Yes
Le Colisee' de Quebec
Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
April 18, 1979
'Circus of Heaven'

** Liberated bootleg **
** Includes album art **
** Excellent soundboard recording **
** Remastered and pitch-corrected by TheTooleMan, July 2011 **

The review by Bill Glahn, posted on Forgotten Yesterdays and copied below, tells you most of what you want to know about this recording, though he makes a few incorrect assertions. Here's the rest of the story:

The performance is as good as the sound quality, which makes for a real treat.

I discovered I have two versions of this recording, one of which has small cuts during the ambience and some lead-in notes between songs. I used the most complete version to create this edition. Bill Glahn may have been referring to the other version in some of his comments.

Contrary to the review, I never found a cut or edit in Starship Trooper, but there was a fade-out and fade-in which disguised a tape flip during "The Fish" in the long medley. I cross-faded the two parts on the beat so the music never stops. This is a big improvement.

The front cover album art looks more like YesShows than Relayer.

Prof. Goody and I were in agreement about the pitch correction factor required for disk one of the set, but disk two was not as fast as disk one. Goody later agreed with my assessment: 49 cents lower for disk one, and 36 cents lower for disk two.

You'll find the drums and bass pack a bit more wallop in this version, and there's a little more ambience, too.

You can't go wrong with this one.

TheTooleMan
July, 2011

Jon Anderson (Vocals)
Steve Howe (Guitars)
Chris Squire (Bass)
Rick Wakeman (Keyboards)
Alan White (Drums)

CD 1:
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind
Siberian Khatru
Heart Of The Sunrise
Future Times/Rejoice
Circus Of Heaven
Time And A Word/Long Distance Runaround/Survival/The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)/Perpetual Change/Soon
Don't Kill The Whale
Clap

CD 2:
Starship Trooper
On The Silent Wings Of Freedom
Wakeman Solo
Awaken
Tour Song
I've Seen All Good People
Roundabout


Review posted on Forgotten Yesterdays:

YES "CIRCUS OF HEAVEN"
(Dynamite Studios DS94F059/60)

Some of our readers may recall a release from several years ago titled "Rehearsal Tales", a single CD containing a partial show from Quebec, April 18, 1979. Although the track listing had a couple of errors, the music contained on that disc represented the finest quality available of any yes concert on bootleg disc. In fact, it rivaled any official release in range, balance, and performance. The original release was very limited in numbers and it wasn't long before some of the bigger bootleg companies began making their own copies of this disc.

As the story goes, Yes was recording many of their 1979 shows on a mobile multi-track studio for release of an official live set to celebrate the groups ten year anniversary. The project was even announced to the press and then scrapped. Somehow (you know how these things happen!) a stereo mix-down from the quebec show found its way into the hands of a collector who unwittingly traded it to a bootlegger. Of course, as usually happens with bootlegs of outstanding quality, the bootlegger himself was bootlegged (at least 3 different times). All versions of this single disc were worth picking up, as little was lost in the transition from one CD to the next.

That is until now. Dynamite Studio, a Japanese outfit with reasonably good circulation in the US has finally released the complete show, making all the previously available single CD versions obsolete.

This double CD is nearly flawless! I say nearly because there is one minor edit towards the end of "Starship Trooper" which also appeared on the "Rehearsal Tales" disc. This distortion is said to be on the original master tape, and indeed it seems that is probably the case. The highs on this CD don't get any higher. The bottom end will rattle your walls, but, save for the mentioned segment, they will rattle your walls with perfect clarity. This set HAS to rate in the top 10 boots of all time. You can even hear the whale songs that Yes used between songs, for goodness sake. The audience is almost invisible in the mix. The ICE newsletter has occasionally coined the phrase "bootleg hall of fame" in their writings. If I had the opportunity to make my nominations for this mythical establishment, this would rank right up there with Led Zeppelin's "Jennings Farm Blues" and the Who's "From Lifehouse To Leeds" in importance. And it would take a back seat to no one in terms of sound quality.

"Relayer" artwork has been implemented on the front cover with a fabulous photo of the band and their stage set-up during a soundcheck on the back.

Holy Cow, I think we've got a winner!

-Bill Glahn-