RELAYER

I bought this record when it came out and from day one it has been my favourite Yes record.Up to then I listened mainly to Yessongs and Fragile but when I put the needle on the record I rested amazed until the last fading away of to be over. For sure it's to a great part emotional, you like some stuff you don't like other... I just bought the extended Rhino version and listening again to Relayer I tried to find out why I like this record so much.So, for one there is the pure dynamic force of this record. They are all playing and singing as if they got the devil on their tail! Then I think few Groups experimented so much in the boundaries of ProgRock. I wouldn't compare it to Jazz Rock, the harmonic material is quiet different even from Mahavishnu and then a lot of the themes are based around the lyrics, which is uncommon for Fusion/JR.Another point is the overall mood: there are few records which present a unity of style all over the record.Relayer is like one metal-molden block of pure energy. In the booklett of the re-release J.Anderson says that Roger Deans cover (my favourite RD cover with Grenslade) represents exactly the mood of the record,grey: mixture of granit and metal, and S.Howe said that "they were all jumping around in the studio".The only sad thing for me is that they couldn't go no further.I like Going for the one, but I was quiet disappointed nevertheless. It felt to me like going back and I saw them on stage in 1977 and the energy was gone.It seemed to me like they were conscious that they had passed a border they could never cross again.