1.01 Siberian Khatru (10.38)
1.02 Heart Of The Sunrise (11.30)
1.03 Future Times ~ Rejoice (7.11)
1.04 Circus Of Heaven (5.48)
1.05 Time And A Word (4.10)
1.06 Long Distance Runaround (3.15)
1.07 The Fish ~ Survival (5.41)
1.08 Perpetual Change (4.54)
1.09 Soon (8.33)
1.10 Don't Kill The Whale (4.23)
1.11 Madrigal Part 1 (0.34)
1.12 The Clap (4.19)
==============================
2.01 Starship Trooper (10.45)
2.02 Madrigal Part 2 (1.33)
2.03 On The Silent Wings Of Freedom (8.56)
2.04 Rick Wakeman Solo (6.21)
2.05 Awaken (17.54)
2.06 I've Seen All Good People (8.48)
2.07 Roundabout (9.12)
==============================

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PRRP034- YES
A PIECE OF HEAVEN
October 26, 1978 (Wembley Arena - London, England)

Disc 1:
1.01 Siberian Khatru (10.38)
1.02 Heart Of The Sunrise (11.30)
1.03 Future Times ~ Rejoice (7.11)
1.04 Circus Of Heaven (5.48)
1.05 Time And A Word (4.10)
1.06 Long Distance Runaround (3.15)
1.07 The Fish ~ Survival (5.41)
1.08 Perpetual Change (4.54)
1.09 Soon (8.33)
1.10 Don't Kill The Whale (4.23)
1.11 Madrigal Part 1 (0.34)
1.12 The Clap (4.19)

Disc 2:
2.01 Starship Trooper (10.45)
2.02 Madrigal Part 2 (1.33)
2.03 On The Silent Wings Of Freedom (8.56)
2.04 Rick Wakeman Solo (6.21)
2.05 Awaken (17.54)
2.06 I've Seen All Good People (8.48)
2.07 Roundabout (9.12)

YES
Jon Anderson –Lead Vocals, Guitars, Harp & Percussion
Chris Squire –Bass Guitars, Backing Vocals
Steve Howe –Lead Guitars, Backing Vocals
Alan White –Drums & Percussion
Rick Wakeman–Keyboard

Here we go again.

Yes had just finished a well deserved vacation. The new album, Tormato had just been released in September and the band decided to kick off the supporting tour in the United States. After 38 shows in 43 days of a North American tour they took a 15 day vacation. Now, rested, Yes were ready to begin a brief stretch of shows at the famous Wembley Arena –formally known as the Empire Pool- in their home country of Great Britain before returning again to America. As a 12,000 seat venue Wembley Arena required a bit of modification to accommodate the Yes show because the Tormato Tour was presenting Yes with a Theatre-In-The-Round circular stage. Six shows were performed over a five night period and this recording presents the performance from the third evening.
Despite the changing attitudes and preferences within the music industry of the time, Yes were still considered the masters. The 1978 Melody Maker Poll gave top male vocalist honors to Jon Anderson. Steve Howe was voted top guitarist and Rick Wakeman was considered the top keyboardist. Chris Squire was also named top bassist. At the time of the Wembley gigs the band members knew of these award selections and looked forward to the awards ceremony which was to occur in less than 2 weeks time –on November 8th. You would think that Yes were on top of the world.
And yet, 1978 was an unsettling time for the band. They knew of the Punk rock movement and understood that it could influence the popularity of progressive rock which had commanded so much attention throughout the 1970’s. The decision had already been made with the last album cover to give a new look to the band and use Hypgnosis artists rather than Roger Dean. The Tormato album continued with that idea over the objections of Steve Howe. Originally, Tormato was to be called Tor. The Yes-Tor album cover was to be a picture of the band in front of a famous rock in Devon, England
called the Yestor. Instead, the band had their picture taken in a park near the recording studio, nowhere near Devon. To add to the deception, Chris Squire forgot his black leather jacket and had to wear one with someone else’s name on it. This was eventually fixed in post-processing but was not a good omen for the album or the band.
Indeed, during 1978, Yes were also having internal problems of their own. Though the credits on Tormato tell a different story, Rick Wakeman insists that he wrote much of the material on the album, “…I wrote four of the nine tracks; mostly with Jon. But there were some publishing disagreements and a few problems. Never believe credits on any album. They’re all political.” And according to Chris Squire, the competition within the band extended to
the music as well, “…It just seems to me like both Rich and Steve on that particular album were seeing which one could play more notes than the other one. That’s kind of how the guitar and keyboard parts were constructed on most songs, it seems…” Sadly, these disagreements would eventually lead to the break-up of the band in 1980. During an interview in 1984, Jon Anderson was asked about the cause of the break-up. He said, “We just had too many Chiefs and not enough Indians.”
But Yes still had a loyal fan-base, eager to see them perform material from the new album. A matinee show on the final day at Wembley was even added to the schedule to accommodate the demand. The show opens with the familiar ‘Siberian Khatru’ and ‘Heart of the Sunrise’. Both songs were played with power and emotion demonstrating the cohesiveness that Yes had achieved after so many years of playing together. Jon welcomes the crowd with a simple, “Welcome to Wembley”, as if to say: here we are again, ready to bring you the intricacies of Yes music that you have come to expect from us…on with the performance… The band then launches off into material from the new album. Both ‘Future Times/Rejoice’ and ‘Circus of Heaven’ are received well and help to change the mood after the frantic pace of the older songs. The big Medley follows and presents segments of many of the classic Yes moments from previous years. The highlights of the second half of the show are ‘Awaken’ and ‘On The Silent Wings of Freedom’. Both songs demonstrate that Yes can move beyond their old classics of ‘Close to the Edge’ and ‘Ritual’ and produce long, moving pieces that will become standards for the setlist in years to come.
The 1978 tour was so successful that it was extended into the next year, despite the absence of a new album to promote. Shows were booked and fans flocked to see Yes in their prime. What a disappointment when the split occurred at the end of that year. Still, Yes continued on into the 1980’s, 90’s and the twenty-first century eventually re-forming this line-up so future generations could hear songs created in 1978, a time when Yes were at the
top of their game…..

Notes from the Re-Master

The master recording for this event had recently become available and was the starting point for this remaster project. The most obvious problems with the recording were the flat dynamics and the speed error. Once the speed was corrected the tape and audience noise was attenuated using multiple techniques. Tonality adjustment was needed to compensate for the venue as much as possible and then the dynamics were enhanced to restore some natural variability to the sound. A ring was found during difference parts of the show and was notched. Re-tracking was used to separate
each segment of the Big Medley. Overall, a nice result.