DRAMA

It's 1980 and a young smalltown Canadian boy is just starting to explore the world of progressive rock. He stumbles upon an album called Yes Drama at the local department store and spins it on his little molded black and white plastic dorchester stereo. Magic prevails. It becomes a seminal moment in my life as a lover of music and all things creative and uninhibited in music. At the time I had no idea who Jon Anderson was and I'm glad I didn't because it never discolored the brilliance of this album with comparisons and relativistic conventions we all use in judging the quality of music. Frankly, this album soars in every way and Howe and Squire put on a clinic that made me want to both pitch my guitar in the Niagara river and lock myself in my closet with it for months. The intensity, freshness and earnesty the band conveys throughout this album is undeniable. Whether it is an outcome of the collaboration with Horn and Downes and Olfords production again, I dont know, but it screams progressive by nature and signals a healthy turning point for the band that for me defines what progessive rock music is all about; absorbing life day to day, interpreting and redefining the art. 1980 was a fertive year for progressive music and it spawned another of my all time favourites, Rush's Permant waves, which I believe was a similar turning point for them and came out of a point in time when much optimism existed in the direction things were going. The range of tools at a musicians disposal were widening and progressive musicians were widening their scope to include many genre influences; essentially becoming less incestuous and more outreaching. Squire winds up creating what for me is the archetypal Rickenbacker sound ( sorry Geddy!) subsequently defining the albums overall feel. His basswork at times snarls and growls through flanged up effects ala Tempus Fugit and othertimes it stuns with precision ala I am a Camera. Its hard to discount what Steve Howe has done for progressive rock music when you fire up Drama and get swept away. This guys an albatross; he does it all and draws from so many sources and speaks in so many tongues that his playing on this album for me is complete. In fact everyones work on this album is stellar and nobody can be blamed for fluff or filler here. Its all there for a reason; 'to navigate waters and finally answer to-yes'. The only conceivable weakness here may be the penmanship behind the music; but listening to the opus Machine Messiah 27 years later,it now has a much starker, sobering and revealing message than it ever did. The singular eye spoken of in the last orgasmic explosion of this song almost made me jump out of my chair with thoughts of 'illuminati'. Drama is a great lesson on the subjectivity of music and futile nature of expectation. People have vastly different opinions regarding it and many are linked to how the music moved you and changed your perceptions at that point in time. Wow, I see 1 star ratings here, but thats the beauty of it all isnt it! For me this album is like some kind of electrical gronk juice(ha,whatever that is) tapped straight into my cortex that transports me back and far away. Its sound is also timeless and is as current today as it was in 1980. Thats great music. Yes could have stood at the top of the mountain with this one like the Police did with Syncronicity and called it a day, capping a great run ,but thats not Yes' style. Its not Close to the Edge or Tales from Topograghic Oceans but those albums(5 stars) laid the foundation for this avant garde masterpiece(off the rating system)