Yes – For The Type Of Encounter (Virtuoso 111/112)

For The Type Of Encounter (Virtuoso 111/112)

Quebec Coliseum, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada – April 18th, 1979

Disc 1 (72:59):  Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, Siberian Khatru, Heart Of The Sunrise, Future Times, Rejoice, Circus Of Heaven, Time And A Word, Long Distance Runaround, The Fish, Survival, Perpetual Change / Survival, The Gates Of Delirium, Soon, Don’t Kill The Whale, Clap

Disc 2 (67:36):  Starship Trooper, On The Silent Wings Of Freedom, Rick Wakeman solo, Awaken, Tour Song, I’ve Seen All Good People, Roundabout

Yes’ Quebec City show was the ninth in the Ten True Summers tour in 1979.  And like every show, it was professionally recorded for the Yesshows project that was released the following year.  Nothing from this show was used, but the tape came into circulation early on, producing one of the best sounding unofficially Yes recordings.  

It fell into the hands of a trader who traded it to someone who pressed several songs onto disc.  In the nineties, this was one of the most popular shows available.  The earliest titles like Live In Quebec (Trade Service Rare Recording Collection RRC 003), Live In Quebec 1979 (Super Golden Radio Show SGRS 046), Starship To The Gates Of Eternity (American Concert Series ASC 011) and Survivors Of The Future (Off The Record OTR 65509/10) had a six song fragment including “Siberian Khatru,” “Heart Of The Sunrise,” “Time And A Word,” “Perpetual Change,” “Don’t Kill The Whale” and “Starship Trooper.”

Rehearsal Tales (No Pig Records NP 8842) is missing “Future Times / Rejoice,” “Circus Of Heaven,” “Clap,” “On The Silent Wings Of Freedom,” Wakeman’s solo spot, “Awaken” and the encores and Live In Quebec City, Canada – April 18, 1979 (International Pop INP042) is missing “Starship Trooper,” “On The Silent Wings Of Freedom,” Wakeman’s solo and “Awaken.”

The full show finally emerged on Circus Of Heaven (Dynamite Studio DS94F059/60) in the late nineties.  It was given a glowing review by Bill Glahn in Live!Review, claiming it is “nearly flawless!”  He goes on to state that there is a small edit in “Starship Trooper” and there is minor distortion, both claims being inaccurate.  There is a small cut in “The Fish” during the medley, but that has since been corrected.  

For The Type Of Encounter gives this classic a much needed upgrade on silver disc.  The sound is much more smooth than previous releases and earns Glahn’s praise when he writes:  “The ICE newsletter has occasionally coined the phrase ‘bootleg hall of fame’ in their writings. If I had the opportunity to make my nominations for this mythical establishment, this would rank right up there with Led Zeppelin’s Jennings Farm Blues and the Who’s From Lifehouse To Leeds in importance. And it would take a back seat to no one in terms of sound quality.”

For such a well known show, it starts off rather stiff.  The tape opens with the John Williams tape leading into rudimentary versions of “Siberian Khatru” and “Heart Of The Sunrise.”

“Merci beaucoup” Jon Anderson greets the audience.  “C’est va!  Here’s one or two songs we recorded last year. It’s a song from the album Tormato. A song, it’s called ‘Future Times/Rejoice.'”

It sounds like they really invest a lot of energy into the new songs.  “Future Times” and “Rejoice,” the little two song medley which begins their new album, storms from the stage with uncommon aggression.  Tormato was often dismissed for being to “twee,” but onstage the numbers sounded much better.  Even the following “Circus Of Heaven,” which Anderson describes as a song which “leaves a little bit of room for the imagination,” has much more gravitas on stage than in the studio.  

It really picks up momentum with the big medley.  Anderson gives the customary introduction about Yes’ anniversary year and Wakeman adds his snarky comment on the electric piano before they start with “Time And A Word.”  Steve Howe plays a fascinating little solo in the song’s middle before the segue into “Long Distant Runaround.” 

Chris Squire leads the band through the middle with an aggressive version of “The Fish,” with quotes from “Survival” and “Ritual,” leading into “Perpetual Change.”  The transition into the latter part of “The Gates Of Delirium” including the gorgeous “Soon” is startling in contrast.  Going from early progressive hard rock into an undefinable jazz fusion shows the amount of flexibility and creativity the band had in the early to middle seventies.  

After that obvious highlight, they play “Don’t Kill The Whale” from Tormato.  It would be dropped after this show, not to be played again until it was resurrected for the 35th Anniversary tour in 2002.  Later on they play “On The Silent Wings Of Freedom” which also would be dropped after this show.  A short, one middle doodle in 1987 would be the only live mention until was brought back again in 2002 as part of Squire’s “Whitefish” medley.  This is the final time the full band arrangement was played live.  

The set ends with another sublime “Awaken.”  The tour song has Anderson repeat “merci beaucoup” over and over again, and the concert ends with the standard two encores of “I’ve Seen All Good People” and “Roundabout.”  

After this show Yes would play in Toronto where they would actually drop “Awaken” and play “Close To The Edge” for the only time in the Tormato era (a tape apparently exists but has never been pressed).

For The Type Of Encounter continues Virtuoso’s fascination with the Ten True Summers tour, following the release of the two Long Beach shows.  The sound quality and performance recommends this as one of the best Yes titles in existence and is a must have.