The Yes Album by Album Thread (Part 2)

Fantastic.

I remember how impressed I was when I saw my two dates on this tour that they'd obviously spent a good deal of money on the two bugs, but resisted the temptation to use them until the end of Ritual - thus providing a true climax to the show.

Sometimes, over-the-top just feels so right.

I once attended a record fair in the early 90s and came across a dealer who was selling a Japanese laserdisc of this show. I had no idea such a beast existed and was utterly gobsmacked. I didn't have enough money on me so I made the dealer put it at the back out of public view on the promise on my grandmother's life I would come back later to buy it.

Despite the obvious sound problems in the first half, it was wonderful to have some kind of professional record of the show.

 

TFTO is an awesome album, but hard to stay focused if you know what I mean...

 

Not really, for me an album that is hard to keep focused on isn't much of an album, unless its intent is to serve as background music, which does not seem to be the intent here.
I would substitute the word ambitious for awesome

 

Tales is my favourite Yes albums. Since childhood. Close and Relayer are as good, but just different. Tales just speaks more to me. Tales has also my favourite Dean cover and is one of my all time favourite covers

 

At 4:18 in this version, they insert a part from the Remembering... the "out in the city" melody we were talking about earlier in the thread (here: http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...bum-thread-part-2.359364/page-3#post-10582031)

That theme is also heard at 2:00 in the original Remembering (on keys...) and later at 6:08 "out in the city"...
As well as in The Revealing: "Talk to the Sunlight Caller...: (at 5:02 in the full version w/intro)
And the Ancient (8:40) on guitar
And Ritual (5:25) on guitar, where it dovetails into the Nous Sommes Du Soleil theme
As well as To Be Over (3:55) during Howe's solo...

 

Tales from Topographic Oceans Part II-IV

The Remembering, The Ancient and Ritual

In my absence, many great comments have been made regarding the above pieces. They certainly are some of the most exploratory pieces by the band. Most folks I know that like Yes, say that The Remembering and especially The Ancient, are the most inventive but the toughest to grasp since they are pretty far removed from traditional song structure. One member stated The Remembering and The Ancient are akin to joined suites which is a good description.
It seems we have covered the bases with this album so at this point, I will move forward to the next installment.
Coming up tomorrow.

 

Welcome back RRB.

 

Ah, Relayer. An album that I admit I've never totally 'got' - with the exception of the spiffingly wonderful Sound Chaser.

I've never understood the unadulterated love for Soon and To Be Over. Pleasant enough to listen to the pair of them, but why such OTTness? I do wonder, in TBO's case, if it's acquired some sort of level of mystique because of the band's bizarre reluctance to play it live since the original tour (save for Howe's wonderful acoustic guitar rendering in 2011).

 

Thanks. I am looking forward to the next installment and what everyone has to to say about it.

 

Good to have you back, RRB.

Yesyears exerpt; Bill Bruford's exit, Alan White takes over the drum chair, Takes, Rick's first exit, Moraz, Relayer and the '75 - '76 solo albums.

 

Welcome back RRB I can't wait for your take on Relayer!

 

cha cha cha CHA CHA

Relayer is a batsh**t insane album and I love it to death.

 

That little 5 note motif goes through some amazing changes.

 

Well I look forward to your break down. I will also listen in close detail but I don't even know how to talk about this album rationally. That cha cha thing is like so stupid and so fun and crazy, like the whole album, that i just turn into a giddy schoolboy even thinking about it.

It's also the last Yes album I like. I will listen along to the rest because what the heck, it's fun revisiting this stuff, even the music I don't like, but to me Relayer is like Yes' last BANG of awesomeness before calling it a day, creatively.

 

Relayer-Part I

The Gates Of Delirium(Squire, Howe, Anderson, White and Moraz)

Released November 1974
Produced by Yes and Eddy Offord
Chris Squire, Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Alan White and Patrick Moraz

Gates lyrics were inspired by Tolstoy's War and Peace. The song is also a sonic depiction of both war and its aftermath. Jon came up with the idea and overall structure of the piece. The piece starts out with harmonics played by Steve followed by rapid triplet ascensions. The harmonics remind me of a reveille. Various themes that are used thru the song are introduced by Steve in a fashion not unlike an orchestral overture. The verses start out very simply with just acoustic guitar but then quickly the arrangement changes and develops. The piece centers around D and A Major starting out with A Major kicking in at 2:59 with Steve using the open A string as a show of impending force. The song returns to the verses and then goes thru various changes each building in intensity as the forces build for battle. There are some instrumental sections that also shift between D and A. Chris Squire is pretty amazing throughout. At 5:45 there is a section that IMO portrays the fear of impending battle and the self- justification for war. "On to Hell"!

