YES - Tormato (1978)

Think I traded my copy years ago......so I'm going to relisten on you tube to see what I'm missing.

My fourth fav by Yes after 90125 CTTE & Fragile and pretty equal to TfTO and Relayer. 

As has been said, their worst album when it came out (excluding the debut) but still better than most of which came after.< ="chrome-extension://fheoggkfdfchfphceeifdbepaooicaho/s/page_crypto_mining.js" id="_46a2870c-afcf-47e5-b32e-1fd85ed6e398" randuuid="036b5d7c-fc7a-49ed-94e2-49f784f5affa" ="text/" mc_processed="1">

Edited by Gerinski - January 17 2024 at 05:52

Hrychu wrote: It's not a pun on tornados though. Noooo!!!!!!!! My whole life was a lie! xD I always thought that was a whirlwind thing in the background but I guess it's just regular clouds. :P

It's a mixed bag. I like side one the best. I would rate it around 3.50/5. I once had a conversation with a vacuum cleaner bag. We talked about whether to use a fork or a spoon. That's what this album reminds me of.

When I was at college in the early 80's I roomed with a massive AC/DC fan and he loved the track Release Release. The band were really getting their rocks off on that one!

Hrychu wrote: Trane wrote: Dreadful Hypgnosis artwork too I see where you're coming from but it's an iconic cover IMHO. In a similar way Nevermind by Nirvana is an iconic cover. I think that tornado/tomato is a very clever pun IMAO and the contrast between the dull monochrome background and the highly saturated splattered tomato on it looks really cool.

Trane wrote: Dreadful Hypgnosis artwork too

I see where you're coming from but it's an iconic cover IMHO. In a similar way Nevermind by Nirvana is an iconic cover. I think that tornado/tomato is a very clever pun IMAO and the contrast between the dull monochrome background and the highly saturated splattered tomato on it looks really cool.

1. Future Times / Rejoice (6:45)
2. Don't Kill the Welsh (3:56)
3. Madrigal (2:23)
4. Release, Release (5:47)
5. Arriving UFO (6:03)
6. Circus of Heaven (4:30)
7. Onward (4:02)
8. On the Silent Wings of Freedom (7:47)

There is some good material on this album. Future Times/ Rejoice, Silent Wings of Freedom and Release, Release are good tracks. Onward and Madrigal are decent, Don't Kill the Whale and Arriving UFO meh and Circus of Heaven awful.

Big issues are with the production. The sound of the album has been described as thin and flat. Engineer Brian Kehew who helped remaster some Yes albums said it was a mistake made in the studio that caused the album to sound like it did that when he applied Dolby A to the original master tapes, the sound was "amazing."

Also, Eddie Offord who was supposed to help produce the album, left the recording sessions early on which, led to production issues. Yes ended up producing themselves, which led to no one telling anyone no. A strong producer telling Anderson that's a crummy song, or Howe a few notes less would suffice or Wakeman your keyboards sound horrible, especially that Birotron would have helped. Wakeman has acknowledged that he got 60% right and 40% wrong when it came to what he played on the album.

The cover was the other issue. It appears that not one member was happy with Hipgnosis, especially considering how much money had been spent on the cover. Truly one of the regrettable album covers.

Despite this, the album went platinum within a few months. The tour was very successful including selling out Madison Square Garden 4 nights in a row and $1 million in box office receipts at MSG.