The Huntsville Times

Saturday, August 3, 2013 7:39 PM

Review by: Matt Wake

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Forget between-song banter. Between-album banter's where it's at.

During their dizzying July 20 Huntsville show, the musicians in British prog-rock pillar Yes didn't speak a word to the packed Von Braun Center Mark C. Smith Concert Hall audience until after the band finished playing their entire 1972 album "Close to the Edge."

That's around 38 minutes. Of classical-and-jazz-influenced hippie-rock with copious knotty, exploratory interludes.

And even after the nine-minute album closing track "Siberian Khatru" spiraled to virtuosic conclusion, burly bassist Chris Squire briefly thanked the crowd before wizard-like guitarist Steve Howe quickly introduced the next full album they'd perform, 1977's "Going for the One," and counting off "One, two, one, two, three, four!" before launching into the title track's uncharacteristically bluesy motif, played on a vintage lap steel.

But the music did all the talking necessary.

The playing was stunning. All night. On a sweet collection of instruments (ranging from a Gibson Les Paul Custom to, on "I've Seen All Good People: Your Move," a 12-string lute) Howe perfectly executed helix figures the more-famous guitar gods of his era would have a stroke trying to play. Squire's post-Entwistle psychedelic-rhino bass-lines added welcome rumble to Yes' otherwise ethereal sound. Geoff Downes coaxed gothic organ sounds, icy synths and staccato piano trills out of the nine (!) keyboards at his disposal, often simultaneously playing one with his left hand that was several feet away from the one his right hand was playing, like some mad scientist.

And singer Jon Davison's chalk-treble voice is a sonic doppelganger for original Yes frontman Jon Anderson's. Davison could probably call Anderson's children on the phone and wish them a happy birthday and they wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Drummer Alan White's performance was the least complicated of the band. But his clockwork drumming provided essential bedrock enabling the other players' frequently thrilling tangents and interplay to take flight.

Some Yes lyrics can get a little New Age-y for me. (For example, the "Awaken" passage: "Wish the sun to stand still. Reaching out to touch our own being. Past a mortal as we. Here we can be. We can be here.") And Davison's arms-outstretched gestures - from what I've read, similar to that Anderson employed during vintage Yes shows - borders on musical-theatre pantomime at times. But the long-haired Davison, who wore a kaftan-like shirt, blue jeans and sneaks and appeared to be decades younger than the rest of the group, hit all Anderson's high notes and ascending melodies without ever shrieking or coming up sour.

Yes finally took a 20 minute intermission after wrapping the 39-minute or so "Going for the One" LP.

The groups flow-y, trippy logo is one of rock's most indelible. And at the band's merch table in Huntsville, that logo was emblazoned on everything from $25 glass mugs to $40 T-shirts to $70 hoodies. Speaking of tees, it wasn't a surprise to see more than a couple of fans wearing Rush shirts. Both bands are tent poles of the progressive rock genre, which has begun to receive more respect in recent years after decades of being relegated to nerdom.

Yes returned to the stage to perform 1971's "The Yes Album." Even though this disc was the first released of the three they're performing on this tour, there's a reason they performed it last. It's easily the best. (I actually would have gone with "Fragile," which to me has stronger songs, over either "Close to the Edge" or "Going for the One.")

"The Yes Album" opens with the space-travel-soundtrack worthy tune "Yours Is No Disgrace." That was followed by Howe's acoustic guitar solo &q