We will admit to having approached Tormato with some trepidation, as its reputation preceded it. For one, that cover—rendered so realistically we always want to grab a sponge and paper towels. The title didn’t help either; puns that lame seemed beneath Yes. (The inner sleeve depicts a topographical map centered on Yes Tor, an actual outcrop in the southwest of England, but that wouldn’t have been a much better title either.) The band seemed to have wanted to forget it too, as it wasn’t made available on CD in the U.S. or Europe until the ‘90s. Back then, they had managed to keep the lineup the same, but they were still producing themselves, without Eddie Offord. Musically they’re also keeping up the energy generated on the last album, beginning with the utopian vision of “Future Times”, which is coupled with the separate but similar-sounding “Rejoice”. The suite, and the album as a whole, succeeds when the instrumentalists play with instead of against each other. “Don’t Kill The Whale” is a nice sentiment, of course, but Jon Anderson doesn’t quite have the earnest quality of, say, Graham Nash to pull it off. Plus, the backing borders on disco, especially Chris Squire’s bass effect, which doesn’t suit them. Much better is “Madrigal”, based around a classical-sounding harpsichord with acoustic guitar touches, and much more like their classic sound. “Release, Release” is a call for revolution of sorts, in terms free of metaphor; indeed, the lyrics throughout this album are their most literal yet. A roaring crowd is heard during the drum solo, which seems more than a tad gratuitous, and it only increases once Steve Howe joins in.
Speaking of literal, “Arriving UFO” describes exactly that, and if you’ve seen the movie, it’s basically a recap of Close Encounters Of The Third Kind; thankfully they don’t use the five-note motif from the film, but they come dangerously close once the ship lands. “Circus Of Heaven” might be close to metaphorical, except that he’s talking about a circus he’d really like to see, with unicorns, centaurs, fairies, and the like. But did he really need to have his young son do commentary at the end? Just as on the first side, “Onward” provides a dreamier interlude in a song of devotion, to a woman, to a higher being, who knows, and it’s quite moving. This and the last track sound most like the Yes people came to hear. “On The Silent Wings Of Freedom” begins with two minutes of that jamming we mentioned, everyone adding flourishes and what sounds like yet another quote of the “Close To The Edge” riff from Steve. But once the vocals kick in everyone starts playing over each other, and there’s just too much going on, until it whips itself into a frenzy and stops.
So Tormato isn’t terrible, just a little full of itself. In addition to the sound supposedly improving, once the album was recognized again as part of the pantheon, it too received expansion the second time the catalog was remastered. Following the B-side “Abilene” and the previously released silly outtake “Money” (rendered unlistenable by Rick Wakeman’s narration) were eight unfinished tracks, some of which would turn up on future Anderson or Howe solo projects. (“Everybody’s Song” would reappear as “Does It Really Happen?” on the next album, but we’re not there yet.) The unlisted “orchestral version” of “Onward” is lovely, but oddly not included was “Richard”, which had been a hidden track on certain cassette and 8-track releases back in the day.
Yes Tormato (1978)—3
2004 remastered CD: same as 1978, plus 10 extra tracks
Back in 1978, the president of their record label pressured ELP into recording a “commercial” album. That album is the infamous “Love Beach”, complete with questionable music, an awful album title and an even worse cover. Is it a coincidence that during the same year, their label mates Yes also recorded an album with questionable music, an even more bizarre album title and an even uglier cover? I think not!
ReplyDelete“It’s just a little full of itself?” No, it’s a LOT full of itself! The arrangements are cramped with the instrumentalists flailing all over the place. Then Anderson adds his endless string of syllables, and you have a sonic mess. Much has been said about the lousy production. Once again, Eddie Offord is surely missed here, since this album, even more so than “Going for The One”, lacks the spaciousness he provided. The remaster didn’t help much. Steven Wilson’s touch is sorely needed here.
