YES - Drama (1980)
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Recommendations/Featured albums
Forum Description: Make or seek recommendations and discuss specific prog albums
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=123498
Printed Date: April 19 2024 at 18:35
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: YES - Drama (1980)
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Subject: YES - Drama (1980)
Date Posted: July 16 2020 at 06:38
This time around, I'm Going for the One and only YES album to feature Trevor Horn on vocal duties. It is of course, Drama. The tenth studio album from YES is The Yes Album that's been the Big Generator of almost as much Talk and controversy over the years as the legendary Tales from Topographic Oceans album. Time and a Word has it that much Drama ensued with an earlier unsuccessful attempt to record a YES album in Paris and London. There was a Magnification of tensions within the band and tempers were Close to the Edge of boiling over with several Fragile egos at stake, which resulted in Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman temporarily leaving the YES line-up. In the seemingly endless Relayer race of YES line-ups, this left the way open for producer Trevor Horn to step in as a late replacement for Jon Anderson alongside his Buggles bandmate Geoff Downes on keyboards. The subsequent album and concert tour was met with a mixed reception, with some rather unkind audience members in the U.K doing the verbal equivalent of throwing rotten Tormatoes at singer Trevor Horn by rudely booing him when he was performing onstage. The album climbed The Ladder of success though and reached No. 2 in the U.K albums chart. For anyone who hasn't already heard the Drama album, I hope this album tribute thread will help you gain the Keys to Ascension and Open Your Eyes and ears to what a great album it is. Jon Anderson reappeared on the next YES album 90125 with Trevor Horn taking on the role of producer, but Heaven & Earth would have to be moved before Rick Wakeman reappeared on a YES re-Union album in 1991. There are six Yessongs on the Drama album and I'll post the six accompanying YouTube videos below before I Fly from Here.   1980: YES - Drama - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kLIq1y7oaYVFV1zUMSR0I9nFFa7vOAyPw" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kLIq1y7oaYVFV1zUMSR0I9nFFa7vOAyPw YES line-up:- Trevor Horn; Steve Howe; Chris Squire; Geoff Downes; & Alan White Track Listing 1. Machine Messiah (10:25) 2. White Car (1:21) 3. Does It Really Happen (6:33) 4. Into the Lens (8:33) 5. Run Through the Light (4:42) 6. Tempus Fugit (5:16)  |
Replies:
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: July 16 2020 at 07:00
|
1. Machine Messiah 2. White Car 3. Does It Really Happen 4. Into the Lens 5. Run Through the Light 6. Tempus Fugit |
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: July 16 2020 at 07:43
|
Drama is pretty amazing considering the music bizz of 1980. Also, do yourself a favour and get a hold of those Buggle albums - Age of Plastic is mostly excellent, Adventures in Modern Recording is very different, but is decent too, especially Vermillion Sands, and I am a Camera. |
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: July 16 2020 at 07:50
|
Who could forget this Buggles classic..... And this one too..... |
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: July 16 2020 at 08:05
| ^ Exactly !! Maybe not the Prog workout that was Into The Lens, but admirable nevertheless. |
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: July 16 2020 at 08:17
And Trevor Horn has the added bonus of sounding remarkably like Jon Anderson on the Drama album too.
|
Tom Ozric wrote:Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: July 16 2020 at 08:28
| ^ Marginally. Again, admirable attempt. Still love the outcome. |
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: July 16 2020 at 08:38
|
Here's a much later live performance of Machine Messiah from Lyon in 2009 |
Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: July 16 2020 at 09:39
| I moslty love Machine Messiah, rather unexpected to find something sounding like that in the midst of Yes music... prog metal before there was prog metal. White car is a nice little thing (I've read something about the White Car suite during their tours... was there some sort of extended version of the song played live? that might have been interesting). Another one that I like, though it seems to be overlooked within the album, is Run through the Light. |
Posted By: Mortte
Date Posted: July 16 2020 at 11:23
| It was 2010 decade when I heard this first time (got earlier picture this is really boring album). Like it more than Tormato, but not more than any other Yes 60/70ties album. Also I think next two albums are better. Fav is Tempus Fugit. |
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: July 16 2020 at 11:40
The 90125 and Big Generator albums will be coming up next, although not until I've finished writing the long intros. Ideally, I should have featured the Drama album first, in chronological order of post-1970's YES albums, instead of jumping straight in with The Ladder album.
