DRAMA

Drama, Yes's first album without Jon Anderson, is an interesting collection of music - not your standard Yes fare. However, my all time favorite Yes song is on this album. Go figure.

I also really love the fact that Chris Squire was able to sing lead for the first time on a Yes album, Does It Really Happen? He does well on it and I wish they gave him more lead opportunities. However, my absolute favorite Yes song (not an epic) is Tempus Fugit, which I would love to hear Anderson do a rendition of, but NO, he refuses to do anything off of that album. What a shame, as I think his vocals would be absolutely perfect on that song.

Other songs are pretty good - Machine Messiah and Into the Lens - but on the whole the album is a fairly lightweight fare for Yes. Though Howe, Squire, and White gel really well, Downs' keyboard work, in my opinion, leaves something to be desired, as does Horn's vocals. It's not that they are bad, they just don't fit in my opinion.

I rate this album at 2.5 stars, rounded to 3.