DRAMA

A schism had developed in the recording studio between Wakeman and Anderson and Howe, White and Squire over the direction of the band. This led to Wakeman and Anderson walking out, necessitating quick replacements in Horn and Downes from the Buggles. The remaining members, with Horn and Downes were then constrained by the limited studio time they had left to lay down the tracks for the Drama album, producing a slightly shorter than normal album. The lack of success of Drama led to the inevitable decision to fold the band with Howe and Downes leaving to form Asia, while Chris Squire hung around until he and Jon Anderson reformed the band minus Rick Wakeman, taking the band in an altogether different direction again with Trevor Rabin.

I'm in solidarity with other prog reviewers who rate Drama higher than either Tormato or Going For The One. The decision to utilize the talents of Buggles duo Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes updates the sounding of Yes to a fresh new wave appeal. The departure of Jon Anderson has a downside. Horn doesn't have the upper register of Jon Anderson's voice (who has?) and the vocal harmonies with Chris Squire and Steve Howe don't work as well. However, the bonus with Geoff Downes keyboard playing is that we don't have Rick Wakeman's moog competing against Steve Howe's lead electric guitar. Thus, Howe plays with more energy and a much heavier feeling than on either of the two previous albums.

There are six songs on Drama, all except for Machine Messiah clocking under 10 minutes. The songs are tighter, strong lyrically and blend well together. Chris Squire does an astounding bass line on Tempus Fugit with Steve Howe's guitar ramping up and shooting lightning bolts of sound to the tune. Downes organ navigates the way through the guitars in the song as though Rick Wakeman never left the band and then Downes wraps it all up with synths at the end. Truly one of the great Yes songs. The opener, Machine Messiah almost qualifies in the epics stakes. It has a whiney moog start with heavy electric guitars introducing the main theme, then a drum roll leading into the next section of vocals and chorus. Organ intervenes in the middle as it slows, then the moog picks up with an interesting Chris Squire bass line and a very heavy Howe electric guitar before it slows again with acoustic guitar, mellotron and xylophone. It reprises the main guitar theme and chorus at the end. White car is a short Horn tune with an oriental feel which leads into the base line of the next song, a rhythmic Does It Really Happen? Into The Lens is another great song with more Squire bass and the use of vocoder from the keyboards of Geoff Downes. Howe's guitar doesn't miss out during the chorus of 'I am a camera'. Run Through The Light, has a bit of everything with atypical bass playing, mandolin, synths that go everywhere and a fuller sound from Steve Howe's electric guitars.

Because the recording sessions with the two new Buggles members were hurried, it would have been only fair if this Yes line-up had remained intact for at least one more album, with more time to record. There is so much potential in the Drama album

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