Keys to Ascension 2
Keys to Ascension 2 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | ||||
Live album / studio album by Yes | ||||
Released | 3 November 1997 | |||
Recorded | 4–6 March 1996 at the Fremont Theater, San Luis Obispo, California (Live tracks) November 1996 at Yesworld Studio, San Luis Obispo (Studio tracks) | |||
Genre | Progressive rock | |||
Length | 101:42 | |||
Label | Essential | |||
Producer |
| |||
Yes chronology | ||||
|
Keys to Ascension 2 is the fifth live and sixteenth studio album by the English progressive rock band Yes. It was released as a double album in November 1997 by Essential Records as the successor to the previous live/studio album Keys to Ascension. After guitarist Steve Howe and keyboardist Rick Wakeman returned to the band in 1995, the group relocated to San Luis Obispo, California and started to write new material. The reunion of this particular line-up was promoted with three concerts at the city's Fremont Theater in March 1996, the five's first live performance together since 1979. Keys to Ascension 2 features the remaining half of the live set from the 1996 shows and five new studio tracks including two which marked a return to the group writing long-form pieces. It would ultimately serve as Wakeman's final studio album with the band.
Keys to Ascension 2 received mixed reviews from music critics. It reached No. 62 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 169 on the Billboard 200 in the United States. A promotional North American tour was set to start in June 1997, but was cancelled after Wakeman departed from the band due to scheduling conflicts. The studio material from the Keys to Ascension albums was compiled on Keystudio (2001), and both albums were reissued in their entirety in 1998 and 2010, the latter with the concert video as a bonus disc.
Background
In mid-1995, guitarist Steve Howe and keyboardist Rick Wakeman returned to the group, which had also comprised lead vocalist Jon Anderson, bassist Chris Squire, and drummer Alan White. The five assembled in San Luis Obispo, California to rehearse and record new studio material which included concerts at the city's Fremont Theater from 4–6 March 1996, the first live performance of this particular line-up since 1979. The first half of their live set from the 1996 shows, plus two new studio tracks, were released as Keys to Ascension in October 1996 by Essential Records.
By the time Keys to Ascension was released, the label had expressed a wish for the group to put out roughly 45 minutes of new studio material with the remaining unreleased live tracks from the 1996 concerts as a second installment of the Keys to Ascension series. The band agreed, and had a deadline to hand over the finished album by the end of November 1996 in exchange for a sum of money from the label that Christmas.[1][2] Wakeman was "heavily against" the album's title due to his excitement over the quality of the new songs that Yes had recorded which he thought deserved to be released as a separate album.[3]
Production
Live tracks
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/ba/Fremont-theater.jpeg/220px-Fremont-theater.jpeg)
Disc one contains the remaining unreleased live tracks from the three shows at the Fremont Theatre in March 1996. This includes material from Time and a Word (1970), The Yes Album (1971), Close to the Edge (1972), and Going for the One (1977).[4]
Studio tracks
Disc two contains five studio tracks that were recorded in the course of a year from the fall of 1995.[4] After promoting Keys to Ascension the group finalised the arrangements mainly from ideas that Anderson, Squire, and White had already put down and recorded the songs in November 1996.[1] The band leased a building in San Luis Obispo that was once a bank and set up a recording studio inside that was later dubbed Yesworld Studio on the album's sleeve notes.[5][1] Working with the band was Tom Fletcher, who was only available to oversee production of the live tracks as he had commitments with Steve Lukather. This prompted Squire to suggest Billy Sherwood, who had played additional guitars during Yes's 1994 tour, to complete production on the studio material and additional recording, engineering, and mixing.[4] This was the first time Wakeman had worked with Sherwood, and the keyboardist praised Sherwood's attitude and contributions to the album.[3] Wakeman was particularly pleased with the studio tracks on Keys to Ascension 2, rating them "light years" ahead of the studio material on its predecessor. He reasoned this down to the sense of maturity in the songs and the greater amount of input from the band in terms of what they and other members played, something that had not been done for a long time.[3]
"Mind Drive" was originally a song that was rehearsed by the proposed supergroup XYZ featuring Squire, White, and guitarist Jimmy Page. "Children of the Light" was originally written by Jon and Vangelis in 1986 as "Distant Thunder". A demo version was recorded by Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe which was included as a hidden track on the 2011 reissue of Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe (1989). The lyrics to the song were printed on the band's 1991 tour book. The original version of "Children of the Light" included a keyboard introduction written by Wakeman entitled "Lightning", but it was removed prior to the album's release. In 1998, Howe said that the introduction was taken off following the group's overall dissatisfaction with it, an opinion that the record company also shared.[2] The section was restored on the 2001 compilation album Keystudio, which combined the studio tracks from both Keys to Ascension albums. The version of "Children of the Light" on the compilation, however, has a verse removed.
