davew@brachiosaur.cis.ohio-state.edu (The Master) (01/18/90)
>I recall someone talking last year about the album _Drama_ by YES; some >people liking it, others hating it. > >Having recently bought and heard it, I give it an enthusiastic thumbs up! >I find it better than _Fragile_ and _Close_To_The_Edge_ (Bleck!) Ugh, I like it too, but to say it's better than "Close to the Edge" is...oh well, each to his/her own tastes... >Howe's guitar is some of his best, and while Trevor Horn's vocals aren't >as good as Jon Anderson's in sheer tonal quality, he brings a lot of energy >to the music that is lacking in Anderson's voice (except on _90125_). On this I tend to agree. Howe is excellent, and the production is the cleanest since 1974's "Relayer", and that's probably due to the unsung member of Yes, Eddie Offord. Horn does bring energy to the songs; at that time the band were having conflicts with Anderson because they were writing hard-rocking tunes, but when Jon came in it would sound "airy fairy" and the arguments would begin. This is not to say that Jon can't be aggressive. Just listen to him belt it out on "Order of the Universe" where he almost yells "You can't imagine it - how hard it is to grow!". Jon sounds pretty aggressive on "Going For the One", "Parallels", and "Release Release" too. >Excellent use is made of synthesizers, especially on "Machine Messiah", >though it's not particularly better or worse than Rick Wakeman's, just >different. Alot of people dislike Downes, though I haven't found a good reason why other than the fact that his stage setup is more there to visually im- press the audience by having every keyboard in the book stacked up. >The album works because of the feel of mystery it presents, rather than the >overblown fantasy compositions spearheaded (apparently) by Anderson. A >sense of restraint is apparent, and the album has more coherence to it, >better unity of sound. I don't know about "feel of mystery". It is an abandonment of the fantasy stuff, but Yes confused their audience by using yet another Roger Dean cover on an album with no fantasy element. I love all the songs on the album, but as Chris Squire says, it was definitely rushed. "Into the Lens" tends to slow down, speed up too much, and then stop suddenly; it's disjointed although it's very good. "White Car" is a bit piece which really shouldn't have been included, and "Run Through the Light" tends to drag. The other three songs are the best on the album, especially Chris cranking it out on "Does It Really Happen?" Dave White
rawdon@rex.cs.tulane.edu (Michael Rawdon) (01/18/90)
In article <75819@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> The Master <davew@cis.ohio-state.edu> writes: >>I recall someone talking last year about the album _Drama_ by YES; some >>people liking it, others hating it. >>Having recently bought and heard it, I give it an enthusiastic thumbs up! >>I find it better than _Fragile_ and _Close_To_The_Edge_ (Bleck!) > Ugh, I like it too, but to say it's better than "Close to the Edge" >is...oh well, each to his/her own tastes... _Close_ put me to sleep; the very quintessence of all bad aspects of art- rock, IMHO. >>Howe's guitar is some of his best, and while Trevor Horn's vocals aren't >>as good as Jon Anderson's in sheer tonal quality, he brings a lot of energy >>to the music that is lacking in Anderson's voice (except on _90125_). > On this I tend to agree. Howe is excellent, and the production >is the cleanest since 1974's "Relayer", and that's probably due to the >unsung member of Yes, Eddie Offord. Horn does bring energy to the songs; >at that time the band were having conflicts with Anderson because they >were writing hard-rocking tunes, but when Jon came in it would sound >"airy fairy" and the arguments would begin. This is not to say that >Jon can't be aggressive. Just listen to him belt it out on "Order of >the Universe" where he almost yells "You can't imagine it - how hard it >is to grow!". Jon sounds pretty aggressive on "Going For the One", >"Parallels", and "Release Release" too. Wasn't too impressed with the _ABWH_ album either, except for the "I'm Alive" piece. I'd say I don't think that energy is Anderson's strong suit, except that most of _90125_, especially "It Can Happen" (my fave YES song bar none) pretty handily disproves this. >>Excellent use is made of synthesizers, especially on "Machine Messiah", >>though it's not particularly better or worse than Rick Wakeman's, just >>different. > Alot of people dislike Downes, though I haven't found a good reason >why other than the fact that his stage setup is more there to visually im- >press the audience by having every keyboard in the book stacked up. I did like Downes' work on _Drama_ better than Kaye's on _90125_ (but then Kaye's work seems to have been almost deliberately mized down, if not out, on that album). >>The album works because of the feel of mystery it presents, rather than the >>overblown fantasy compositions spearheaded (apparently) by Anderson. A >>sense of restraint is apparent, and the album has more coherence to it, >>better unity of sound. > I don't know about "feel of mystery". It is an abandonment of the >fantasy stuff, but Yes confused their audience by using yet another Roger >Dean cover on an album with no fantasy element. I love all the songs on >the album, but as Chris Squire says, it was definitely rushed. "Into the >Lens" tends to slow down, speed up too much, and then stop suddenly; it's >disjointed although it's very good. "White Car" is a bit piece which >really shouldn't have been included, and "Run Through the Light" tends >to drag. The other three songs are the best on the album, especially >Chris cranking it out on "Does It Really Happen?" I found some of the tempo changes a bit rushed as well, but the only piece that didn't work at all for me was "Tempus Fugit" (wonder if I spelled that right! :-). "Into The Lens" seems like something that a REALLY weird video could have been made out of. I rather liked "Run Through The Light," as well, but feel that "Does It" and "Messiah" are the two best on the album. I think one of the eternal questions of rock music is: are songs like "White Car" worth putting on albums? It's not so much a song as a vignette, maybe a movement of a larger piece, but IMHO it fits in with the rest of the album rather well, just like some of the short pieces on the WHO's _Tommy_ and the acoustic numbers on JETHRO TULL's _Aqualung_ fit in well as album pieces, but rarely work as stand-alone songs. Other opinions on this? Who was Roger Dean? -- Michael Rawdon | Looking down on the smoke, on the factories Tulane University | 'Till the truth creeps up unseen New Orleans, Louisiana | They see themselves in the faces of their children rawdon@rex.cs.tulane.edu | And realize they too are part of the Machine ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- These opinions my own, and are not intended to represent any sort of objective truth, nor the opinions of any other individual or group. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
tony@cairo.UUCP (Tony Anzelmo) (01/18/90)
In article <1852@rex.cs.tulane.edu> rawdon@rex.UUCP (Michael Rawdon) writes: > >Who was Roger Dean? Roger Dean is the artist that did most of covers for Yes albums, like Fragile, Close to the Edge, etc. Tony Anzelmo
rawdon@rex.cs.tulane.edu (Michael Rawdon) (01/19/90)
In article <123@cairo.UUCP> tony@cairo.UUCP (Tony Anzelmo) writes: >In article <1852@rex.cs.tulane.edu> rawdon@rex.UUCP (Michael Rawdon) writes: >>Who was Roger Dean? >Roger Dean is the artist that did most of covers for Yes albums, like >Fragile, Close to the Edge, etc. I like some of his covers; the cover to _Drama_ I find particularly engaging. _Close_To_The_Edge_ has a cover as dull as its music. -- Michael Rawdon | Looking down on the smoke, on the factories Tulane University | 'Till the truth creeps up unseen New Orleans, Louisiana | They see themselves in the faces of their children rawdon@rex.cs.tulane.edu | And realize they too are part of the Machine ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- These opinions my own, and are not intended to represent any sort of objective truth, nor the opinions of any other individual or group. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------