Yes Catalog Acquired by Warner Music Group

[Tres Discrete]

I vote HARD for 90125 and Big Generator to get the surround treatment. We already have near perfection with Steven Wilson’s The Yes Album, Fragile and Close to the Edge juggernauts.

But isn’t Warner one of the weaker labels when it comes to promoting surround music releases?

Unfortunately, I’m afraid we’ll be treated to box sets like so many others they have released: 3 or 4 CD’s + Vinyl & NO SURROUND…see Ramones, Replacements, Seal and so many others…sigh…

 

[knifeman]

it was kinda charming, really. And it aired ~17 years ago.

I can't believe I don't remember that.

 

[barfle]

I was royally pissed, though, when Jeff Beck’s The Pump was used for a car commercial many years ago. As one of my all-time favorite albums, anything that taints those songs with commercial stink gets my ire.

Although it's a rarity, "We've Only Just Begun" got its start as a bank commercial.

 

[ssully]

But the implication is that Hyundai buyers are . . . thick as bricks?

Don't overthink it. Clearly they were going for a 'Pied Piper' vibe in that commercial.

This topic comes up in some of the thinkpieces about rights acquisitions, and sometimes, especially where legacy artists like Dylan and Springsteen are concerned, there's speculation that the contracts were written with provisos that certain commercial uses would be restricted till after the artist's death.

But the consensus seems to be that the old countercultural attitude about the cardinal sin of "selling out" has largely disappeared.

That ship sailed in 1988 -- 35 years ago -- when The Beatles' "Revolution" was used for a Nike sneakers ad.

 

[ssully]

I wonder if this is the new "fixed" remix, that Brian Kehew was involved with? Only available in the Progeny set, AFAIK?

There's no 'fixed' remix of Yessongs. Eight Yessongs tracks were taken from the shows covered in Progeny. The other four performances -- all lengthy -- are from different tours, not part of Progeny (three of the them weren't played at all on the US tour Progeny draws from). So a remix of Yessongs would require finding some more multitracks.

Yessongs was available as a 'high res' 96/24 or 196/24 download from HDtracks as far back as 2013 (though now it only seems to available at CD rate there). Similarly the files have been available at ProStudioMasters. It still sounds like Yessongs for better or worse (I much prefer its raucous sound to Kehew's arid , static Progeny mixes). MQA certainly isn't going to make a damn bit of difference unless it's actually been re-E'Qed (like the old Japanese HDCDs were)

That would be a prime candidate for a vinyl reissue as well.

Has it not been by now?

 

[ssully]

Now IMHO that's sad, an iconic UK US piece of prog-rock used to hawk
a Korean car.
Why don't they use Korean music?

Seriously? To sell to an American public? You can bet the ad agency was in the USA.

 

[M-K]

I vote HARD for 90125 and Big Generator to get the surround treatment. We already have near perfection with Steven Wilson’s The Yes Album, Fragile and Close to the Edge juggernauts.

But isn’t Warner one of the weaker labels when it comes to promoting surround music releases?

You missed "Talk" (me too BTW). I don't know why but I like that album very much.

 

[Blackwood]

You missed "Talk" (me too BTW). I don't know why but I like that album very much.

I think Talk is a really good album. Songs like The Calling and Endless Dream are still enjoyable for me to listen to.

 

[Electric Moo]

There's no 'fixed' remix of Yessongs. Eight Yessongs tracks were taken from the shows covered in Progeny. The other four performances -- all lengthy -- are from different tours, not part of Progeny (three of the them weren't played at all on the US tour Progeny draws from). So a remix of Yessongs would require finding some more multitracks.

Yessongs was available as a 'high res' 96/24 or 196/24 download from HDtracks as far back as 2013 (though now it only seems to available at CD rate there). Similarly the files have been available at ProStudioMasters. It still sounds like Yessongs for better or worse (I much prefer its raucous sound to Kehew's arid , static Progeny mixes). MQA certainly isn't going to make a damn bit of difference unless it's actually been re-E'Qed (like the old Japanese HDCDs were)



Has it not been by now?

I must have mis-heard about it then. Ah, I found this explaining more details:

https://www.yesworld.com/2015/03/yes-progeny-live-from-seventy-two/#5

 

[GilWave]

I think Talk is a really good album. Songs like The Calling and Endless Dream are still enjoyable for me to listen to.

Talk is one of my favorite Rabin-era records from Yes. The label that put it together, Victory, went out of business not long after it came out. Not sure who the rights holders are now, but it (unfortunately) wasn't part of the Warner's deal.

