TORMATO

In 1978, Prog Rock bands were having problems, because Prog Rock was losing popularity, and the record labels wanted these bands to have hits for the Radio. So, the bands had to make some compromises to keep record label executives "happy". The Disco Music peak year was 1978, with John Travolta, the Bee Gees and Donna Summer in the Radio all the time. The overrated Punk music also was a fad. I call it overrated because for me it was mainly noise recorded by people who only knew how to play 2 or 3 chords in their guitars (with some exceptions, like "The Clash"). "New Wave" was better. But for me, among all these musical styles, Prog Rock became a relief, because it had higher quality than the Radio music of those years.And this "Tormato" album appeared in 1978, like GENESIS `"...and then there were three..." and ELP`s "Love Beach". All these albums have in common that they were not very appreciated and were seen as albums recorded by bands in decay. But for me, in comparison to "Saturday Night Fever", these albums were "gems".So, an album like "Tormato", released in that year, it was better than the Radio music of that time. But if I consider "Tormato" in comparison to other YES`s albums, it`s not as good as some of them. But it still has some good things. "Future Times" is still progressive, with White and Squire playing like a metronome. "Rejoice" is the celebration song of the tenth anniversary of the band. "Don`t Kill the Whale" is an "Ecological" song. "Madrigal" has a harpsichord and a string arrangement by Wakeman. "Release Release" is mostly a "conventional rocker" song (maybe composed to please the label) with very good drums by White. "Arriving UFO" has some "UFO sounds" played by Wakeman in his keyboards. "Circus of Heaven" is a song more adequate for an Anderson`s solo album. "Onward" has an orchestral arrangement and is one of the best songs of the album. The best song of this album is "On the silent wings of freedom", with Squire`s "Harmonised Rickenbacker Bass" and very good drums by White, supported by Wakeman`s keyboards. In this album, both Squire and Wakeman had new "devices" and instruments. Squire plays his "Harmonised bass" (I think that it is really a sounds effect device) in most of the songs, and Wakeman uses his Birotron (a new version of the Mellotron?) and the Polymoog in several songs.