TORMATO

Have to admit, this was the first album by the band I bought new in the store. Seeing that I didn't get into prog until '77, I did have their older albums and just loved the covers. Little did I know after seeing the cover to this one, (worse prog cover ever?) I'd be in for a shock, musically. Honestly, taken as a whole, it's not the worst around, almost the worse) but for Yes, it's definitely the worst from the 70's. I rather listen to their first two then this for two reasons: 1) I can't stand Squire's bass sound, it dominates and sounds so damn ugly, 2) the mix is so chaotic, with instruments clogging, battling, struggling just plain trying to garner your attention overpowering the song, ('Future Times', 'Don't Kill The Whale', 'Release, Release', and especially 'On The Silent Wings Of Freedom'). I would rather listen to the mediocre 'Circus Of Heaven' with its sickly sweetness just because I can catch my breathe after listening to all the chaos before and after. UGH! You can see this coming after their last album, 'Going For The One' which I'm not to fond of either. At least that one had one superior song, ('Awaken'). Plus, for me, they rebound with their next album. But 'Tormato'? It should have been the master tapes splattered on the record sleeve, not a tomato. Sorry for being so harsh, but Yes is a favorite and at this time in their lives they were most likely a burned out husk of a band that needed time off to regroup and change their sound DRAMAtically. And they did. Thank GOD! 2.5 stars.