A remix will never happen, however. No one, including the band, considers this a classic album. Aside from the sound, the songwriting took a considerable dip. The liner notes from the remaster state, “‘Arriving UFO‘ and ‘Circus of Heaven‘ were given a rough ride”. Deservedly. I do think that Steve’s using that “Leslied” effect on his guitar to imitate alien-speak on the former was clever. That doesn’t compensate for the incoherent rambling of the actual song. They could have left well enough alone with “Starship Trooper,” but no! As for “Circus of Heaven”, Anderson’s attempt at childlike wonder sounds, instead, like a childish embarrassment.
I like everything else, maybe more than I should. I wouldn’t say that “Don’t Kill the Whale” is disco. That’s hardly a straight 4/4 beat that would get people out on the dance floor. The song is catchy but failed as a single. “Onward” is the one track that takes a minimalist approach, both lyrically and musically. It would prove to be the most popular.
As for the bonus tracks, I sort of like “Money”. It was the first time Yes showed a sense of humor. Wakeman’s narration is funny when you can hear it. Someone sounds like he was quite miffed about his taxation rate. It was recorded a month before the actual album sessions in a different studio, so it sounds better! Why didn’t they go back there? The rest are mostly undeveloped ideas that wouldn’t have helped the album, but they are interesting. Stuff like “Days” and “Some Are Born” are the type of lightweight, sort of folky stuff that would soon get Jon in trouble, if “Circus of Heaven” hadn’t already. It is quite surprising that they fell quite a bit from “Going for the One”. But they hadn’t yet hit bottom.
A bunch of us piled into a station wagon and drove 90 miles to see the sixth show on the tour, in Springfield, MA. This was a little over two weeks before the album was released, so the new material was unfamiliar, of course. Much to my amazement, I came across a bootleg of the show. Muffled in a couple of places, but otherwise listenable enough, if you remember old mono cassette players.
ReplyDeleteWe were pleased that we were going to get a good view of Rick Wakeman. We were quite surprised when the circular stage started rotating! The opener was “Siberian Khatru”. Here, and throughout the show, Rick’s new set of keyboards (primarily the Polymoog) made the songs sound rather different than “Yessongs”. Then, the group drifted into an electric version of “Madrigal”. It was the first time ever, and it showed, as the song seemed to meander. Then, Jon announced that this was “a rare occasion. A breakdown!”. He then had to call out a couple of times to Nigel the roadie to bring Chris a new bass. I love when stuff like this happens.
While the group made sure to throw in a few from the “Classic Yes” period (including “Heart of the Sunrise”, “Clap” and “Your Move”/”All Good People”), there was an equal emphasis placed on newer material. “Parallels” and “Awaken” were not known to me at the time. They seemed pretty strange, especially the latter. The “Tormato” songs were, as we put it back in the day, “random”, for the most part. “Future Times/Rejoice” and “Circus of Heaven” certainly fit the bill; the latter complete with Damion Anderson’s taped lament. Also in the bizarre department was Rick’s solo. That included two pieces of “..Six Wives..”, “Hall of the Mountain King” and “The Blue Danube”, during which rocking horses emerged from under the stage, for no apparent reason.
On the other hand, “Release Release” went down like an absolute storm. However, this turned out to be the last performance of the song. It, apparently, took too much out of the band, especially Jon. The best part of the show was an extensive medley of old material. That started out with a low key “Time And a Word”, then “Long Distance Runaround, then a group performance of “The Fish”, complete with random “Survival” vocalizations. A slightly truncated version of “Perpetual Change” segued into the tail end of “The Gates of Delirium”, concluding with “Soon”. This, in retrospect, was a bit of a surprise, since it was thought that Rick had an aversion to “Relayer”. Really stunning. Of course, the encore was a new arrangement of “Roundabout”. It sounded weird with the new synths. The intro was cut, but they added a new, raved up coda. Evidently, they decided that it didn’t work for some reason and went back to a more standard version. The take from the Oakland show was eventually released on “Classic Yes”, with more typical instrumentation and the old ending.
Everyone in our car except for me and the driver got the munchies (guess why), so we had to stop at the Burger King on the way home. Five stoned guys trying to order from the drive up resulted in much hilarity, but it also resulted in seven orders that were totally wrong. All in all, a memorable occasion.