Interesting extensive overview of the situation on Wikipedia surrounding Talk:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk_(Yes_album)

 

[humprof]

The latest twist: early selloffs.
https://open.substack.com/pub/tedgioia/p/investment-funds-are-now-selling

 

[humprof]

The latest twist: early selloffs.
https://open.substack.com/pub/tedgioia/p/investment-funds-are-now-selling

More doubts about the value and/or profitability of buying up song catalogs (although this particular case might have just as much to do with the management of Hipgnosis): Ben Sisario, "Hipgnosis Made Mega Deals For Song Catalogs. Its Future Is Unclear."

And Ted Gioia, "12 Predictions on the Future of Song Investing":
https://www.honest-broker.com/p/12-predictions-on-the-future-of-song
(Side note: we've had similar threads here about sales of the song catalogs of John Fogerty, David Bowie, Paul Simon...)
https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...quires-ccr-worldwide-publishing-rights.33464/https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/threads/bowie-music-sold-to-warner-music.31661https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...sony-controls-all-of-paul-simons-stuff.30265/

 

[ssully]

Seems kind of a dick move to have named the company after the other Hipgnosis.

 

[jimfisheye]

I wonder if this is the new "fixed" remix, that Brian Kehew was involved with? Only available in the Progeny set, AFAIK?

That would be a prime candidate for a vinyl reissue as well.

The extended fussing over and mixing work talked about in the promotion of the Progeny set straight up never happened! They released them all with very cursory mixes. They hit like soundboard tapes.

Absolutely still great to have! I'll take this over the stepped on sounds of the fan shared board tapes and challenging audience recordings. The original Yessongs mix is just night and day more accomplished. The 24/96 version on HDTracks seems to be the real deal too. (Don't ever trust HDTracks without vetting a title first! They have volume war hash releases masquerading in HD format right next to real releases all too often.)

 

[ssully]

It's rather bold of you to claim it 'straight up never happened'. Basically you're calling Brian Kehew a very big liar. Based on what evidence? ("What I hear" doesn't count.)

Far more likely the 'extended fussing over and mixing' really happened, and you just don't like the results. Neither do I.

 

[jimfisheye]

It's rather bold of you to claim it 'straight up never happened'. Basically you're calling Brian Kehew a very big liar. Based on what evidence? ("What I hear" doesn't count.)

Far more likely the 'extended fussing over and mixing' really happened, and you just don't like the results. Neither do I.

I'd have to look for the write up I saw, sorry... It really went on at length about the plans for tweaking and mixing they planned on doing and how they specifically were going to have results that wiped the floor with the original mix.

If that premature write up had never been done I wouldn't have said a word. That these were released is wonderful and appreciated. I bought them. I'm still happy! The initial talk led to feeling a bit of bait and switch though.

I know to take literature and reviews like that with a grain of salt. And the marketing folks get technical details confused sometimes. (eg. Calling a DTS-MA track and LPCM track of the same mix "2 mixes")
But they really did lay it on thick initially for this one. I guess I'm assuming that the lack of results means someone just didn't do it rather than someone in one of the big studios did poor work. Meaning to give benefit of doubt but perhaps I AM being an ass! (It's a talent)

 

[Electric Moo]

To be honest, after reading the promo notes about the mixing & the reamping of Squire's DI feed, I was surprised by the lack of bass. However the shows are excellent and the fact we even got this is amazing. So kudos to Mr Kehew, I appreciate the effort.

I have an EQ on my stereo & can always bump it up a bit.

 

[ssully]

FWIW, Squire was favoring a Sunn Coliseum Lead head on that tour, an amp that was typically used by *guitar* players. We are fortunate enough to have a record of his actual amp settings from an interview with Guitar Player that he did back then:

"My sound is a combination of the amp controls, the guitar's controls, and the volume we're playing at." The settings on the Sunn Coliseum Lead head, which Chris states without hesitation, are 6 on the volume levels, 4 on the low freq control, 3 on the high freq control, 5 on the mid-freq, and 10 on the treble. On the Rick, the volume and tone controls on the treble (bridge) pickup are run wide open. The bass (neck) pickup volume is near full and the tone knob sits on 4.

...and brand new Rotosound strings at every gig. It's fair to say the man liked his treble. With all that plus what seem to have been fairly primitive/haphazard live recording conditions -- mics in front of cabinets -- getting a fat bass sound would be a challenge. But I was hoping for better.

 

[Electric Moo]

Noted, but those amps are known to work well for bass. Apparently Entwhistle used one too? The speaker/cab is probably more important than the actual amp head, especially back then. Bass & gtr amps weren't drastically different from one another, compared to today.

I guess we have the Yessongs release to compare sonics: same shows

 

[Electric Moo]

-->Notwithstanding I was also talking about the level of Squire in the mix! He's pretty buried

But again, we are lucky to have these recordings available