Artwork
As with its predecessor, Keys to Ascension 2 features cover art by Roger Dean on an outer sleeve that fits around the package.[4] On the sleeve, the image's predominant colour is magenta, but the booklet features the painting in its original blue colouration.
Release
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Vox | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The studio tracks from this album and Keys to Ascension were rereleased on Keystudio. The whole album was reissued in 2010 along with its earlier companion album Keys to Ascension and the concert video of the same name as part of the Keys to Ascension box set.
Track listing
All lyrics are written by Jon Anderson.
No. | Title | Writers | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "I've Seen All Good People"
| Anderson, Squire | 7:16 |
2. | "Going for the One" | Anderson | 4:58 |
3. | "Time and a Word" | Anderson, David Foster | 6:23 |
4. | "Close to the Edge" | Anderson, Steve Howe | 19:40 |
5. | "Turn of the Century" | Anderson, Howe, Alan White | 7:55 |
6. | "And You and I" | Anderson, Bill Bruford, Howe, Squire | 10:48 |
No. | Title | Writers | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Mind Drive" | Anderson, Squire, White, Howe, Rick Wakeman | 18:37 |
2. | "Foot Prints" | Anderson, Squire, Howe, White | 9:09 |
3. | "Bring Me to the Power" | Anderson, Howe | 7:25 |
4. | "Children of Light"
| Anderson, Squire, Vangelis, Howe, Wakeman | 6:02 |
5. | "Sign Language" | Howe, Wakeman | 3:32 |
Total length: | 44:45 |
Note: "Children of Light" is called "Children of the Light" on some pressings of Keys to Ascension as well as Keystudio.
Personnel
Credits are adapted from the album's 1997 liner notes.[4]
Yes
- Jon Anderson – vocals, guitars, harp
- Steve Howe – 6- and 12-string electric and acoustic guitars, steel and pedal steel, 5-string bass, vocals
- Chris Squire – bass guitar, vocals
- Rick Wakeman – keyboards
- Alan White – drums, vocals
Production
- Yes – production
- Billy Sherwood – production, recording, mixing
- Tom Fletcher – live tracks recording
- Kevin Dickey – Sonic Solutions digital editing
- Joe Gastwirt – mastering at Ocean View Digital Mastering
- Roger Dean – paintings, logos, lettering
- Martyn Dean – packaging design
- Gottlieb Bros./Yes Magazine – booklet design, photography
Charts
Chart (1997) | Peak position |
---|---|
Scottish Albums (OCC)[9] | 89 |
UK Albums (OCC)[10] | 62 |
US Billboard 200[11] | 169 |
References
- ^ a b c Tiano, Mike (1 October 1996). "NFTE: Interview with Chris Squire". Notes from the Edge. Retrieved 24 June 2017.
- ^ a b Tiano, Mike (February 1998). "Conversation With Steve Howe [NFTE #196]". Retrieved 9 September 2018.
- ^ a b c Tiano, Mike (March 1997). "Conversation With Rick Wakeman (NFTE #171)". Retrieved 9 September 2018.
- ^ a b c d e Keys to Ascension 2 (Media notes). Yes. Essential Records. 1997. EDF CD 457.
