Yes: Yes Acoustic

I've often said that one of the most interesting things about acoustic music played solo (or with a small group) is that it reveals what the performer truly brings to the table. You can cover up a multitude of musical sins in an electric band, but there's simply no place to hide in an acoustic situation. Aerosmith completely changed my opinion of them for the better with a solid performance on MTV's Unplugged series. And so I was really looking forward to seeing what some of the world's finest rock instrumentalists could do in that context.

Surprisingly, I was a bit disappointed. There's no doubt that these guys can play, and yet the music as a whole lost a lot more impact than I'd expected. The piano and drums fare best, and the bass by far the worst, as I'd expected due to the properties of the instruments. The bass sound seemed to be throwing Chris Squire off his game, as he really looked like he didn't want to be there, while Rick Wakeman (the pianist) seemed to be having the time of his life.

The songs themselves didn't seem to hold up, which I hadn't expected. Some of my Yes favorites seemed just average played this way. My best guess would be that the bass guitar is prominent in a lot of Yes music, and since the bass lost a lot of power, so did the overall effect. I suppose this is why we haven't seen Yes play acoustically before, and probably won't be seeing it again any time soon. I'd be curious as to what it would sound like with electric bass guitar and acoustic everything else, but then they couldn't honestly call it Yes Acoustic.

I could only recommend this one to a hardcore fan, though I would point out to that fan that Rick Wakeman's commentary on the rehearsal extra is not to be missed if you're interested enough to rent it in the first place.