YES Relayer

TALES is literally an ocean of music -- expansive, deep, immense as the sea itself. Over the course of 4 album sides, it explores more beauty and intensity than many people are willing to contend with, and it certainly is not forgiving of those with short attention spans. In its wake, RELAYER gathers all the band's mounting energy at their volatile and explosive creative peak, and blasts it out into space in one supercharged musical rush.

I would liken it more to a sun going supernova. In these three pieces of music, there is more fury and beauty than most other "prog bands" could muster throughout their whole careers, and certainly the musicianship of RELAYER has yet to be challenged by anyone. Steve Howe's guitar work throughout is unparalleled within the entire progressive canon, period -- no other guitarist is capable of evoking the range of tones and emotions Steve does in even a single piece such as "The Gates of Delirium".

Stinging scalar runs, dive-bombing pyrotechnics, cosmic sustain leads, the most beautiful slide-guitar tones ever -- it's all here. Patrick Moraz replaces Wakeman on keys and proceeds to rip out glorious synth excursions which carry the band beyond the confines of their previous classicism, while CHRIS SQUIRE and ALAN WHITE submit possibly the greatest rhythm section performance of all time. "Sound Chaser" pretty much sets the bar for guitar-driven virtuosic prog, while "To Be Over" manages to be as intensely beautiful as the previous two tracks are aggressive.

Although Yes had quite a few more masterpieces ahead of them, never would the otherworldy plateau of TALES/RELAYER be fully revisited. (Note to readers: the newly remastered 2003 release of this album is a VERY poor representation of the sound, and should be avoided. Whoever did the remastering should get his ears checked, and get another job.

For discriminating fans the version to own is the HIGH-DEFINITION CD JAPANESE MINI-LP release which came out a few years prior and which features a crystal clear transfer straight from the master tapes. The greatest music ever recorded never sounded better than it does here.) Posted Tuesday, December 30, 2003, 05:59 EST |
First, let us mention here Wakeman is not the keyboardist.

Moraz replaces him, and, believe me, he has nothing to envy from Wakeman: he can be very floating too, using a moving mellotron sound. "Relayer" is often psychedelic and experimental. Some bits are really fast and complex, while others are floating and relaxing!

Anderson's voice is more in the background here. Steve Howe really experiments tons of miscellaneous guitar sounds and effects: I never liked Howe's electric guitar sound, but I must admit his omnipresence here is amazing. I think the very epic "Gates of Delirium" track is too long: it takes too much time to start: it takes 8 MINUTES to this track to really take off!

That's too much! On this track, the progression is very interesting: it starts very chaotic, then very structured and fast, and finishes with a very spatial soundscape. On the other side, the accelerated "Sound Chaser" is absolutely incredible!

Howe's electric guitar effects are excellent, White's drums are fast and complex, and Moraz' moog solo at the end is absolutely Chick Corea-esque. The last track, The relaxing "To Be Over", has the "90125" album! Posted Sunday, April 18, 2004, 14:24 EST |
Overshadowed by the ambitious works that preceded it, "Relayer"may well be the most underappreciated album in the YES discography.

Taking its name from one of the more effort. The side-long "The Gates of Delirium" begins with sparkling keyboards more aggressive, with MORAZ' keyboards at times inviting comparison to JETHRO SQUIRE and ALAN WHITE, who together forge the tight rhythm section that was the missing link to greatness on their last two releases. Similar to the peacfeful resolution album's single, "Soon.

" Under the influence of MORAZ, YES then branches off into jazzy a "rock" drummer) allows ALAN WHITE to shine. The band does crowd the listener with music, the band deflates the pressure with the charming, dreamlike "To Be Over", and fans of the band's softer side will revel in this relaxed climate. arrangements, and thus provides a basis for their next album, Going for the One.

In the three-year interim between those albums, the members of YES each pursued solo projects; though MORAZ would appear with HOWE and SQUIRE on their debuts, he was eventually replaced by the returning RICK WAKEMAN.