Listen to YES: Keystudio (Part 3) 

This needs to be released on vinyl.

That that is!! one of the best yessongs ever! The music together with the lyrics like... "these days are just a worry to the children of the world.." is fenominal and really speaking direct to our hearts. Yes really canged my life after seeing them live i Gothenburg 1971.

Always been a fan of "That, That Is" and "Mind Drive". Great music. BTW, love that coffee mug!

I am watching this reaction a third time Jim....and this song was performed in the October 26, 2022 concert were I attended and when Steve played those soaring high pitched notes my hands with thousands of other hands in the audience were raised in the air....tears flowing from my eyes...our eyes!!!! I couldn't take it!!!! Watching you and hearing this song :) "Children of The Light" I was a mess!!!! lol OMG!!!! Great Album!!! Masterpiece!!!

Thank you Jim! YES❣️❣️❣️ The greatest band on this or any other planet❗️❗️❗️🪐🪐🪐🛸🛸🛸⭐️⭐️⭐️👍😎

One of the things that I really like about 'That, That Is' is how different the lyrics are from a typical YES song. Just love hearing Jon singing in this style. It really shows his versatility.

Glad you enjoyed that Jim, I hope you don't wait too long to react to more YES!🤩

At least we can still get Keys 1 & 2 😊 to listen to this Phenomenal project!!❤❤😊

There were numerous edits to Rick's keyboard parts behind his back and he threatened to file an injunction if he did not reveive a copy of the original unedited tapes to compare. He was proved right!

Wow. What a journey! Seemed also very spiritual to me. 💛💛💛

I bought both Keys To Ascension albums when they were released and always wished for a compilation album of the studio tracks, so when Keystudio was released in early 2001, I was thrilled and bought the CD immediately. Keystudio is one of my favorite Yes albums, and they have been my favorite band since '72. Great series of reactions, Jim! ❤😎✌

I love "That, That Is". A hidden gem.

Hi Jim Some beautiful and magical kite moments threaded through this album….you just got to keep returning to the sacred music that is YES

So Glad To Watch Your Reaction to this Great Project! Thanks So Much! Again YOUR the Only person who has reacted to these Songs!❤

That that is !! is a very special recording from the Classic line up 🙏

YES❤ JUST MAKES YOU FEEL GOOD!!😊

Refreshingly YES the greatest show on earth ✨️🎶✨️

Jim chronlogically next should be Open Your Eyes 1997 then The ladder 1999 then Magnification 2001 the last great Yes album with Jon and Chris IMHO

Yes played "Children of the Light" during the "Open Your Eyes" tour.

They played "Children of light" live in a shop, La Fnac, in Paris, in front of a few people (hundred) I was just behind the group. It was like a small rehearsal

Thanks for reminding me this disc, Jim. You are right it is a great tune.

keys of ascension with the production of Eddie Offord (who understood them well) would have been the missing step to be a glorious album, because the compositions are very good

It sounds like Steve Hackett from 28.46 onwards.

The grief is that this Art Music is not listen to in a "Microwave Society." It is Dinosaur music to the Alpha Gen and Millennials of the 21st century....they don't have the patience to listen to this kind of music which is BRILLIANT!!!! And people of my generation of the 50's 60's & 70's are considered a "Dinosaur Generation" which is slowly fading away!!! We do have hope because the Alphas and Mills have been buying vinyls of the 60's 70's & 80's and have brought back the Vinyl into the 21st century....and now Walmarts and Targets stores everywhere are featuring and selling Vinyls of artist from the 60's 70's & 80's and artists of this century because young folks tired of the current music scene are buying vinyls of The Beatles. Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Yes, and Pink Floyd!!! Oh I also The Bee Gees is a big vinyl seller......so there is still HOPE!!! lol Your reaction was so awesome I cried....because I could see your soul crying over the beauty of the songs you heard on this album....just when you thought Yes was outdated and out of the music scene....THEY ARE BACK!!!! lol....Everything comes back in full Circle!!!! Good to see you again bro...take care.

Mixed reviews of 'That, That Is' Jim, mainly because of the lyrics but what a phenomenal song! Just another epic from the greatest band there ever was or will ever be!🤩

That That Is is even better than Mind Drive!!!!

The Keystudio album is the last Yes album that I enjoy start to finish. I do like Mirror to the Sky but I’m not sure that that band can be called Yes.

Hi Jim there is a dvd available of the live tracks well worth a watch

Children of light is one of my favorite yes songs

I'd forgotten how not shitty "That That Is" was. Probably because when it came out all people could do was complain about the "crack time" lyrics. I thought Jon singing about something relevant and real world was incredibly refreshing, but I was in the minority it seemed. On the other hand, "Children of Light" has always had a positive following, for good reasons. That ending successfully channels the majestic psych of classics like "And You And I" or "Soon". They wouldn't hit the mark that well again until "In the Presence Of".

The Ladder is F***ING Brilliant album, been listening to it on repeat recently. Of course it predates Keys and there is no Wakeman sadly but his "sound" persists. I have not "exposed" myself to Keys much at all even though I have them both. I'll have to put the CD's in again. Thanks as ever Jim.

