Rating:
Video - 2.5 Stars (out of 5)
Audio - 4 stars (out of 5)
Over the course of the last 40 years, there have been many side
and solo projects by members of progressive giants Yes. The most
recent is CIRCA:, a band founded by former Yes utility man Billy
Sherwood. Sherwood, who sings lead and plays bass, is joined by
former Yes keyboardist Tony Kaye, Yes drummer Alan White and
guitarist Jimmy Haun, who has lent his talents to Yes during the
making of the Union album. CIRCA: released their debut album
CIRCA: 2007 and proceeded to videotape their first show shortly
thereafter at The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano,
California. The video from that show provided the footage for
the band’s first DVD release, CIRCA: Live.
The band cranks through their entire debut album, nine songs
strong, in fine fashion. The music is done well, with Scott
Walton providing a little extra help on vocoder and additional
keyboards. The songs are a good live representation of the album
and despite using a lot of effects on the CD, the band is able
to pull off the material in a live setting without a hitch.
Following the CIRCA: material, the band launches into
“Chronological Journey,” a 30-minute (mostly) instrumental set
of Yes classics from the self-titled debut album through 1999's
The Ladder. The band closes with an encore of “The More We
Live,” a song from the first album from Sherwood’s Conspiracy
project with Yes bassist Chris Squire. Again, the music on the
DVD comes across just fine. This is a DVD you can listen to
while doing housework to make the time pass more pleasantly.
But then there is the video. The footage used for this DVD is
from cameras that seem to have different aspect ratio settings.
While watching, you can often clearly see a larger shot peeking
out from the top and bottom of the angle that is being
represented. The effect of this is quite jarring. It comes
across as bootleg quality authoring and indeed it wasn’t until I
had conferred with others who own this DVD that I could surmise
that my copy wasn’t damaged in some way. The video is watchable,
but it isn’t going to win any awards.
There isn’t much in the way of bonus features on CIRCA: Live.
There is some bonus footage from the making of the album, which
is somewhat interesting, but it isn’t narrated, and just sort of
meanders about. It’s a nice look behind the scenes at the making
of the album, but to me it got a bit tedious without any
perspective and jumping from one segment to the next without
warning.
All in all, this is a DVD that is worthwhile to CIRCA: fans, but
it isn’t really essential. The Chronological Journey segment
will appeal to most Yes fans. It will likely be a DVD I don’t
pop in too often, but it is likeable enough to stay in my
collection for the odd random viewing.
Track Listing
1) Cut the Ties
2) Don't Let Go
3) Together We Are
4) Information Overload
5) Trust in Something
6) Keeper of the Flame
7) Life Going By
8) Look Inside
9) Brotherhood of Man
10) Chronological Journey
11) The More We Live
