DRAMA

I was surprised at this album - of all the things I'd read about it, it didn't sound like it was that good, but what a shock it was. In fact, I love this album so much, that it's joined the greats in my top 5 Yes albums (my top 5 are CTTE, GFTO, Drama, Fragile and Big Generator, so make of that what you will). Right from the off, you can tell that this is different from the previous album Tormato (average in my opinion) - the opener Machine Messiah is much heavier than anything Yes had done before, and it is incredibly hard-hitting; it grabs your attention straight away. It's also about as progressive as this album gets, so don't go into this expecting any Solid Time of Change malarchy. The whole album really shows off Squire's skill on the bass - here, his basslines rival those on CTTE, although Howe's guitar is not as noticeable since I found myself concentrating on the bass more than anything. Geoff Downes does an excellent job on the keyboards; although there are no majestic Rick Wakeman solos, he does provide a lot of very well-done 'chordage', which fits in with the music very well. Trevor Horn does a brilliant job of filling Jon Andersons shoes - I don't really want to compare the two, but I feel a comparison is necessary here; Anderson still has a beautiful voice, but I think Horn's is brilliant in its own way. It's different from Jon's - more harsh, less gentle, but it still does the job. Alan White, as always, is truly excellent on the drums. There isn't a weak track here (maybe White Car, but that's not really intended as a stand-alone piece), with Machine Messiah and Tempus Fugit being the best, but all the tracks are great.

On the whole, while it is different from previous Yes outings, it's a refreshing change, especially after the rather average Tormato. This is well worth getting, so although I don't like throwing 5 stars around like confetti, it's got to be given to a classic like this.