, they played it slightly slower, less hectic and most importantly, more intentional and emotional. Awaken at its best gives you chills over the last 5 mins after the harp break, and those guys during that time always delivered. Agree with Mark that Rick is the standard, but with Igor a close second. Everyone else, sadly, just doesn’t measure up on that song. And I love the inclusion of the Band Geeks version… well worth consideration. One of my favorite things to do when I have time is to listen to a few different versions during the 2002-2004 period to try to identify my “reference” version, but always come up with a different one…. But I think that’s the fun of it!!!! Thanks again guys!!
Hi Steve,
Thank you for your comment.
I’m glad you enjoyed the topic, it’s one that I’m sure we will return to more often.
As for your selection, it’s certainly a high point for the band…that whole 2002 to 2004 time was filled with fantastic shows. Like you, I have a lot of great bootleg shows from that time. As I mentioned..the 2003 Montreux performance is my go to from that period. Thanks again.
Mark Anthony K
I enjoy these “Yes Tracks through Time” shows and they prompt my mind to think back on my favorite versions of various songs. Rather than scour Youtube however, I just wrack my brain to remember which versions I enjoyed the most in my concert experiences. For Awaken, while I was at the show that Kevin mentioned from Philly, my favorite versions are from different tours. My No. 1 would be the Union version from the Spectrum in April 16, 1991. The eight-piece lineup gave it a rock orchestra sound and Alan was great on drums that night during the climatic piece. No. 2 for me would be June 21, 1979, also at the Spectrum. For me this was my favorite Yesshow of all time. In the round as well, the sound was great and Steve always seemed to be in front of me for his solos when the rotating stage brought him my way. And third would be at the 50th Anniversary tour in Philly on July 21, 2018 when Alan joined during Awaken. The whole band was in sync and the crowd was mesmerized. And my worst version of Awaken would also be during the Union tour on July 20, 1991 at the Capitol Centre in Landover, MD. (near DC). The only reason this was bad was because the sound went out halfway through the song and all you could hear were bass and drums, and the band seemed oblivous, although maybe wondering why peole were yelling. The rotating stage must have pulled out a plug or something. But eventually the issue got fixed before the end of the song but it killed any momentum or emotion that the song normally generates. Not the band’s fault.
Hi Brian,
Thank you for your comment.
Wow! I can’t believe that I totally forgot about the Union tour. That was my first time seeing Yes live…and has always been a fond memory. That night in Toronto they did a brilliant version of Awaken..your description of your April 16th 1991 show sounds very similar to my experience…amazing performance..with Alan really stepping it up a great. But I also remember Bill Burford adding a lot of percussion via his Simmons set up..which sounded great. As he mentioned on the Yesyears documentary..those samples were taken straight from the album master tapes. That is something that we never got after that tour. Sorry to hear about that show with the PA drop out…Ive not have it happen to me ever..but it does happen sometimes.
Thanks again for your thoughts and memories.
Mark Anthony K
Probably too late to make it into your TFTO book, but I remember an interview with Jon Anderson when GFTO came out. He described Awaken as the “completion” of the Topographic way of thinking. Is Awaken the “conclusion” to Tales From Topographic Oceans”?
Very interesting. . . the “completion” of “the Topographic way of thinking.” Do you remember source and year of that interview?
Sorry, no. That would have been in 1977… At the time I was reading Cream and Circus magazines. Maybe Rolling Stone.
My vote for “Awaken” is Jon Anderson & Todmobile in 2013
Hi Kevin and Mark ( and other listeners)
Hope all are well and the weather is being kind to you all.
Really interested by Jamie’s comment above linking Awaken to TFTO.
Great show fellas. Awaken is my favourite piece of music from Yes, and can well believe it carries on the legacy from Topographic Oceans ( my favourite album).
Masterful selections from you both, some renditions clearly more competently performed than others. I appreciated the inclusion of Jon’s ‘Band Geeks’ performance, which has a refreshing energy. But I still prefer Wakemans delivery.
Another potential inclusion would have been the version recorded at the Apollo with Jon Rick and Trevor . Obviously very different from other performances but I felt captures the grandeur of the piece well.
I have only had the pleasure of seeing Awaken performed live once, in Melbourne in 2003. It was a breathtaking climax to the show, but to be honest I wonder if performances in the late 70’s weren’t better, when the band was at the very apex of its musical creativity….
Really good episode. Thanks to you both