Artist: Yes
Title: Northern Flight
Date: November 12th, 1977
Venue: The Scandinavium, Göthenburg, Sweden
Disc One
01. Firebird Suite 01:54
02. Parallels 05:53
03. I've Seen All Good People 07:10
04. Close to The Edge 19:13
05. Wondrous Stories 04:15
06. The Colours Of The Rainbow 01:17
07. Turn Of The Century 07:58
08. And You and I 10:10
Disc Two
01. Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto 01:32
02. Going For The One 05:32
03. Flight Jam 04:28
04. Awaken 15:34
05. Roundabout 08:45
06. Yours Is No Disgrace 14:00
Personnel
Jon Anderson Lead Vocals, Guitars, Harp & Percussion
Steve Howe Lead Guitars & Backing Vocals
Chris Squire Bass Guitars & Backing Vocals
Rick Wakeman Keyboards
Alan White Drums & Percussion
Going for the One Country of Switzerland?
Yes were off to Switzerland to record their new album, Going for the One. It was an escape from the tax man and the familiar surroundings of England. Patrick Moraz made the trip with Yes, back to his home country but did not stay with the band once they arrived. Things were just not working out between him and his bandmates. Rick Wakeman was brought in to take over the keyboards again and the band was off! Skiing in the morning, recording in the afternoon; this was the typical day for them at the time. These recording sessions would produce one of the very best Yes albums ever! With plans to move back to a song oriented album Jon still directed the band in the production of one of their most impressive epics of all time: ‘Awaken’.
In an interview in 1977, Jon said, “…I had a chance to read a book called ‘The Singer’. It’s about this Star Song which is an ageless hymn that’s sung every now and again and that inspired this song. It’s also influenced by a book I read recently about the life of Rembrandt...” The song is also noteworthy for how it was recorded. Rick Wakeman was required to produce church organ for this piece. However, the only way to get this sound was to use a real church organ, located 10 miles from the studio. A rather unique way of recording this instrument was devised, they used a telephone line. As Rick recalls, “We did it that way because that’s the way things are done in Switzerland… Their telephone lines are the highest fidelity you can imagine…So we rented a phone line, I put on the cans (headphones) and away we went. The pipe organ was recorded direct into the studio. I listened back over the cans, drove back to the studio, cut a little overdub and that was it.”
The tour to promote the album began with a performance in Toledo, Ohio July 30, 1977. Yes traversed the United States playing 55 shows to sold out venues night after night. Many who attended were pleased to see Rick back with the band. The new material was well received both during the shows and on the charts of the time. In July of 1977 the album reached number one in England and number 8 in the U.S. After the tour of the states Yes returned to Europe to continue their tour; thirty-six cities in 45 days, a grueling schedule to say the least.
With some 68 shows under their belt on this tour, the band could do no wrong as they reached Gothenburg, Sweden on November 12, 1977. The concert featured on this PRRP release presents Yes at the height of their performance skill. The old material like ‘Close to the Edge’ is polished and performed flawlessly but still there is room for Steve and Rick to add some slight variation to their leads. At this point in the tour, the band is also very comfortable with the new material which they deliver with confidence and power. The spirits of the band also appear to be brighter as old conflicts have been put aside. Jon now feels comfortable adding the light-hearted ‘Colors of the Rainbow’ and the comedic ‘Rachmoninov’s piano concerto’ routine to the set. This last bit with Rich is reminiscent of the Peter Gabriel skits of Genesis. The more difficult days of the Tales From Topographic Oceans tour have been left behind and the band is bursting with new found energy. So listen closely and you will hear some of the best music ever performed by the band called Yes!
Notes from the Re-Master
This is a wonderful audience recording of a great Yes performance. The taping was probably made from the middle of the performance theater because the acoustics of the room are quite apparent. The audience is quite respectful so there is little in the way of talking or excessive clapping. The quality of the recording is quite good. Viable music signal was found up to 14,000 Hz during the bell tones of ‘Awaken’. The noise level was moderate but noise was easily identified within the spectrum and reduced. Many brief buzz/pop artifacts were also found and manually removed.
The complete show is here with the exception of three gaps that arise during the taping. The first gap occurs at 43 minutes into the show, during ‘Turn of the Century”. The break is 19 seconds long so it is likely a tape flip. The second occurs at the beginning of ‘Roundabout’ and is only 15 seconds long but its actual length is unknown because applause precedes it. Again, this is thought most likely to be a tape flip break but another gap is found in ‘Roundabout’ lasting 1 minute and 23 seconds. Whether there was a switch in tapes or taping problems will never be known. All three gaps were patched using segments of a Yes show from Long Beach California September 26, 1977. This source was chosen because it is also an audience recording with similar acoustics and is less than two months before this current show.
Finally, the show needed re-tracking because many songs were grouped together. The ‘Firebird Suite’ was separated from the first song ‘Parallels’ and ‘Colors of the Rainbow’ was tracked separate from ‘Wondrous Stories’. On disc two, the brief segment of Rachmoninov’s Piano concerto was tracked distinct from ‘Going for the One’ and ‘Flight Jam’ was separated from ‘Awaken’.