| Keys to Ascension | ||||
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| Live album / studio album by | ||||
| Released | 28 October 1996 | |||
| Recorded | 4–6 March 1996 at the Fremont Theater, San Luis Obispo, California (Live tracks) 1995–1996 at Yesworld Studio, San Luis Obispo (Studio tracks) | |||
| Genre | Progressive rock | |||
| Length | 116:16 | |||
| Label | Essential | |||
| Producer |
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| Yes chronology | ||||
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Keys to Ascension is the fourth live and fifteenth studio album by English progressive rock band Yes, released as a double album in October 1996 on Essential Records. In 1995, guitarist Trevor Rabin and keyboardist Tony Kaye left the group which marked the return of former members Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman, thus reuniting them with vocalist Jon Anderson, bassist Chris Squire, and drummer Alan White, a line-up that had last performed in 1979. The group relocated to San Luis Obispo, California to make a new album and to promote their reunion with three shows at the Fremont Theater, in March 1996. Keys to Ascension features half of the live set from the 1996 shows and two new studio tracks which marked a return to Yes writing longform pieces.
Keys to Ascension received a mostly positive reception from music critics, and reached No. 48 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 99 on the Billboard 200. Yes supported the album with a media tour which included live performances at record stores and television and radio appearances, and a same-titled home video of the concerts. After further studio tracks were completed in 1996 and 1997, these and the second half of the 1996 live set was released on the follow-up album, Keys to Ascension 2 (1997). The studio tracks from both Keys to Ascension albums were compiled on Keystudio (2001), and both albums were packaged in their entirety in 1998 and 2010, the latter with the concert video as a bonus disc.