|
Posted By: Frenetic Zetetic
Date Posted: July 16 2020 at 16:41
|
This album rules. In my top Yes albums; they really brought themselves back with this one IMHO. Does It Really Happen?, Machine Messiah, Into The Lens, Tempus Fugit; all classic, 10/10 Yes tracks. ------------- "I am so prog, I listen to concept albums on shuffle." -KMac2021 |
Posted By: Squonk19
Date Posted: July 16 2020 at 16:54
|
Like many, I spat my dummy out when Trevor replaced Jon, and practically boycotted the album. How immature I was! Rediscovering it in more recent times, I really enjoy it and it flows better than many of the Yes albums that followed it. Machine Messiah is a quality track, and there are several others too! ------------- “Living in their pools, they soon forget about the sea.” |
Posted By: Mortte
Date Posted: July 16 2020 at 22:53
|
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: July 16 2020 at 23:12
|
^ Me too! I listen to the artists in my CD collection in alphabetical order and then listen to their albums in chronological order.
|
Posted By: Frenetic Zetetic
Date Posted: July 17 2020 at 00:53
Dude the second I realized Trevor and Jeff were BUGGLES I BUGGED OUT. "You mean VIDEO KILLED THE RADIO STAR is part of YES?!" Horn is a very, very skilled producer and I would say Buggles are proof he knows his craft inside and out. What a title to hold; first music video ever aired on MTV August 1981 (I was -7 for context LOL)! There's just as much mixed meter, odd tempo YES-nes on Drama - maybe even some of their most dynamic period! The artwork is exceptional as well. So glad they went back to a classic Dean art on this one. All of the energy of the album is captured on that "landscape", with animals "hiding themselves"   .------------- "I am so prog, I listen to concept albums on shuffle." -KMac2021 |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: July 18 2020 at 00:00
| I think I was initially put off because I expected a pale imitation of Yes. I only gave in and bought the album about 10 years ago really to complete my collection but now I would put it in my top 5 Yes albums. A real burst of late creativity and their last 5 star album although they made a good half dozen decent albums after it. White and Squire are particularly impressive. The dynamic worked. |
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: July 18 2020 at 00:25
|
They even had a Yes/Buggles crossover song: "I Am a Camera", which sounded pretty much the same in both versions. Maybe Yes should have done "Video Killed the Radio Star" too. Then again, perhaps not.
|
Posted By: bender99
Date Posted: July 18 2020 at 00:26
| I listened to it a few days ago and honestly i'd forgotten just how good it is. Would've been interesting to see just what else that version of Yes would've come up with if they'd have stuck together. |
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: July 18 2020 at 00:31
Yes, if the Drama line-up had stuck together, I'm sure they could have come up with a better album than "Big Generator".
|
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: July 18 2020 at 12:35
|
Yes/Trevor Horn concert (2004) |
Posted By: Cosmiclawnmower
Date Posted: July 18 2020 at 17:31
|
I have a huge respect for Jon Anderson and his vision but Tormato was just dreadful... The Live 'Yesshows' lp was an ok end-stop for the classic line-up but I was very pleasantly surprised by Drama.. I thought it was a great, full of energy and new life. ------------- |
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: July 21 2020 at 14:36
I have the "Tormato" album as part of a 5-CD Yes box set, so I'll give the album another listen to see if it really is a rotten "Tormato".
|
Posted By: suitkees
Date Posted: July 23 2020 at 02:31
|
Gave Drama a 4.5/5 in the album ratings thread. I bought it somewhere in the mid-80s so had not followed the "Buggles-controversy" (if you could call it that way). And I couldn't care less. It is sometimes difficult to compare yes albums between them and this one especially is a "stand alone" one. Great album, without any weak point, which actually led me to buy the two Buggles albums (of which I particularly like Adventures in Modern Recording). ------------- The razamataz is a pain in the bum |
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: July 23 2020 at 02:51
It Buggles me why a small minority of unkind British audiences booed Trevor Horn at his concert performances, because I think he did a sterling job of stepping into Jon Anderson's pixie boots.
