Yes - Drama POLL

this has become one of my favorite records in recent years

an answer to YES

honestly can't choose. "run through the light" is the most underrated, "machine messiah" is a mindblowing epic, "does it really happen" is one of their all-time most swaggery jams, and "into the lens" works even better as a YES song than a BUGGLES song. going with "tempus fugit" because RIP CHRIS SQUIRE

If the 90125 reboot hadn't happened and this really had turned out to be the final Yes album, I feel they would have went out on a high. I don't really miss Anderson's presence on what is - to me - a seriously great and underrated record.

Got this narrowed down to 'Machine Messiah', 'Tempus Fugit' and 'Does It Really Happen?' ... but then 'Into the Lens' ... Arrrgh!

I'm interested in how this album came together, actually. Aren't there a couple of things on this record that began life as part of the eventually aborted Tormato follow-up that was supposed to have Jon and Rick on it? I know that The Buggles contributed a couple of things that went through the Yes blender ('Into the Lens' most obviously) and there may have been some bits that Howe, Squire and White jammed out in between Jon and Rick leaving and The Buggles joining.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz1Bmz7rY_M

Does It Really Happen for me though i love this entire crazy record.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVIWSmZqE4I

Lots of talk here: DRAMA by Yes: Lost Classic or Justified Dud?

There is, but over half of that thread at this point focuses on Fly From Here insteas of Drama, whereas I'd like to just focus on this album.

It'a funny to me that Rick Wakeman is considered to be the Yes keyboardist by many, yet the three albums I most listen to (The Yes Album, Relayer and this) are not only each made by quite different line-ups, but Wakeman isn't on any of 'em!

Doesn't change the fact that...ahhhh, I'm not gettin' into this.

Listened to Tormato and this back to back today and they sound so revitalised on this compared with the previous album. They never did any of this material live with Jon, did they? I seem to remember Jon saying in an interview that he would have been happy to play some of the songs but the band didn't want to - of course the band said the opposite.

They played about 90 seconds of "Tempus Fugit" on the 90125 tour and even then it was only in the middle of Squire's bass solo. Jon didn't sing.

Ah, well at least some of it got played, even if it was just a little bit. It's a shame, because I think Jon would have sounded great on Drama - I know there was some sort of division in the band where Jon and Rick wanted to have a softer direction and the rest of the band wanted a harder direction, but listening to Drama it's difficult for me not to reach the conclusion that Howe, Squire and White had a point and that Jon and Rick would have been superb on it.

i think it's perfect as is. chris squire was like miles davis. he created all the space and the framework for everyone else to occupy. compared to him the rest -- even anderson -- are incidental

jon and rick wouldn't have been superb on this because it would never have sounded like this or been written if they were still in the band, horn and downes brought a lot of that album with them I think.

^^^this

And I LOVE Jon and Rick

Of course this album wouldn't have turned out exactly the same if Jon and Rick had been involved, I'm more saying that if the band hadn't fractured and and Jon and Rick had been able to suck it up and be all like "okay, let's run with your direction and see what happens" (and Drama is the type of LP the rest of the band wanted to make) then they would have been fabulous on it.

As for Drama as it eventually appeared - I've no doubt that Horn and Downes contributed material ('Into the Lens' most obviously), but the end result is more in keeping with previous Yes music than Buggles music, and Howe, Squire & White were very much running the show.

maybe. dunno. the leaked stuff post Tormato wasn't very promising though. I think the change of blood helped shake things up. That shake up lasted for two great records (Drama and 90125) before it got stale again and they started the never-ending lineup reshuffle that churned out mediocre album after mediocre album that continues to this day.

I agree that this and 90125 were/are their last great, truly essential albums. I love both for different reasons, but I feel they're both high quality releases. It's funny that 90125 was meant to be a "new beginning" for Yes - and in a way, it was - but it's also the last Yes album I'll go anywhere near.

I still would like to know what happened in that alternate universe 1980 where XYZ (Squire, White, and Jimmy Page) actually happened.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I still would like to know what happened in that alternate universe 1980 where XYZ (Squire, White, and Jimmy Page) actually happened.

― Elvis Telecom

able archer went "hot" and 90% of humanity was annihilated in nuclear fire in 1983

they're still doing better than us

omg will you look at the poll results

crazy

Album brought to you by Yes, poll results brought to you by Manfred Mann!

A worthy winner, though.