Yes 50 Live (2-CD)

YES 50 LIVE features 13 live performances of key songs that helped make Yes the most enduring, ambitious, and virtuosic progressive band in rock history. What makes this collection even more extraordinary is the number of band members who are featured. In fact, much of the album was recorded in Philadelphia, a show where 10 members of Yes were on stage during the encore (current members) Steve Howe, Geoff Downes, Alan White, Billy Sherwood and Jon Davison, Jay Schellen, plus (former members) Tony Kaye, Patrick Moraz, Tom Brislin and Trevor Horn. Patrick Moraz is featured on "Soon" and Tony Kaye is featured on "Yours Is No Disgrace," "Roundabout," and "Starship Trooper."

The live performances on YES 50 LIVE seamlessly weave together several eras from the band's past with songs from 10 different studio albums recorded between 1970 and 2011. Naturally, the collection highlights some of the group's most important music, including "Starship Trooper," from The Yes Album (1971), "Roundabout" from Fragile (1971) and the title track from Close to the Edge (1972). But the new live album also highlights some of Yes' most adventurous work with an excerpt from "The Ancient," a track that appeared on 1973's Tales From Topographic Oceans, and "Soon," which is the final section in "The Gates Of Delirium" from 1974's Relayer.

The cover of YES 50 LIVE was painted by Roger Dean, whose artwork and trademark calligraphy are synonymous with the band's identity. The CD and vinyl versions both come with an eight-page booklet that includes photographs from the tour taken by the Gottlieb Brothers.