While Yes and their fans should have been accustomed to personnel changes by now, in a rather shocking development, not only did Rick Wakeman leave the band, but Jon Anderson did too. Wakeman had bolted before, of course, but this was the first time Yes wouldn’t have their iconic lead singer. (Don’t worry about Jon; he put out two albums on his own, and three in collaboration with synth wizard Vangelis, all over the next three years, none of which will be explored in this forum.) Even more baffling, especially in hindsight, is that the remaining trio—of which Chris Squire was the last founding member—joined forces with the two main members of the Buggles, who’d made quite the splash with “Video Killed The Radio Star” even before MTV happened. Since Trevor Horn could sing and Geoff Downes played keyboards, they slotted into the vacancies. The aptly titled Drama was the result.
The music glides in like the creature on the interstellar landscape on the cover, then a proto-King Crimson crunch riff plows us into “Machine Messiah”, with a few modern synth swoops. While Horn’s voice with Squire’s always underrated harmonic counterpoint sports enough of the established Yes brand, and there’s a bit of acoustic guitar, the pastoral fairy tales of old are nowhere to be found. After ten minutes of that, “White Car” is an odd little interlude that showcases the two Buggles and naught else. Then Chris hits his bass and Steve Howe slashes power chords for the arena-friendly “Does It Really Happen?” There’s a lot of Hammond organ that reflects Fragile while veering into Kansas territory. Again, Squire’s vocals remind you what band this is.
As with the first side, another attempted epic kicks off the second. “Into The Lens” was developed from a Buggles idea, and it shows, from the new wave touches to Horn’s solo vocal, and frankly, the robotic chorus (“I am a camera/Camera camera”) invites ridicule. (Once the Buggles reverted to just being Buggles instead of Yes men, the song would be re-reworked into the first single from their next album, retitled, naturally, “I Am A Camera”.) “Run To The Light” has Horn sounding somewhere between Jon Anderson and Sting vocally, and while Alan White handles the stop and start rhythms fairly well, it’s a little plodding. The Kansas swirls return for “Tempus Fugit”, and except for the overuse of the Vocoder, the tune rocks. Everyone is engaged, Chris is back in the vocal mix, and they can even get away with ending each verse with the word “yes”.
Despite everything going against it, Drama really isn’t a bad album, particularly because it sounds like Yes as they’d evolved after a decade. Roger Dean even contributed the artwork, though we couldn’t possibly explain what’s with the “hands up” poses in the gatefold. But this lineup couldn’t last, and the group soon splintered yet again. With the aural equivalent of hindsight, the album is a throughline to the next project involving Howe and Downes. (The eventual expanded CD included two single edits, two unfinished tracks without vocals, two “tracking versions”, and four refugees from the first sessions with Jon and Rick still on board, all of which pale compared to what ended up on the album.)
Yes Drama (1980)—3
2004 remastered CD: same as 1980, plus 10 extra tracks
My first Yes album, and thus always a favorite in my heart, even if admittedly, albums like "Fragile" are probably better in a traditional (and a prog) sense. But I always loved the proto-prog metal of "Machine Messiah", the freaky little vignette "White Car", the new wave of "Into The Lens" (which arguably works better in its single edit) and the straight up rock of "Tempus Fugit".
ReplyDeleteI'd throw at least half a point on top of the three here, long live the BugglYes!
(And we agree that the songs tried out with Anderson sound absolutely atrocious, something clearly had to give...°
i bought the album in 2005 and played many versions of it till they were scratched, i don't know, it's just the feeling was there since horn and downes are joining yes, i do love the mixing of new wave and progressive rock first made by rush and permanent waves, even genesis have a bit of new wave in the preview to the next album with the top 40 hit turn it on again, whereas yes, have the buggles duo seems like a nice touch, i don't whine about jon not being here nor rick, i follow their solo careers. one thing i dislike is the comeback album that is so overplayed its not even funny, even naming the album 90125 seems cheap, i still can't stand owner of a lonely heart and the other trevor is too much like EVH meets vinnie vincent, meh!
ReplyDeletetempus fugit is a 5 minute blast of bass that sounds like the terminator, way better use of synth bass than tormato, machine messiah is like a cyberpunk version of sound chaser does it really happen sounds like new wave but it has bass solos and cool synths. i like the live version of white car as a synth solo even adding video killed the radio star. sadly the lineup never lasted but thankfully in 2011, they remaster the suite fly from here and they sound like the 1980 yes and has modern tough guitars and synths that don't date that much, even mister horn sounds like he took care of his voice. i give it a 5.