This video is from the Deluxe Edition of the "Songs from Tsongas" bluray / CD package. It includes the bonus show of the Lugano Jazz Festival played on July 8th, 2004 that was originally a TV / Satellite Swiss/Italian TV broadcast from Lugano, Switzerland. The full Lugano show is only available on the Japanese version of the Deluxe Edition, which this video was taken from. The international version is missing eight songs from the concert, many of which were some of the best of the show. The Japanese version is very difficult to find and can be quite expensive. I was lucky enough to find a dealer in Japan that had it and shipped it to me. The complete show is full on electric without the acoustic versions of some songs on the "Songs from Tsongas" bluray, which pleased me greatly!
The Lugano concert was recorded in standard definition with 720x480 resolution. I have upscaled the video to be in 1920x1080 resolution for a better viewing experience.
Yes were on their 35th anniversary tour in 2004, which was the last time they played with original singer Jon Anderson and classic-era keyboardist Rick Wakeman. They played their final show with Anderson and Wakeman in Monterrey, Mexico three months later.
"Long Distance Runaround" is the 6th track from the band's 4th studio album titled "Fragile" recorded at Advision Studios, Fitzrovia, London with audio engineer Eddy Offord as their co-producer in September 1971 & released on November 26, 1971. "Fragile" is formed of nine tracks; four are "group arranged and performed" with the remaining five being "the individual ideas, personally arranged and organised" by the five members.
Rehearsals for the album took place in August 1971 in what Squire described as "a little rehearsal studio in Shepherd's Market" in London. As recording began, Kaye was reluctant to expand his sound beyond his Hammond organ and piano and play newer instruments like the Mellotron or Moog synthesizer, causing artistic disagreements with his bandmates, particularly Anderson and Squire. Kaye was soon sacked from Yes, and a replacement was quickly found in Rick Wakeman, a classically-trained pianist with experience playing a wide variety of keyboard instruments. Wakeman was offered a spot with David Bowie's touring band on the same day that he was asked to join Yes, and he chose to join Yes due to the opportunity for more artistic freedom.
"Long Distance Runaround" is a song by the progressive rock group Yes first recorded for their 1971 album, Fragile. Written by lead singer Jon Anderson, the song was released as a B-side to "Roundabout", but became a surprise hit in its own right as a staple of album-oriented rock radio. The song's 3:30 running time was uncharacteristically brief for a group known for expansive songs often longer than ten minutes, though it and "The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)", into which it segues, may be considered a single opus of 6:09.
Yes co-founder Jon Anderson wrote the lyrics to this song while allegedly remembering his encounters with religious hypocrisy and competition he experienced in attending church regularly as a youth in northern England. "Long time / waiting to feel the sound" was a sentiment toward wanting to see a real, compassionate, non-threatening example of godliness.
When Jon Anderson was growing up, he noted the exaggerated piety flouted by many in his church, which he found hypocritical. He wrote this song about his frustration and confusion at the circular reasoning in his religious experience in general.
Politics of the day would sometimes find their way into the lyrics Jon Anderson wrote for Yes, and the second verse of this song, including the line, "Hot color melting the anger to stone," is about the shootings at Kent State University on May 4, 1970 when the United States National Guard killed four students. It was just a thought that emotion is made of colors, and you could bring peace by finding a healing color to melt hate. As Anderson tells us, "government cracking down on young people because they were trying to tell the truth about the war in Vietnam. It was just one of the crazy fears of time."
Anderson, producer Eddy Offord and the band arrange the song with a plethora of progressive elements which only add to its stature in the Yes music canon. Based in b minor, “Long Distance Runaround” is polymetric in the verses - the drums are playing in 5/8 time against the rest of the group playing in 4/4 time. Bill Bruford’s drum track by itself is a master class in music making.
#MysticRhythmsLive
