Drama

I just was looking at the reviews for Drama on the site. Personally, I think
this is a very very strong album and it's among my favorites in the Yes
catalog. I just wanted to know what other people thought about the album.
The rating is significantly lower than the Yes albums that are very good and I
don't think that truly represents the material. Don't forget, it was a strong
comback effort after Tormato. Imagine Yes continued this lineup throughout
the 80s? It would have been interesting to see how that would have ended
up.

I also have the re-mastered CD of Drama and the previously unreleased material is very good as is the original album. I still rank Fragile as my favourite Yes album but Drama is very high in my Yes charts. I rate it a 4 to 4.5.

I think Drama rates five stars. One of my favorite albums, and one of the best showcases for Squire, Howe, and White that exists. The vocals, both Horn and Squire are superb, and the melodies and lyrics are intelligent and surprising. And fantastic instrumenation. Complex, off-beat runs played to absolute effortless perfection.

I hadn't even heard it until earlier this year and was absolutely blown away by it. It's in a different class than CTTE, Fragile, Relayer, et al. but in its own way, it is a fiery, powerful experience.

Drama = very

Esp. with all the bonus tracks. Great CD. Deff. four stars.

Yea

Drama is brilliant, isn't Machine Messiah like the best song ever released in the 80's

I also think that it is a four star album. "Machine Messiah" is a wonderful song! Their last good album IMO. It also proves, that Squire and Howe are the essential core of YES, though Anderson is also important but provenly not impossible to be replaced! Actually, I didn't first even realize that there is a different singer on this one!

I guess this is a prefect example of how music is a subjective experience.
I personally don't see how you rate Drama over Tormato. (Admittedly Tormato does have a number of weak moments but so does Drama) On their own merits both albums should receive a similar rating IMO as they fall somewhere in the middle of Yes's catalogue - neither the strongest nor the weakest albums.

"Drama" is far better than "Tormato" in terms of music, although Trevor Horn isn't a good singer. In a list of top 10 Yes albums, I would place it as the sixth better: 

Yes Album

Close to the Edge

Fragile

Relayer

Going for the One 

Drama

Tales from Topographic Oceans

Yes

Time and a Word

Magnification

Barbs, about the comparison between "Drama" and "Tormato": IMHO, the strongest tracks at the first are actually better than the strongest at the second, and "Tormato"'s weakest tracks are among the worst thing Yes have produced in all time (with the exception of Big Generator, Union and Open Your Eyes - these albums should be deleted of the Yes catalogue). But it's all subjective, as you pointed. We both will be happier listening to our favourites between these albums than discussing it.

 

FragileDT wrote: Well I'm glad some other people agree with me. I wasn't sure what people thought of it after seeing that it was only rated a 3.77.

I would have thought 3.77 was a pretty good score for any album. I love Drama and gave it a four star review, so that's kind of in that ballpark. How would you give it more, in light of the fact that Fragile may be a four star album or Close to the Edge a five star album? Is it as good as Close to the Edge? Most people would say no. Hence a 3.77 average.
I think when people are reviewing albums here, they really need to be more judicious with the use of five stars for a record. They can't all be perfect, can they?

Drama was Jon Anderson’s drama. With this masterpiece the rest of the members provided evidence how good could be the band without him.