Yes: Relayer - 1974
No Rick Wakeman by now, Yes recruited keyboard man Patrick Moraz and came up with an album that was supposedly a departure from their usual sound. I’m not quite so sure of that, especially when I listen to the first track (which took up all of side one) and also by the fact that they stuck to the familiar three lengthy tracks format. It was not a sea change, it still sounds like Yes to me. Incidentally, I remember what a big deal it was back then when a band recruited a new member, it was treated like a football team signing a new player. Anyway, I digress.
The twenty-one minute long The Gates Of Delirium has some nice, deep heavy passages, great bass and some quirky, spacey keyboards from Moraz but it also has a dreadful discordance in places, really tinny crashing bits (apparently conceived by throwing bits of scrap metal around) and an awful vocal from Jon Anderson. The song is supposed to be based on Tolstoy’s War And Peace and the noisy bits put in there to recreate battle scenes. It was amazing how quasi-intellectual prog rock was, fans of this must have pitied those of us who shallowly liked glam rock or Motown, for example. That pity was returned by me at the time for those spending hours ensconced in their bedrooms listening to this. It ain’t what I call rock ‘n’ roll. However, as always with Yes, I do like some of it but overall I feel it is gratuitous directionless indulgence. I do prefer it to the previous album, though, by far, I have to say. The final passage of the track was released as a single, entitled Soon. It is quietly appealing enough, but Anderson’s vocal again doesn’t do it for me.
What next? Why Yes, via Moraz's keyboards, have gone a bit Led Zeppelin-esque clumsy funky on Sound Chaser but unfortunately not quite bassy enough for me, although the bit about 2:30 is impressive, as is the subsequent guitar work. Anderson's vocals once again blight the track, (particularly the closing cha-cha bits), for me. Sorry. He redeems himself considerably on the comparatively lovely To Be Over, however. It is a much quieter, subtler number, featuring some sublime bass work, a relaxing, blissed-out vibe and a melodious vocal. It is by far the best of the album's three pieces, to my ears, at least. It's all about taste and this one suits mine better. I really like the bit about seven minutes in, with the bass and keyboards.
Incidentally, like Soon, Sound Chaser has a reasonable single edit version. Neither would be in danger of threatening the charts, though, would they? As a non-Yes aficionado of a reviewer, I find that there is not a huge amount of difference between this and the previous album, other than it is less bloated and more melodically appealing in places.
