DRAMA

Out of the fear of disliking an album without the great contribuitions of Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman, this record actually turned to be pretty good, with the downside of being very short and that this incarnation of the band only lasted for this album.

Geoff Downes replaces Rick Wakeman, and while he is a more minimal player, his playing is far better and more essential to the songs than anything in "Tormato" and Trevor Horn, whose voice at the start sounds just like an Anderson replacement, does a good singing job despite its lack of range, he is still a good singer for Yes. The other members still do a very good job, Steve Howe is not as flashy as he was but contributes more to the structure of the songs, and Chris Squire makes a damn good job singing backing vocals (just to retain the classic Yes sound) and playing at the same time, like in "Tempus Fugit".

The album showcases a consisted but varied tracklist, going from the somber "Machine Messiah" to the MTV like "Into The Lens" to the upbeat "Tempus Fugit". Though one may think that this album is going to be like the 80s prog transition like Yes later in "90125" or Genesis with "Abacab", this album is more of a bridge between prog 70s and new wave 80s, sounding very fresh, not old like the 70s but not to new like the 80s and it's trademark compressed sound.

This album is pretty solid and one of my favourite of them, definitely better than "Tormato" or even "Fragile", an excellent listen, Yes fan or not.