TORMATO

Yes's 1978 album Tormato is one that i actually would like to hear them re-record using today's equipment. Some of the songs are strong, some are weak, yet all suffer from the same poor quality, dated, 80s keyboard sounds.

Over all, this album is weak and spotty, its best tracks being some of the best that they have ever done, and its weaker tracks being some of the worst they've ever done.

On this release, the best tracks, in my opinion, are the final two - Onward, a beautiful ballad, as well played as anything they have ever done in this vane (such as the "Soon" portion of Gates of Delerium). On the Silent Wings of Freedom is one of the top songs that is not an epic in the Yes pantheon - one of my all time favorites. Squire's effects on his bass are phenomenal.

Of the other tracks, Release Release, Madrigal, and Future Times/Rejoice are all pretty decent, but almost derivative. Don't Kill the Whale and Circus of Heaven should probably never been recorded. It's Arriving UFO, more than any other song that Yes has done, that makes me scratch my head. This could have been an absolute classic, but instead it sounds...cheezy and cheap. Argh!

This could have been a very good album, but what we get is subpar by Yes standards. 2.5 stars, rounded up.