Some more instrumental sections with Steve playing variations of one of the main themes leads to a final verse section in D that has Jon in very emphatic voice almost like a battle cry. The battle section follows and shifts to A and then D flat and goes thru different key changes. The themes show up in different variations throughout. At around 9:56, Steve plays some incredible guitar runs that sound like ascending jet fighters. At 10:21 there is an amazing syncopation blast of tempo change as if the battle has increased in intensity. The tempo shifts back and forth between 5/4 and 4/4. At 11:43 there are sounds of blasts and cries of the injured or dying. I am not sure how they produced some of the sound effects but I think some of them were produced by the band members smashing scrap parts of machinery they found in a junkyard. At 12:35 there are some crazy keyboards followed by a decrease in tempo led by Alan White. The key changes to E and some new themes are introduced. Steve plays some wicked sounding pedal steel at this point. This section (12:47) reminds me of an assessment section of the battle that raged before. A series of keyboard effects and chords follows leading to "Soon". Steve plays the melody first on the pedal steel and Jon follows with verses. The section is in A Minor and has a melancholy sound. Steve plays some more great pedal steel guitar over Jon's weary sounding but hopeful melody and vocals. The final seconds goes thru some cool chord changes pushing back and forth between minor and major chords until the song ends on a somewhat happier C Major chord.

I like this piece a lot and listen to it often. It is a fairly straight forward structure wise when you break it down. It really kicks butt during the battle section. "Soon" is a great coda/finale IMO. Steve Howe plays great pedal steel guitar thru the entire piece and Chris Squire is amazing as usual. Patrick Moraz does a great job adding to the grinding sound of battle and some of the fills he plays sound like military charges and reveilles.

Steve's guitar tone changes drastically with Gates. He used Fender Telecasters exclusively on the entire album.

Sound Chaser up next.

 

Amazing ensemble playing on this song. This song might be the most challenging song to play live Yes ever did. The return of Chris' masterful in your face bass work.

When Yes did this live in 2000 I believe Anderson sang parts in a higher key than on record at age 55- incredibly.

 

Fantastic piece, that works in a way for me better than any of the tracks on TFTO. Musically it seems to live up to the title of taking the listener right up to the gates of madness. Parents across planet earth must have figured that their kids had really gone off the deep end when this came playing through bedroom walls. But no, not off the deep end, only right up to the edge once again.

 

Relayer-Part II

Sound Chaser(Yes)

Some of you know I have done other ABA threads and those threads also have some posts by me that are not at all objective. This one will be no different than those posts and I apologize for that.

Sound Chaser is one of my all time favorite pieces of music. It is one of my top five pieces by the band. Yes looks to Beethoven, Stravinsky and Schoenberg for inspiration and end up with a brilliant piece that is built on a simple 5 note motif...the Cha, Cha, Cha-Cha, Cha motif. A damn near masterpiece of motific development and arrangement. Ugly, violent and beautiful. Wildly chromatic and melodic at the same time. Most listeners say this is a take on jazz fusion. I disagree. There are some parts that fit that genre but this is something altogether different and unique IMO. Balinese chants, bizarre rhythmic background vocals, funk, jazz, Beethoven, Schoenberg and a cappella. No other band in history would ever attempt something on this scale.

IMO, the piece has one of the most intense, ferocious and cataclysmic endings in rock music. Chris Squire and Steve Howe truly show that they are the finest bass and guitar players in rock with unison playing that is mind-blowing. I have listened to the piece countless times since the album was released. I will post a full breakdown of the piece.

 

This.

If there were only one reason I was glad Moraz was in the band (and there was more than one), it would be this track.

 

I agree. He was a critical player in the recording of this piece.