RELAYER

First, let us mention here Wakeman is not the keyboardist. Moraz replaces him, and, believe me, he has nothing to envy from Wakeman: he can be very floating too, using a moving mellotron sound. "Relayer" is often psychedelic and experimental. Some bits are really fast and complex, while others are floating and relaxing! Anderson's voice is more in the background here. Steve Howe really experiments tons of miscellaneous guitar sounds and effects: I never liked Howe's electric guitar sound, but I must admit his omnipresence here is amazing. I think the very epic "Gates of Delirium" track is too long: it takes too much time to start: it takes 8 MINUTES to this track to really take off! That's too much! On this track, the progression is very interesting: it starts very chaotic, then very structured and fast, and finishes with a very spatial soundscape.

On the other side, the accelerated "Sound Chaser" is absolutely incredible! Howe's electric guitar effects are excellent, White's drums are fast and complex, and Moraz' moog solo at the end is absolutely Chick Corea-esque. The last track, The relaxing "To Be Over", has beautiful exotic elements: I know from what YES was inspired to write "It Can Happen" on the "90125" album!

My rating: 4.5/5