You can’t go wrong unearthing old prog videos, but The Lost Broadcasts
DVD from Yes is a real gem. Sure, you’ve probably seen some of these videos,
but to have all them collected on one DVD for the first time, along with some
outtakes, is priceless! From 1969, we get Tony Kaye leaning far into his organ
and drummer Bill Bruford mugging through the group’s version of Ritchie
Havens’ “No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed.”
From this black and white Beat Club performance, we also get the previously
unseen “Looking Around” and “Survival,” both from the
first Yes album. The latter definitely was nodding to the future band we know
and love. We jump to a 1970 lip-synched clip of “Time And A Word”
with Peter Banks still on guitar. Though the band is obviously having a great
time miming this semi-hit, Banks would be fired two months after this taping.
We’re back to the Beat Club for the last four numbers. It was April
1971 when the band, now with new guitarist Steve Howe, laid down a blistering
“Yours Is No Disgrace,” along with “All Good People.”
For various reasons, the show needed these clips re-shot (we even hear someone
tell bassist Chris Squire he was too far away from the microphone after one
take), so we are treated to a trio of live rundowns. The Lost Broadcast
is more than a historical, one-from-the-vaults document. This 43- minute DVD
is a rare peak into Yes before they became huge; before Rick Wakeman and Alan
White joined up to create the classic lineup that had all the hits, toured the
world and got all the girls.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
