"Tempus Fugit"

I cannot deny it's awesomeness, Drama is by far one of my favorite Yes albums, period

stonebeard wrote: I find I enjoy it more if I just imagine Howe and Anderson are still in the band. It's doesn't really take all that much imagining.

Haha, yeah, it was definitely a breath of fresh air and a needed improvement after the misconbobulated  and disjointed Tormato.  They had a lot of good ideas for Tormato, but these ideas weren't executed all that well. Just listen to the final product.

I like Drama more than any later Yes Studio album and even more than Tormato or Going for the One.

Iván

meurglysIII wrote: ivan_2068 wrote: I like Drama more than any later Yes Studio album and even more than Tormato or Going for the One. Iván I even like it more than Fragile

You make an interesting point, even though I like Fragile a bit more, I always found this album somehow uneven, too many solo works, Cans & Brahms is not Wakey's best, reminds me of Works II by ELP.

Iván

Edited by ivan_2068

Yes, It's awesome, really one of their best "short" songs. But if Siberian Khatru of South Side Of Sky count as short songs, they're definitely better

meurglysIII wrote: ivan_2068 wrote: I like Drama more than any later Yes Studio album and even more than Tormato or Going for the One. Iván I even like it more than Fragile

Me too

Drama is a good solid Yes album. Horns vocals are not good, but some of the music is excellent. Tempus Fugit being a definite hi-light.

Tempus Fugit is a good track. I liked Drama when it first came out, despite my aversion to the "Buggles", it was a breath of fresh air after "Tormato", however for me it hasn't lasted the distance and I find I only make the ocassional play nowadays

Drama's a criminally underrated Yes album. Just because it doesn't feature the 'classic' line up then people automatically dismiss it as a bad record, mostly without ever giving it the time of day.
The songs on it are some of the strongest Yes ever recorded. My own perception of it is that Yes had tried to go 'pop' with Tormato and it was a pretty hideous failure. The songwriting constraints the band put on themselves, plus the obvious internal divisions that were developing couldn't possibly result in anything other than a curate's egg of a project, although this particular egg had very few good parts.
Fast forward to Drama and you have a band reinvigorated by the arrival of two new members, both enthusiastic fans of the band who appreciated and understood Yes' modus operandi. However, both new boys brought with them a pop sensibility which Yes had struggled to find on Tormato.
The result is a 'proper' Yes album feasturing all the elements they did so well, with the added bonus of some strong hooks which nevertheless were in keeping with the creative thrust of 'classic' Yes.
Machine Messiah, Does it Really Happen, Run Through the Light and Tempus Fugit are all superb songs, far better than any composition on Tormato.
People are way too snobby and puritanical about the merits of Trevor Horn's Yes (as they are about 90125 era Yes). Both bands made some excellent music. I was genuinely sorry that the Trevor Horn/Geoff Downes era didn't go on longer. Then again, if it had, maybe the next Yes album after Drama might have featured songs like 'Heat of the Moment'. Then we would have been in trouble....


Edited by arcer

I think it's awful; one of the worst choruses ever recorded and putrid lyrics to boot.  IMO, Machine Messiah is the only listenable part of Drama. 

Nice to see all the love for Drama.  I think it was the best of their post-'classic' period.  TYA - GFTO.  And probably right with the classic period albums for quality. Machine Messiah is rather heavy,  Does it Really Happen is actually my favorite from the album so I think their was some great stuff on there besides Tempus Fugit. (which I honestly always preferred On the Silent Wings of Freedom to anyway)