Steven Wilson’s stereo remixes of classic Yes albums are coming to market in a vinyl box set.
Currently, the Wilson reworkings are available only in Blu-ray/CD or DVD-A/CD combos. They have never been released to vinyl.
“Yes: The Steven Wilson Remixes” includes “The Yes Album” (1971), “Fragile” (1971), “Close to the Edge” (1972), “Tales From Topographic Oceans” (1973) and “Relayer” (1974). The middle three are considered classics of the progressive rock genre.
The set includes “artwork created specifically for the set by Roger Dean.” Two of the albums, “Close to the Edge” and “Topographic Oceans” have new cover art. The other three covers have been “reworked” by Dean, whose psychedelic landscapes are closely identified with the English prog rockers.
While much of the excitement about the recent Wilson remixes centered around their 5.1 surround sound, the audio guru also did stereo remixes, which will be utilized for the vinyl set. Wilson’s remixes were praised for removing some of the sonic murk found on the 1970s originals, especially on the keyboards.
Steven Wilson is an English musician and producer known for his work in progressive rock. His best known solo album is “Hand. Cannot. Erase.” He also did a series of remixes for the Jethro Tull catalog.
The six-LP Yes box will be available from Rhino/Atlantic on June 29, streeting at about $120. (“Topographic Oceans” comes on two discs.)
MIA on the new set, of course, will be the many bonus tracks found on the Blu-rays and DVD-A discs. Those highly regarded discs were released between 2013 and 2016 and remain generally available in the market.
The vinyl “Yes: The Steven Wilson Remixes” is being promoted as part of the band’s 50th anniversary celebrations.
That’s true the above 5 albums with the cd/bluray editions were outstanding but as suggested these are for vinyl enthusiasts i guess the only thing missing are the huge bonuses that were on the anniversary that were released 2013/2016 and with the Tales album i am still in surprise mode we get an extra 12 hours of music on bluray alone on one disc massive
Since this is the “Speak Your Mind” comment box, I’ll solicit my 2 cents. I eagerly bought Wilson’s Aqualung Anniversary LP after it was issued individually OUTSIDE of the Super Deluxe box set. I’d buy Close To The Edge if it were 1) available separately and 2) if the cover art and whatever else hadn’t been revamped. Why the need to repaint a Van Gogh? Whose idea is it to futz with classic work, whether it be music or artwork?
This is fine I suppose for those seeking newly released vinyl for the sake of buying newly released vinyl but since they’ll certainly be sourced from the existing digital files, the fact that vinyl is the carrier isn’t near enough to sway me in finding interest. The digital versions were nicely guarded against over-limiting and loud RMS normalization, which is the reason I seek LP versions of digitally sourced material. They usually suffer far less from being over-cooked but the original Wilson digital variations have already succeeded in avoiding that (I’m sure Wilson made certain of that). These are the reasons I find this bundle-or-nothing presentation underwhelming and frankly disappointing.
Why these can’t be issued individually is just silly stupid. Same for changing up the artwork. I’m sorry but this is hipster and newbie vinyl fodder. The lost revenue in marketing it in this way is another example of the short-sighted imagination of today’s palace guards.