|
Posted By: iluvmarillion
Date Posted: July 23 2020 at 23:49
With due respect to Rick Wakeman who's a genius, I feel he's the one who dumped on the band. Jon Anderson had some folksy love songs and one on ecology which Squire, Howe and White could have adapted, but Wakeman was only interested in another Wondrous Stories and like songs, so Tormato was never going to take off.
|
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: July 24 2020 at 01:02
|
Tormato is far from dreadful. Future Times, Release Release , Arriving UFO , Onward and On The Silent Wings Of Freedom are all great tracks. The main problems were a few dud tracks , a general lack of flow and a terrible album cover (although they at least avoided the ELP Love Beach debacle) . It would be plain silly though for any prog fans to dismiss it entirely. Drama was certainly better though because it had an overall vision as the band were pulling together and no real dud tracks.
|
Posted By: suitkees
Date Posted: July 24 2020 at 03:38
I completely agree with you on this! Except that I also like the cover (maybe because I have been in the Dartmoor...). ------------- The razamataz is a pain in the bum |
Posted By: chopper
Date Posted: July 24 2020 at 03:43
I agree, Tormato is not as bad as some people make out (but then I feel the same about Big Generator as well). I don't play it as much as the biggies but it gets a regular outing - Release Release is a favourite of mine. I couldn't really decide between Tormato and Drama.
|
Posted By: chopper
Date Posted: July 24 2020 at 03:47
I saw him singing with Yes at Hammy Odeon back then. To be honest I don't remember any booing but that might just be my memory, however he definitely struggled with some of the higher notes. To be fair, most people would.
|
Posted By: Cosmiclawnmower
Date Posted: July 24 2020 at 04:28
Ok, on reflection using the word 'dreadful' was bound to upset some people and of course its a purely personal view. There are some tracks which do stand out and would, if recorded in different circumstances, come across much better than they do. The atmosphere and politics around this lp are well documented and for me that really permeates the whole album. I think they were trying to record a much more 'intimate' sounding album where they all sounded physically closer in the room together, less vast and spaced apart sounding as on Going for the one and for a bunch of people who rather be anywhere but in the same room with each other it really saturates it for me. Plus Rick Wakemans Keyboards (new digital synths?) sound a bit weird and unpleasant to my ears. And that cover... I live fairly close to Dartmoor and know the Tors fairly well.. lets ferry them all up in their satin tour jackets and shades so they can all look fed up and bored in different directions.. and then splatt a Tomato over it... I am very fond of Yes (sometimes for reasons I cant quite fathom) but they are not at the top of my favourites list so perhaps I don't give some of their lps the attention that I should. I don't consider myself 'Silly' for this and apologies if I offended anyone. I also really like Big Generator (more than 90125 which I also like) and 'The Ladder' so draw from that what you will ------------- |
Posted By: suitkees
Date Posted: July 24 2020 at 04:53
You see ! They had brilliant ideas at Hipgnosis (they probably didn't like the music...). Strange thing is: only Rick seems to be really enjoying himself on that back cover... ------------- The razamataz is a pain in the bum |
Posted By: Cosmiclawnmower
Date Posted: July 24 2020 at 05:21
Ah.. he'd probably had a few Shandys on route And Rick lived for quite a while in Devon so genuinely liked being there. Steve Howe lives in North Devon so I believe.------------- |
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: December 24 2023 at 14:49
|
YES - The Story of Drama |
Posted By: Steve Wyzard
Date Posted: December 26 2023 at 13:21
| The only Yes albums better than Drama are Close to the Edge, Going for the One, and 90125. |
Posted By: someone_else
Date Posted: December 26 2023 at 13:52
|
^I would add three more: The Yes Album, Fragile and Relayer. Drama is in the range 3-3.5/5 in my book. Most songs are quite hit and miss. Does It Really Happen? and Tempus Fugit are the best tracks off this album, methinks. But... it is obviously better than its predecessor. ------------- 
|