TORMATO

"Tormato" is the 9th full-length studio album by UK progressive rock act Yes. The album was released in September 1978 by Atlantic Records. The album was genereally ill-received by critics and fans alike, but still managed to crack the top 10 lists in several countries. Several members of the band have since stated that Yes, at this point, felt unsure about their musical direction and that creative differences, with Chris Squire, Alan White and Steve Howe on one side of the fence and Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman on the other side of the fence, didn´t make the recording and mixing process any easier. After touring for the better part of a year in support of the album, the differences had become unbearable and as a consequence Jon Anderson and shortly thereafter Rick Wakeman left Yes.

...I don´t know if it was the internal strife or other factors that had an impact but "Tormato" just isn´t quite on par with the band´s earlier material. I´d say the opening track "Future Times/Rejoice" is the highlight of the album, but I actually enjoy most of the tracks. At least to some extent. They generally don´t sound as inspired or creative as the band´s earlier output but I most definitely wouldn´t call "Tormato" a bad album. The production is professional, the musicianship is outstanding as ever (those harmony vocals are just yummi) and the tracks are full of progressive details despite the generally shorter song lengths and decreased structural complexity. The lyrics might be a bit cringe worthy at times, but really! That´s almost always been the case with Yes lyrics if you ask me.

So while "Tormato" is arguably Yes weakest album from the seventies, I still think a 3 star rating is warranted.