Yes 1969-10-27 Actuel Festival Amougies Belgium

Yes, another re-post to this Amougies(Day 4) torrent feat. Yes and Sam Apple Pie (w/Frank Zappa),
speed corrected this time.

In fact tape recorder battery fatigue seems to have led to most of the Yes music sounding way too fast,
about 2 semitones sharp. only the last Yes track needed a speed increase of about +50cts imo.
The Sam Apple Pie tracks sounded fairly all right, just needed some fine tuning in the +/- 30cts range.

Not sure if I have been hitting it right all the time, but
I'd like to leave further extended fine tuning to a more dedicated Yeshead ...
Hope this helps so far. Enjoy !!

Amougies (Belgium), Actuel Festival
27 October 1969

source: audience recording (mono)

And now for the penultimate day of this legendary festival... I'm sure this is one of the most anticipated
performances - a rare early performance by Yes, plus bits from the Pretty Things and Sam Apple Pie sets
(yes, "bits" is the appropriate word - sorry for these bands' fans !).

Yes fans are in for a treat - sonics aside, this is a really interesting listen. First, with the exception
of "Then", they only play covers, including the rare "It's Love" from The Rascals which extensively features
Chris Squire on vocals and bass (there is a version with Steve Howe on the recent live boxed set) - and,
already at that point, has Anderson quoting the introductory theme to Stravinsky's "Rite Of Spring" (as he
again did on "Yessongs"). The climax of the gig, I think, is the very extended "I See You" which has one of
those long, wild guitar/drums duets between Banks and Bruford that Banks has referred to repeatedly but
here's the first real chance of hearing what it really was like. Of course, Yes went on to make great music,
arguably better and more accomplished, but there's a wildness and freedom to their early incarnation that was
missing in their later, superstar days.

Lastly, the usual reminder about the sound quality - the tape recorder used was way below modern standards
and the sound is nowhere near "professional" quality. This reservation aside, however, this is simply an
unbelievable document of a legendary festival, and so our hearfelt thanks to the taper, JJB, for recording
this at the time, and for allowing me to seed it here.

(technical note: JJB tells me he remembers using a Grundig tape recorder with LR14 batteries, using
8cm-diameter reels with a 4,75 cm/s recording speed)

YES

1. No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed (Havens) (4:53)
2. tuning problems (4:43)
3. Then (Anderson) (5:32)
4. It's Love (Cavaliere/Brigati) (14:39)
5. Everydays (Stills) (5:43)
6. I See You (McGuinn/Crosby) (14:24)
7. Something's Coming (Bernstein/Sondheim) (10:19)


Jon Anderson - lead vocals
Peter Banks - guitar & backing vocals
Tony Kaye - organ
Chris Squire - bass & vocals
Bill Bruford - drums

SAM APPLE PIE

8. unknown (2:08)
9. unknown (1:28)
10. Moonlight Man (6:04)

Sam Sampson - vocals & harmonica
Mick Smith - lead guitar
Andy Johnson - slide guitar
Bob Renny - bass
Dave Charles - drums
with
Frank Zappa - guitar (10)

Link