TORMATO

For me "Tormato" has always been a very special album in Prog Rock and one of the very best Yes ever produced. Their fifth best after the debut, "Fragile "and "Yessongs" triple live album and the prog mammoth "Tales from Topographic Oceans" from the Golden Age of Prog. Actually "Tormato" was the very first album I bought from Yes, back in early 1979 when I was a kid. It was simply wonderful in every sense at the time, in particular it had got a hell of a lot of energy, Never ever sounded "thin", well ´cos I never had crap stereo systems. Its musical landscapes and futuristic visions have always sounded... just bold and very interesting. At a time time when rock had already decreased into lame pop nonsense (read so called new wave, oh how ridiculous it was in 1976-80), punk and all the "new music" tried to bring something new and fresh in rock but just failed in everything really, was and still is pure crap. And years later after having really focused into "The Edge" I still thought "Tormato" is the very best Yes ever had, Because it rocked like a deer. Well, I hadn´t had heard "Fragile" and the monstrous "Yessongs" and "Oceans" yet but it still after those decades remains one of the very finest.

Yes, these old war heroes came with powerful "Tormato" and just kicked major ass. And what did the proud UK masters GENESIS, ELP, even VDGG do at the time? Don´t even ask, just don´t. Well, honestly Genesis´1978 offering is an excellent album but sadly they last great one. Only Jethro Tull, MMEB, King Crimson and Yes survived that "new wave" BS in 70´s, fortunately. After directionless (well mostly noise) and so boooring "Relayer", the Yes men came back with vengeance and showed to the World who the true leaders in Rock´n´Roll were (alongside Kansas, Rush and BÖC on the new continent), still after ten years´ career. Yes ! It was just the ongoing triumphant return of the maestro himself in the business, Rick Wakeman, It was the continuing Yes renaissance from a year earlier, begun with "Going for the One". Obviously using the latest technology he partly, willing or not, well that´s totally irrelevant, created a new sound for Yes, this time colder, winter sound, distant even raw at places. It was the sound of future times, the times unknown for man... not necessarily so pleasant we had used to hear, but never "thin" as so many try to prove in different forums, on the contrary. Interestingly, yes it was winter time I first heard the album, and it perfectly fitted the white & blue and so cold landscapes, namely its sheer beauty, yet cold as in Siberian hell... but we people here in North are used to coldness and certain remoteness. And the same with Chris Squire´s new sound w/ his mighty Rickenbacker, and his playing reached another level of creativeness & virtuosity. So did Steve Howe shine as well. It was all about future times, much colder for sure but very interesting. Yes, that´s the essence of Prog Rock, to seek out new sounds and new frontiers. And they attitude was very bold, even punky in a sense really. What a great band they were in 1978 !

Yes were the Star Trek of Prog. What else the masters could do ? They really were light years ahead of anybody, just exploring the boundaries of rock music. As they have been from the early days. Still, even with the masterminds evolution can take a leap backwards in the form of "Relayer", both in music and cover art, but evolution finds its way, in the end. Still, sadly "Tormato" is their last great studio album. For me it has been an unique masterpiece in Prog and music in general for nearly forty years. Only geniuses can create timeless work like this, and Alan White finally starts to shine and finally fits the band perfectly.

Album cover ? I have always found it somewhat interesting, unlike the grey and dull Dean effort in "Relayer". Suit man with tomatoes thrown on flex class? Obviously a Hipgnosis point of view? Suit man stands for those important people in the music business who always know exactly what is good for us mortal music consumers? So sarcastic against NW BS perhaps... or against what? Against Yes themselves? Was it Wakeman who threw those tomatoes ? Ha-ha! He must have... Not so many musicians have the guts to do such a thing. Even so, who cares. I stopped taking album covers so seriously really after seeing a WW2 tank on the front cover of the finest album Uriah Heep created. Ken Hensley wasn´t excited about either. It´s just some other persons fantasy really. So totally irrelevant because I never get fooled by the covers. And the cover is not even close the really bad album covers of Yes. It´s actually the most clever Hipgnosis ever did. Lyrics ? Is there something wrong about singing, say about "Circus of Heaven".... in the middle of future times? Of course not, how ridiculous that would be. It´s just prog... Also a matter of taste really. You either love Jon´s visions or just don´t, no problem here either. Actually, the lyrics are very positive, and those of the best written of any (prog) band really. Furthermore, here Jon apparently is trying to find a different vocal sound on some songs and he makes it very well, he almost gets aggressive and very fast in tunes like "Release, Release". Well, a man who appears to be like a reincarnation of Jesus Christ is never really is angry :) Anyway, Jon is finding the boundaries of his vocal abilities and manages to get total control in his performances. Masterful musician and a great human exploring his skills. A genius. A Gift of Gods.

The music, and the music only matters. Luckily Yes focused on (shorter ) SONGS and MELODY where their usually shine like no other band. And I´m not even a die-hard Yes fan. I´m just a Gabriel-era GENESIS fan (grin). Each tune in "Tormato" is a masterpiece, in its own right. Some call it versatility. I call it creativity. And surely something else in the whole genre, and even in Rock Music. Yes ! It´s only rock and roll. A very positive rock and roll :)

Thanks, Yes boys !

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