New keyboard ace Patrick Moraz was concerned. During rehersals he was surrounded by Steve Howe, Alan White and Chris Squire all playing incredibly complicated parts, playing them at astonishing speeds, and in the middle of this, he was meant to add his keyboard parts. Replacing Rick Wakeman's large, not to say FLAMBOYANT keyboardist shoes may very well have sent a shiver of trepidation all through Patrick Moraz, but he did a mighty fine job. Concerning Yes as an entity, following widespread critical flak for the mightily long 'Tales From Topographic Oceans', they just get down to work. There's a sense of proving a point here, all through the album. The album is structured in a similar way to the classic 'Close To The Edge', so that's one nod to the critics, one bow to their fans. Personally, I really LIKED 'Tales From Topographic Oceans', but there you go. It takes all sorts. Speaking of 'all sorts', let's talk about Jon Anderson. His lyrics here are the usual semi spiritual, semi fantasy NONSENSE - but they are also glorious lyrics and his vocal melodies throughout are strong. At the end of 'Sound Chaser' he goes insane, but I'll speak of that later. Ah, let's talk about 'The Gates Of Delirium' instead, it's good! Keyboard lines float dreamily through ultra tight bass and guitar parts that wind themselves up as the song progresses. Jon Anderson provides pop melodies, Steve Howe provides his distinctive and inventive guitar parts and Chris Squire and Alan White form one hell of a rhythm section. Five minutes in, Mr Howe plays an incredible solo. Moving forwards, around the seven minute mark the bass is in your ears and your body is vibrating whilst Patrick Moraz perfectly COMPLIMENTS the other players, rather than personally trying to steal any sort of show. But, what a show. Suddenly the guitar goes everywhere and Jon Anderson shouts, sounds wired. The guitar continues to be astonishing all throughout 'The Gates Of Delirium' and Yes reclaim their place as the greatest band on the planet circa 1974. AH! Check the bit that flows from the EIGHT minute mark! The keyboards go insane, the guitar goes insane - the rhythm section keep up with it all, but what a FUCKING great keyboard part! FUCK Rick Wakeman! Sorry, getting carried away as usual. As usual, a Yes review of mine gets overly excitable! Sorry, i'll stop the exclamation marks right about now.
Lots of 'Gates Of Delirium' follows my brief description of it above, but rest assured all twenty one minutes of the song are just as great as each other. 'The Gates Of Delirium' is impossibly loud, aggressive and furious in its assault. Impossibly impressive with regards to what each instrumentalist is actually doing. But, lets move on. 'Sound Chaser' is a delicious nine minutes of pure insanity and aggressive guitars, fast playing - with Patrick Moraz laying down almost ELEGANT parts in the middle of the entire thing that seem disconnected from the rest of the song in a way, but in a very good way disconnected. He generally seems to be playing half as many notes as everybody else but his keyboard drives through and is extremely effective and dreamy. Jon Anderson truly attacks 'Sound Chaser', and I won't hear a word said against his performance on either of the first two songs of this album. There's a slow section in the middle of 'Sound Chaser', by the way. This slow section allows the listener to rest before the ASSAULT begins once more. Oh yeah, oh god FUCKING YEAH! Forward to the six and a half minute mark. The bass is groovy as fuck, Patrick Moraz does his thing floating through the two hundred miles an hour playing most effectively as the bass, guitar and drums go faster and faster and faster. We switch.... the keyboards are prominent and full of melody and then? CHA CHA CHA goes Jon Anderson, everyone goes beserk, astonishingly so, and I almost fall out of my chair full of this astonishment. At the time of writing this review, I still can't think of any music anywhere quite as IMPRESSIVE as this 'Sound Chaser', which by the way, is even better than the already bloody brilliant 'Gates Of Delirium'. Sigh.
Yes have caused me problems by the way, problems I worried about that were only calmed when I heard the likes of their 1994 album 'Talk' and realised they were human after all. Third song here is a nice slow song full of sweet vocals and very strong beautiful melodies throughout. Being struck quite so hard by any band at the age of twenty eight ( god, i'm old! ), being as excited and like a child again, after already having heard SO MUCH music.... yeah, I was concerned. Yes gain another ten then? Oh, yeah. 'To Be Over' is perfect beauty and even in this relaxed mode, Steve Howe and Chris Squire in particular prove themselves to be fantastic musicians, the likes of which are generally pretty damn hard to find. To have the both of them in the same band, both at the top of their game as they pretty much ARE all through this 'Relayer' album is just a sheer thrill. Believe.
Track Listing:
The Gates Of Delirium
Sound Chaser
To Be Over
Lots of 'Gates Of Delirium' follows my brief description of it above, but rest assured all twenty one minutes of the song are just as great as each other. 'The Gates Of Delirium' is impossibly loud, aggressive and furious in its assault. Impossibly impressive with regards to what each instrumentalist is actually doing. But, lets move on. 'Sound Chaser' is a delicious nine minutes of pure insanity and aggressive guitars, fast playing - with Patrick Moraz laying down almost ELEGANT parts in the middle of the entire thing that seem disconnected from the rest of the song in a way, but in a very good way disconnected. He generally seems to be playing half as many notes as everybody else but his keyboard drives through and is extremely effective and dreamy. Jon Anderson truly attacks 'Sound Chaser', and I won't hear a word said against his performance on either of the first two songs of this album. There's a slow section in the middle of 'Sound Chaser', by the way. This slow section allows the listener to rest before the ASSAULT begins once more. Oh yeah, oh god FUCKING YEAH! Forward to the six and a half minute mark. The bass is groovy as fuck, Patrick Moraz does his thing floating through the two hundred miles an hour playing most effectively as the bass, guitar and drums go faster and faster and faster. We switch.... the keyboards are prominent and full of melody and then? CHA CHA CHA goes Jon Anderson, everyone goes beserk, astonishingly so, and I almost fall out of my chair full of this astonishment. At the time of writing this review, I still can't think of any music anywhere quite as IMPRESSIVE as this 'Sound Chaser', which by the way, is even better than the already bloody brilliant 'Gates Of Delirium'. Sigh.
Yes have caused me problems by the way, problems I worried about that were only calmed when I heard the likes of their 1994 album 'Talk' and realised they were human after all. Third song here is a nice slow song full of sweet vocals and very strong beautiful melodies throughout. Being struck quite so hard by any band at the age of twenty eight ( god, i'm old! ), being as excited and like a child again, after already having heard SO MUCH music.... yeah, I was concerned. Yes gain another ten then? Oh, yeah. 'To Be Over' is perfect beauty and even in this relaxed mode, Steve Howe and Chris Squire in particular prove themselves to be fantastic musicians, the likes of which are generally pretty damn hard to find. To have the both of them in the same band, both at the top of their game as they pretty much ARE all through this 'Relayer' album is just a sheer thrill. Believe.
Track Listing:
The Gates Of Delirium
Sound Chaser
To Be Over
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