RELAYER

4.5 stars

YES' most ferocious and jazzy-esque release! Patrick Moraz is a good remplacement of Rick Wakeman and deserves all honors. The record consists in three pieces, one of 20 minutes and two of 10 minutes.

"The Gates of Delirium" is the best and the most ambitous track from YES with "Close to the Edge". With this epic piece, the band did not stay at these gates, they entered them. It starts with ambient spacey synthetizers, to let the guitar plays a catchy psychedelic melody, taking you directly in the frontiers of an imaginative place. The guitar theme is very efficient and inspired. Then takes place a sonic maelstrom, an instrumental storm, an epic battle of tortured guitars and trippy keyboards ! As mindblowing as the "Thunderstorm" section of Mike Oldfield's Hergest Ridge Part 2 (released the same year). After the rain, the sun: the melody calms down and becomes mysterious and spacey. There have been nearly 10 minutes of intrumental, Jon's voice reappears as to sing the rests of this great battle. Superb, one fo the most progressive musical piece ever.

"Sound Chaser" begins with an ambient spacey introduction to deliver a catchy melody with fast guitar and bass playing, which recalls Dick Dale's solos and flamenco style. The mellotron calms down the game ans sets down a spacey atmosphere. Nearly 5 minutes of instrumental. Moraz's playing is sometimes reminiscent of GONG's "You" (released also the same year) and Greg Howe's guitar moments ressemble to Jimmy Page's. The song ends with faster and faster music in an explosion. It really rocks!

"To Be Over" is the weakness of the album. The sitar introduction is good, but the rest of the song tends to be lazy and cheesy.

This album is neraly flawless. "The Gates of Delirium" is an incredible 20 minutes epic piece which MUST be heard. Guitars and keyboards solos are well placed and make forgot the desperate efforts from "Tales from Topographic Oceans". I was completely blown away. My favorite YES album. Their most imaginative, spacey, rockiest and jazzy-esque.

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