YESSHOWS
The Original Opening Music Albums and a Guide to Pre and Post YESshow Music
by David Watkinson
Nigel Luby and The Albums
These originally used albums I shall be discussing came to me from a long established link to YES live and in the studio, through their much loved and respected sound engineer, road manager, technician, personal assistant and guitar technician to Chris Squire, Nigel Luby. Nigel was a special engineer in that world, as he had both amazing skills not only in the front of house recording, live work, but was a brilliant studio engineer, which for anyone that knows is too separate jobs rarely done to such a high standard by one person, Nigel was exceptional. He was a long-time friend of Chris Squire and began working for YES in 1972, some of the classic albums he worked on were Yesshows, Tormato, Going For The One, Fish Out Of Water, Yesstory, Yesyears and 90125.
These classical albums were the actual vinyl records YES used and recorded to tape, looked after by Nigel, maybe some formally owned by Jon Anderson or other band members, but certainly used for decades as the special introduction music for YES concerts. Iconic music in the eyes of YES fans and for the band too. Maybe nowhere better represented than on the triple live album from 1973 Yessongs. This really did capture the beginning to a YES show with all its exciting atmosphere gradual building adding tension to the fan filled room, such as the Rainbow Theatre, Finsbury Park, London.
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