Music Banter - View Single Post - Anteater's Top 30 Albums: * Free Booze inside *

Anteater · 08-05-2009, 10:00 AM

9.

Yes - Relayer (1974)

1. Gates Of Delirium (22:55)
2. Sound Chaser (9:25)
3. To Be Over (9:08)

"From the moment I reached out to hold, I felt a sound...
And what touches our soul slowly moves as touch rebounds..
And to know that tempo will continue-
Lost in trance of dances as rhythm takes another turn...

As is my want...
I only reach...
..to look in your eyes..!!"

Introduction:

Well, anyone who knows that I'm a progressive rock whore should have been expecting an album by Yes somewhere down the line, and this is the place it happens to be. The best stuff is always saved for last after all!

Now though, just for a bit of perspective; unlike most of the Yes albums some of you have may come into contact with already, such as The Yes Album, the awesomely bass-driven Fragile, majesty-personified Close to the Edge or the extremely polarizing Tales from Topographic Oceans, I will go ahead and point out that Relayer is a very different beast from each and every one of them for several reasons:

1. Rick Wakeman left town after the whole Topographic Oceans affair (can't blame him really), and in response Anderson and co. brought in Swiss keyboardist Patrick Moraz, whose rather jazzy approach to playing contributes greatly to Relayer's unique sonic balance.

2. Bikes and pedals are used in place of drumsticks in many places. Weird, but pretty freakin' sweet.

3. Steve Howe is on Telecaster instead of a Gibson like usual. Not bad!

Combine these elements with some good weed and the rest of the band in top form, and you've got yourself an album for the ages and beyond.

The Album:

Like CttE, Relayer is a three track whole which flows together in an odd yet fitting manner, beginning with a pretentious epic "Gates of Delirium", hitting its stride nice and hard with "Sound Chaster" and topped with some delicious Oriental calm in the form of "To Be Over"; its almost the musical equivalent of a parabola.

But anyway, time for a song-by-song:

1. Gates of Delirium: The whole thing's based on Tolstoy's War & Peace, so you know its going to be pretentious, but its still cool because this is about as dark and violent as Yes would ever get lyrically, and it stands out because of that.

In true epic fasion we begin with Howe's awesome licks melded against a twinkling cacophony of spacy synth-work which builds and builds with volume, drums growing ever more vibrant over the course of two minutes until Anderson and Squire come in with vocals, a section which becomes more and more intricate/distorted with a quieter moments along the way until a bit past the 10 minute mark, where the whole song goes into a near hard-bop state of crazy against Howe's guitar followed by some Hawkwind style space-rock until the 16 minute mark where Anderson begins singing magnificently against a near vacuum like quiet in the aftermath of the battle that's waged its war across the suite. Howe and the rest then come back in over the last three minutes with a great outro and we're done!

2. Sound Chaser: This is what happens when Yes crosses over into Mahavishnu Orchestra territory and a classic, 'nuff said.

Everything goes nuts right from the beginning, blasting forth with some free-jazz keyboards and Alan White's furious drumming before Howe charges in with the vocals close behind. Interplay over the next minute or two with the chorus before Howe's guitar gets one hell of a spotlight up until the 5:30 minute mark or so, where Anderson followed by the rest of the band return to jazz-fusiony territory and begin to pick up speed until the song's near explosive final moments (with cha' cha cha's included). Ladies and gents, Siberian Khatru has met its match!

3. To Be Over: The single most laid-back 9 minutes this band has ever laid to posterity, and with coherent lyrics of all things!

Mood and lyrics aside, To Be Over has a rather distinctive approach going for it that's best described as Oriental raga-rock meets Hawaiian and filtered through the 'Yes sound'. Its mellow, arranged beautifully, and horribly underrated among the fanbase, and ultimately the best way this album could end. The synths are particularly uplifting here near the end, and I couldn't imagine it being any other way.

Conclusion:

Really, there's no way to describe how much I love this, even if its not particularly accessible at times. For one thing, its very much the dark mirror of Close to the Edge in spirit and a breath of fresh air for those who find Yes's usual mysticisms and kum-ba-yah a bit predictable. Secondly, Relayer is what got me into the band originally and also first record I ever owned by them (even if I normally recommend other albums for first timers). Nowadays, I recommend it to anyone and everyone; there's nothing else like it in the world!