DRAMA

When I got hold of this album in a tape back in 1981, I had no idea that Anderson was not in it. When I started hearing it, it sounded so unlike Yes that I got puzzled. The sound is tough, the vocals sounded like Anderson-- yet its not Anderson. By the time I heard it once, I realised its a new vocalist who copied not only the tonal character of Anderson-- but also his accent and style-- fused with his own style. the result of this fusion is an unique Yes album. But its not the vocals alone that is so different here. Guitar wise, this is the heaviest sounding yes ever. True that Howe played much more complicated and louder guitar in Relayer-- but the level of thickness of the sound of guitar distortion is like that of Death Metal (if that existed in 1980, that is). Especially in Machine Messiah. Then structure-wise, all the songs are again different from the earlier direction of Yes. Its clear that Squire, Howe et al were trying out the style they followed in Fragile: break the song at an unlikely phase and then rebuild the music. This technic makes the song not so attractive at first, but gradually as your ears become used to the structure-- you'll start liking it. For instance, take In to the Lens. Whenever the chorus seem to reach its peak-- the music takes a different turn. In this manner, a simple 3 minute song can turn into an off-beat 8.31 minute adventure. Lyrics wise, this is the most 'existentialist' album ever made by Yes. Yes albums are mostly spiritual. I like those. But sometimes they are too spiritual. This album brings materialism and metaphors and match those with appropriate sounds and music. I think the credit goes to Horn-- who had been a Yes fan long before this album. All the lyrics make clear and interesting sense. I must say the band did a great job with lyrics in this album. Overall this is a great album; Machine Messiah being the best, Does it Really happen being the weakest (but not bad). I believe they could have tightened some parts of the songs like Tempus Fugit and Run through the Light. Its a must have for prog-rock fans.