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As progressive rock legends Yes celebrate their 50th anniversary, they are seeking their fans’ help for a 2019 box set planned for the end of the year. In a June 5 post on their Facebook page, the group asked for recordings, photographs and other memorabilia from 1969 and 1970. The post even noted that “there certainly won’t be any legal problems.”

The complete announcement, headlined “Do You Have Any Vintage Yes Recordings”:

“Towards the end of 2019, YES will be releasing a Box Set of BBC Sessions and Early Years recordings, primarily focussing on 1969 and 1970. This official release will eclipse anything released before, from this era, featuring a wealth of material that fans won’t have heard before.

“Although it was a long time ago, it’s always surprising what has survived for around half a century…despite official archives being incomplete. If any fans have any recordings (including BBC sessions), photographs or other memorabilia which may be suitable for inclusion, please drop us a line.

“There certainly won’t be any legal problems if you have something, and we’d be grateful to discuss, including items we don’t already have. Please contact the recordings’ Project Manager on behalf of YES, Daniel Earnshaw – daniel@qedg.co.uk. Please share this post widely here and on the forums, and tag people who might be interested in the Comments.”

Yes released their self-titled debut studio album on July 25, 1969 with the original lineup of Chris Squire, Jon Anderson, Peter Banks, Tony Kaye and Bill Bruford.

While the group has had numerous lineup changes in their 50 years, their current lineup, featuring guitarist Steve Howe (who joined in 1970), Alan White (drums since 1972), Geoff Downes (keyboards; first joined in 1980), Jon Davison (vocals since 2011) and Billy Sherwood (guitar/keyboards in the 1990s and bass/vocals since 2015), begins their Royal Affair tour on June 12. Also performing on the tour: Asia, John Lodge of the Moody Blues and Carl Palmer’s ELP Legacy, with guest vocals by Arthur Brown.

On August 2, Yes will release Yes 50 Live, featuring concert performances from their recent 50th anniversary tour. Much of the album was recorded in Philadelphia, a show where 10 members of Yes were on stage during the encore. Current members Howe, Downes, White, Sherwood and Davison, were joined by former members Tony Kaye, Patrick Moraz, Tom Brislin and Trevor Horn. (Moraz is featured on “Soon”; Kaye is featured on “Yours is No Disgrace,” “Roundabout,” and “Starship Trooper.”)

[In April 2018, an anthology of Yes curated by band founder/singer Jon Anderson, said to be a 2-CD/3-LP set, was promised for August 2018. That specific release was never issued.]

Perhaps this Early Years project is the first of several exhaustive releases that will celebrate the band’s history.

There's not much of anything left. When they start asking fans that a very good indication.

Yeah, and I am not a fan of this era at all.

I love this era of the band and have been wishing that Steven Wilson would wave his magic wand on those albums and anything else from the Peter Banks years. Doesn't sound like that will be the case but I'm curious to see how this turns out. I have the BBC sessions CD that was released about 20 years ago and it's excellent.

yes has me very perplexed.

different incarnations touring

different incarnations recording

live album after live album.

re-issue of their catalog on a somewhat regular basis.

now this......

is it a money thing? is it an artistic license thing?

so odd.

On our way to see Yes in Brookhaven the other night, we were playing The Yesterday's album starting with America (which they play on this tour). Love the era, who doesn't love Astral Traveler?

agreed john, all the stuff from then is great. in fact, 'yesterdays' was a comp of those first couple albums + 'america' if i recall correctly.;

Loved that compilation. It also included the b-side "Dear Father," but "America" was the main reason to own it.

It's about money and Jon having some rights to the "Yes" name and the "official" Yes being a touring machine.

Hey it could be worse --- it could be Bobby Blotzer's "Yes."

This is an archive release, so why is this odd?

The current live albums are part of a deal with Rhino and the previous live albums were a deal with Frontiers who also issued their last 2 studio albums, but with the proviso that they issue all those live albums.

In other words, they HAD to.

The back catalogue has been remastered once and remixed once by Steven Wilson.

The ARW Yes with Jon Anderson is already defunct, so there is only one Yes.

Hope that clears it up.

P.S.

In my interviews with Steve Howe and Geoff Downes over the years and what they told me, it would seem that Yes very, very poorly mismanaged money throughout their career which can explain all these recent releases.

IP,

once again, i love you.

i have been expecting you to disagree with my post, knew you would the second i hit submit.

you said, The back catalogue has been remastered once and remixed once by Steven Wilson.
i really really find that hard to believe. i have seen art least 5 different re-issues of 'fragile' over the years, in fact i think the big 3 have been re-done quite a few times, with and without bonus tracks, in digpaks and in jewel cases. if i am wrong i will eat crow, but if i'm wrong i must be going out of my fucking mind and seeing things.

if i knew how or where to find such things i would do it, but alas, i've no clue where i would go to look this up.

renny

from wikipedia:

Fragile received a positive reception upon its release and was a commercial and critical success, reaching number 4 on the US Billboard Top LPs chart and number 7 on the UK Albums Chart. Yes released an edited version of "Roundabout" as the album's single in the US which reached number 13, and remains one of the band's best known songs. Fragile is certified 2× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling over two million copies in the US. It has been remastered several times since its release, some containing previously unreleased tracks

Reissues
Fragile was first reissued on CD in the United States and Europe in 1990.[nb 3] A remastered edition for CD and cassette by Joe Gastwirt followed in 1994, which includes a reprise of "We Have Heaven" after "Heart of the Sunrise" for a track running time of 11:32.[nb 4] In 2002, Rhino and Elektra Records released Fragile in stereo and 5.1 surround sound mixes for the DVD-Audio format. The band's cover of "America" is included, along with other supplemental features.[nb 5] 2003 saw Rhino and Elektra put out a new remastered CD conducted by Dan Hersch, with "America" and an early rough mix of "Roundabout" as bonus tracks.[nb 6]

In 2006, two new "audiophile" remasters were released. Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab put out a "24 KT Gold" edition for CD headed by Shawn Britton,[nb 7] and a 200-gram LP from Analogue Productions by Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman.[nb 8] Warner Japan released Fragile in 2011 in a hybrid stereo/multi-channel edition for the Super Audio CD format as part of their Warner Premium Sound series.[nb 9] The 2003 reissue was included in the album box set The Studio Albums, 1969–1987, released in 2013.

Fragile was released in a new stereo and 5.1 surround sound mix on CD, DVD-Audio, and Blu-ray by Steven Wilson, on 30 October 2015. The Blu-ray disc features six previously unreleased tracks.

Close to the Edge became the band's greatest commercial success, peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 in the United States and No. 4 on the UK Albums Chart. A two-part edit of "And You and I" was released in the US which reached No. 42 on the Billboard Hot 100. Yes supported the album with their 1972–1973 world tour which comprised over 90 dates and marked the debut of drummer Alan White. Close to the Edge was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in 1998 for selling one million copies. It was reissued in 1994, 2003, and 2013; the latter included previously unreleased tracks and new stereo and 5.1 surround sound mixes by Steven Wilson. Critical reception was mixed at the time of the original release, though the album is retrospectively regarded as one of the band's best works and a landmark recording in progressive rock.

Interested to hear about this but seems very hypothetical at this point.

Nothing hypothetical at all.

It’s coming out late this year and has been planned for a while.

Asking fans for missing BBC recordings is nothing new.

Led Zeppelin, Thin Lizzy and other BBC box sets had fan recordings on cassette from the radio, because many BBC tapes were destroyed or erased over.

Cool. Thanks for the additional info then.