DRAMA by Yes: Lost Classic or Justified Dud?

things aren't going so well

http://www.examiner.com/classic-hard-rock-in-national/yes-keyboardist-geoff-downes-responds-to-negative-fan-reviews

"And oh yes – Downes broke out his keytar to kick it into full gear. It must have been nice to break out of that keyboard cage."

the reviews of the shows are incredibly bad and the bits I heard are embarrassing. makes me suspect that Horn played a much larger role in shaping this album than suspected. The setlists for this tour are terrible too; Yes makes their best album in many many years and only plays one song from it, instead pulling out all the aged warhorses everyone associates with Anderson?

It sounded to me like White's drinking might be an issue as well. Regardless, I'll be skipping this since I hate Styx. If they get it together and tour again next year and focus on this record I'll go, but they're kind of running out of time.

crosslinking in case some of you have missed it --> Yes solo albums S/D

(live performance recorded by an audience member this week)

I have only made it thru the suite this far -- but the chorus has been stuck in my head for days. Loathe as I am to suggest it, it's one of the best melodies they've written -- and has a fantastic arrangement to boot. Plus, Chris sounds awesome.

Oh and my friend (owner of said car mentioned upthread) saw them in Nashville this wknd and said they were awesome.

i thought it was all terrible but the new singer irks me. the arrangements are not in the vein of cool early Yes

lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgzgAn1N3oI

good god

lol omg

love that the guitarists reshuffle slightly, seeming to have this instinctive knowledge that they should align into a quo-like straightline formation upon the arrival of another guitarist (/guitar-shaped object-wielder), ready to synchro-rock

I only made it through the first two minutes, did I miss something awesome

http://www.conncerts.com/images/806_Yes_0988_se.jpg

no!, i too drifted after someone with a non-novelty instrument took the limelight. it's just that he drifts towards the other guys & they, like fighterplanes, just seem to quickly re-organise, ready to do that weird, synchro-herk-&-jerk thing that status quo do in a straight line, shoulder-banging in unison. it doesn't even go anywhere & happen, it just seems to be an innate, reflexive move.

0:30.

At some point I'll find the John Tenniel illustration that Squire reminds me of in those videos.

This one?

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jtennielireland.JPG

My God. Terrible. Even Howe is playing like some Guitar Center® salesman.

I like parts of Howe's solo there. And Geoff Downes is really great; check this out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b35x2Q3pUAw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGTF_Ijt4xo

This one?

I was thinking more this

http://www.knowledgerush.com/wiki_image/d/d5/Tennieldumdee.jpg

but with bad hair

I like parts of Howe's solo there. And Geoff Downes is really great; check this out:


--timellison

that keytar solo fucking rules, sorry! don't think Geoff Downes doesn't have a sense of humor about the whole thing. they're also playing pretty good; I think they're redeeming this tour, from what I've read. I'll go see them if they go out again without Styx and actually play the new album (which I love).

i would put up a poster of downes brandishing that keytar. new album rules. not as good as 'drama' (what is?) but there are four solid jams on it that could go on a 'classic yes ii.'

threads that link diamonds of light to the satanic mills

'yes' should change their name to 'no'

no room for haters of this record. I mean, listen to the stuff Yes has hoisted on us since Big Generator, and then listen to this, and then get back to me and tell me that FFH is a bad album. It is not. Yeah it's kind of a Buggles album but it is still pretty awesome.

Drama sucks to

hey, lorax is a piece of shit

that's uncool, despite lorax expressing a wrong opinion

Yeah it's kind of a Buggles album

Part of what's so stunning about Drama (and perhaps this one) is how much inserting "Buggles" into "Yes" still worked as Yes.

album of the year

can't get over the way steve howe looks

i kinda feel like if you jumped on his head he'd disassemble like those skeleton koopas in mario, then just reassemble himself and continue soloing

― frogbs, Tuesday, 14 June 2011 23:47 (5 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this description is perfect

the reviews of the shows are incredibly bad and the bits I heard are embarrassing. makes me suspect that Horn played a much larger role in shaping this album than suspected.

this is basically otm. live footage of that tour that i've recently seen and heard is frankly embarrassing—not howe's playing or anything, but the backing vocals in particular are just horrific. horn most definitely cleaned things up for the album.

that said, the 'fly from here' suite holds up really, really well. i've played it a few times recently and it's not irksome or *anything*.

oh and benoît david got boned so

yeah fly from here: a classic yes album. if they do another one they'd better get horn back, but I think they drained that well with FFH. too bad they're now touring old albums again and have kicked this to the corner but they probably aren't really up to supporting it any longer.

squire reckons they'll start recording later this year, no idea who'll be in the sessions though (apart from jon davison, the new singing bloke)

I hope their latest shows are good...I saw a version of "Close to the Edge" from 2011 w/ Benoit that was really quite awful, seemed slow it felt like most of the band was struggling staying in tune with each other. Dunno if it's a lack of practice or if they're just old. The 2011 ELP show was sad (and hilarious) for many of the same reasons. Emerson was mashing the keys as though he was wearing boxing gloves. Then again, Van der Graaf seem to still have it...

good for you for seeing contemporary shows by prog vets. I really did think for a second about going to see UK last fall, but it wasn't in the budget at the time.

only saw VdGG, not the other two. the Yes performance is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwHnbN5eysc

not really prog but the Moodies still put on a good show!

I seriously considered seeing them in aus, but the thought of standing in a room full of people like this

http://www.moawards.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/patron-brian-cadd.gif

was too much to bear

I saw Yes in 2003 and it was fantastic - classic lineup, sounded great. I'm happy I caught them then. FFH is an ok album, especially because of Horn's tasteful production, but they're pretty much coasting on fumes at this point.

I did see them in 2004 or 2005 and they were very good; it was kind of drained of any real inspiration, but they could still play (especially Howe)

xp yeah, recycling 30yo material is the giveaway. also that squackett album isn't terrific.

that's almost worse than saying it's bad

it's just there

like skirting boards, in that they do their job, and occasionally someone might notice that there's a skirting board and go 'oh that's nice'

People actually NOTICE skirting boards?

somebody did once

o_O

I'd only ever notice a skirting board if it was filthy, or someone had decorated it with glitter or something...

or if it were releasing a load of rehashed classics in order to recover funds from an expensive divorce