Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Perpetual Change is good, it is the reason for revolution, it is the uninterrupted flow of time that offers us a perspective of the new in motion and the past as a constant, ceaseless reminder of the beautiful and the desired that walks beside us in our waking lives.
Taken from a song title on The Yes Album released in February 1971, the designation of Jon Anderson and The Band Geeks’ new live album is of the necessity of continual adaptation, of renewal and by holding firm to the union of Yes and this exciting venture for the voice of one of the Godfathers of the Progressive movement, so the performance of classics at the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles, Illinois claims the drama and the spirit of evolution, revolution, and the constant in one unbelievable sitting.
The album is a reminder of the live sets of the stirring favourites from the Yes camp, a delving into fields of woven gold that have been handpicked and redefined in such a way that whilst the music remains the same, it has every right to acknowledge the difference other musicians can make to a sound, altering it with reverence, gifting the audience the eternal presence but with a new vigour; and across Jon Anderson and The Band Geeks Live- Perpetual Change the sense of understanding that times may change but the message can always be found in the hearts of humanity’s longing, is palpable and fiercely cool.
From the opening of Yours Is No Disgrace, through tracks such as Close To The Edge, Starship Trooper, And You And I, I’ve Seen All Good People, the hugely inspiring Gates of Delirium and the final grace-filled brilliance of Roundabout, the evening recorded for prosperity is one of importance, it is the flow of time constantly reviewed and reinvigorated, the centre of our world being explored from the viewpoint of the mysteries of the universe; just how a voice can capture time, how music can protect it and give it ever moving shape and balance.
A sense of the infinite is in the hands of Yes and Jon Anderson fans alike, an album filled with grace, filled with Time.
Ian D. Hall