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ Hughes, Rob (28 September 2015). "Former Manager And Friend Jon Brewer Remembers Chris Squire". Team Rock. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
- ^ Collins, Paul. "Keys to Ascension 2 – Yes". AllMusic. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
- ^ Ewing, Jerry. Vox, February 2008. Albums. YES – Keys to Ascension 2 P. 77
- ^ Cross, Charles R. (2004). "Yes". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 895. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
- ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
- ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
- ^ "Yes Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
- v
- t
- e
- Yes
- Time and a Word
- The Yes Album
- Fragile
- Close to the Edge
- Tales from Topographic Oceans
- Relayer
- Going for the One
- Tormato
- Drama
- 90125
- Big Generator
- Union
- Talk
- Keys to Ascension
- Keys to Ascension 2
- Open Your Eyes
- The Ladder
- Magnification
- Fly from Here
- Heaven & Earth
- The Quest
- Mirror to the Sky
- Yessongs
- Yesshows
- 9012Live: The Solos
- Something's Coming: The BBC Recordings 1969–1970
- House of Yes: Live from House of Blues
- Symphonic Live
- Greatest Hits Live
- Live at Montreux 2003
- Songs from Tsongas
- Union Live
- In the Present – Live from Lyon
- Like It Is: Yes at the Bristol Hippodrome
- Progeny: Highlights from Seventy-Two
- Like It Is: Yes at the Mesa Arts Center
- Topographic Drama – Live Across America
- Yes 50 Live
- The Royal Affair Tour: Live from Las Vegas
- Yesterdays
- Classic Yes
- Yesstory
- Highlights: The Very Best of Yes
- Keystudio
- The Ultimate Yes: 35th Anniversary Collection
- Yes Remixes
- Yes, Friends and Relatives
- Yessingles
- Yesyears
- In a Word: Yes (1969–)
- The Word Is Live
- Essentially Yes
- High Vibration
- The Studio Albums 1969–1987
- Progeny: Seven Shows from Seventy-Two
- The Steven Wilson Remixes
- "Your Move"
- "Roundabout"
- "America"
- "And You and I"
- "Soon"
- "Wonderous Stories"
- "Don't Kill the Whale"
- "Into the Lens"
- "Owner of a Lonely Heart"
- "Leave It"
- "It Can Happen"
- "Love Will Find a Way"
- "Rhythm of Love"
- "Lift Me Up"
- "Saving My Heart"
- "Make It Easy"
- "The Calling"
- "Walls"
- "Open Your Eyes"
- "Lightning Strikes"
- "We Can Fly"
- "Yours Is No Disgrace"
- "Starship Trooper"
- "I've Seen All Good People"
- "South Side of the Sky"
- "Five Per Cent for Nothing"
- "Long Distance Runaround"
- "Heart of the Sunrise"
- "Close to the Edge"
- "Siberian Khatru"
- "The Gates of Delirium"
- "Run with the Fox"
- "Changes"
- "Cinema"
- "Our Song"
- "Hold On"
- "Big Generator"
- "Shoot High Aim Low"
- "The Solution"
- "Fly from Here"
- "Mirror to the Sky"
- Yessongs
- 9012Live
- Yesyears
- Greatest Video Hits
- Yes: Live – 1975 at Q.P.R.
- Live in Philadelphia
- Keys to Ascension
- Yesspeak
- Yes Acoustic: Guaranteed No Hiss
- Classic Artists: Yes
- Yesspeak Live: The Director's Cut
- The Lost Broadcasts
- Rock of the '70s
- The Yes Album Tour
- Fragile Tour
- Close to the Edge Tour
- 1960s–70s
- 1980s–90s
- 2000s–10s
- 2020s
- The Syn
- Mabel Greer's Toyshop
- Flash
- Badger
- King Crimson
- The Buggles
- XYZ
- Jon and Vangelis
- Asia
- Cinema
- GTR
- Esquire
- Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe
- Conspiracy
- Circa
- Yoso
- Yes Featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Rick Wakeman
- Roy Flynn
- Brian Lane
- Discography
- Band members
- Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe
- Yesoteric
- Symphonic Music of Yes
- Jimmy Haun
- Dylan Howe
- Roger Dean
- Yes bubble logo