It's a shame that there is no live version of "That, that is"

At 10:00 minutes: cue Vivian Stanshell: “Mandolin!”

Thanks again for tackling this sadly overlooked set of songs. "That, That Is" is the obvious standout here, but despite musically being one of Yes' last true masterworks, it loses a couple of points from me due to Jon's lyrics, which completely miss the mark - social realism is not his strong suit! But taken as a whole, warts and all, the KtA studio tracks are still a fantastic addition to the Yes canon and a strange "what could have been..." signpost for a road sadly not taken. That being said, please don't be tempted to skip any albums on your Yes journey as there are still many gems to come. Even on the much-maligned Open Your Eyes (which comes next, chronologically speaking) there are some lovely tunes to be found.

Thank you soooo much for doing this album,I've been really looking forward to someone to react to this gem and you my brother, love how you appreciate this wonderful YES album, blessings to you and family

think that was Chris Squires last or close to last studio recording...

This seems like music in search of a scene (if that makes any sense). I think it pairs well with 'The Ladder'.

That was good. It's not their best but well worth a listen.

Open your eyes, The Ladder,Magnification,Fly from Here, are all good albums 👍

I've saved these videos to my watch later thingymajig so eventually I'll get around to listening to keys

THAT, THAT IS is the ONLY song off this collection of ASCENSIONS that eventually takes me to where YES truly Lives in my heart! Towards the end as it builds and peaks, I'm completely taken OVER then intensely UP, AWAY & BEYOND!!!! I am happy you got to hear it. Much better than Minddrive! But since I haven't listen to this in a long long time, I completely forgot about CHILDREN of LIGHT which I am now finding much more beautiful than I did before though it's ethereal ending still feels incomplete.

I've read that the Keys studio material was supposed to be released as an album titled KNOW (a pun on No/opposite of Yes), but Jon has gone on to use "Know" as a title in his Anderson/Stolt album Invention Of Knowledge, which you should definitely check out!

Just curious… do watch your own reactions? 😊 Not just to edit but to watch them and listen one more time?

Unbelievable. Thoroughly enjoying this masterpiece. Definitely top shelf.

❤❤❤

I really hope you give "Open Your Eyes" a shot as your next Yes listen Jim as it would be what comes next chronologically. It was produced by the same man that produced Keystudio, Billy Sherwood and it was also his debut as a member of the Band. At the time it was a critically panned album, but in retrospect compared to what we got much later, it truly isn't that bad. It's a lot of shorter form contemporary songs, almost like what we got with Trevor Rabins debut with 90125, but the production quality definitely a lot tighter when compared to Keystudio.

Hi JIm! I'm very ignorant of these things but I had the feeling that the last 3 songs were recorded in a different way not sounding quite as digital as the previous songs. In particular I noted that the drum sound was very different. The next album is "Open Your Eyes" but please don't judge it as a Yes album. The band wanted to go on tour but the record company insisted they have a new album to go with the tour. It was wasn't that long after the "Keys" albums had been released but the record company wanted a new album. Yes didn't have anything, so Chris offered the material that he and Billy Sherwood were going to use for the new "Conspiracy" album. The one proviso was that Billy Sherwood be offically accepted as part of the band (he'd already worked with the band as a session musician - The Talk Tour being one example), The band agreed. So the album is Yes in name but not Yes in nature.

Ryan Reed reviewed every YES song, and while I greatly disagree with a LOT of his rankings, I really like what he said about 'That, That Is', other than his dig at Jon's usual lyrics. First, he ranked it #20, which greatly surprised me. Here's what he said about it: How did Yes pull this off? The awkwardly titled "That, That Is" holds together as a 19-minute piece without a single flubbed transition or moment of dead space. It opens with a lovely Spanish guitar reverie ("Togetherness") and builds from there into Topographic-styled vocal chants, menacing bass riffs, and spectral synth ambience (but not too much). Even Anderson's lyrics sidestep hokey sentimentality, exploring drug addiction and gang violence.

I strongly recommend listening to Peter greens end of the game, it’s epic

This version of "Children of the light" differs from the first version "Children of light"

This is throwaway yes material it’s so disjointed and incongruent

Two main problems again : the sound of the drum, too loud, and the sounds of the keyboard, so come on Rick ! Well produced, it's a masterpiece, but it's not well produced

After listening to part one and hearing your comments re the production, drum sounds etc, I wondered whether I had oversold this, but no! There are some modernisms (for the 90s) that don't sound so great now but others that show movement in the right direction - it's interesting to hear semi-political lyrics from Mr Anderson. The inventive bass and guitar runs show Squire and Howe have lost none of their skills at this point and the drums, though badly produced at times, can be very 4/4 rocky at others. Wakeman can still play but I don't know whether it's the key sounds that he was using at the time, or the production of them that takes my rating down a notch or two. Above all though, it's the material that places this album in my personal top 8 Yes albums. I don't think they've topped it thereafter.

Yes, the content is amazing, but they fucked off with the production and the sounds of Wakeman

I like the music in "That, That is" but I really don't like the lyrics at the beginning of the song, a real downer very un-Anderson like.

I am a monster YES fan but this album is terrible Wakeman gave up and did nothing on this.