DRAMA

This is easily one of the best albums Yes has ever come out with. Most people were worried that the absence of Wakeman and Anderson would be detrimental to the album, but honestly, I think that it was what made this album so damn good. This album is shamelessly progressive, however, the pop sensibilities of Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes definitely make this album far more accessable than, say, "Tales From Topographic Oceans" (bad comparison, I know, but bear with me). The high point of this album is doubtlessly "Machine Messiah", quite possibly the best song Yes wrote since "Close to the Edge" 8 years prior. In this song, all the members really strut their prog stuff, giving Downes a chance to strut his stuff. By the instrumental section at the 4 minute mark of this epic, most Yes fans will have forgiven (or even forgotten) the fact that Downes and Horn were also members of the Buggles. You know, the band famous for being the first video on MTV? That's right, before joining Yes, Horn and Downes had the same prog credentials as Michael Jackson. You can easily see why Yes fans were worried. However, the newcomers not only manage to prove themselves, but, as mentioned before, breathe life into a dying "dinosaur" group. Every song on this album is a masterpiece, but I find that you can easily show this album to a non-prog fan and they will enjoy it almost as much as a prog fan will- a quality lacking in most progressive and non-progressive albums. That, I feel, is the biggest strength of this album (as well as a strength that even "Close to the Edge" lacks.