In 1973 Yes released their most pompous, overblown, and over-the-top effort ever, Tales From Topographic Oceans. Although fans were now somewhat used to longer songs by Yes, four 20 minute songs was not what they had in mind. After the commercial disappointment and mixed reactions from fans, Rick Wakeman decided to leave the band in order to pursue his solo career. This left a large void in Yes, as Wakeman's lead keyboard work was a huge part of the band as we had been shown in such masterpieces like Close to the Edge and Siberian Khatru. The man to replace him was an entirely different type of player, one that would take Yes's sound to a new level that they had not seen before. Coming from a jazz background, Patrick Moraz was not as much of a lead player as Wakeman was, but he was perfect at completing everything that was going on.
By the time Moraz had joined the band, most of the material for the album had been written, so much of his influence is not shown with the exception of the frantic jazz-fusion bazed Sound Chaser. One huge characteristic of this album is that the guitar takes a very leading role along with the drumming, making Relayer the "Steve Howe/Alan White" show. Many of the sounds on Relayer are far more aggressive than previous albums with the guitar at center stage, which is by no means a bad thing. From the get go with The Gates of Delirium, Steve Howe shows us that his leadership can produce great tracks and a great Yes album in general.
This opening track is based off of War And Peace, and is divided into three (or four if you'd like) large sections. Kicking things off we instantly notice a more raw sound to this cd, with Steve Howe's guitar dibbling over a small Patrick Moraz background does a great job of emulating a buildup of some sort. Jon Anderson kicks in with his classic vocals, this time dealing directly with the topics war. Throughout this whole song, there is always a lot going on. Even at slower points, Steve Howe's guitar can run at a frantic pace, and Alan White's drumming is always at a top notch level. Moraz throws in his lead keyboard lines from time to time to continue driving the song forward. Then at 4:30 we see a repeat of keyboard line, but Moraz's genuious shines and we see an awesome intro to this line. After one more round of classic Jon Anderson, we begin to enter into the "battle" section. Starting with a guitar line that we have heard already, it becomes perfect when Moraz repeats the D minor chord from the behind and Steve Howe adds just a little bit more to put it over the top. The battle section is an intense fury of music, Chris Squire finally shines in this part putting in his best bass work, and Alan White comes in full force with perfect drumming alongside some quick Patrick Moraz keyboard work. Throughout this part quick changes come along as Steve Howe will go off on the guitar with a fantastic flurry of notes that is quickly succeeded by Moraz with more lines of keyboard goodness. Eventually this all explodes into one final burst that brings up an ascending keyboard line that just keeps climbing higher and higher until it finally shifts to Steve Howe, who puts it over the edge and sends into the section named "Soon". This section is a large departure from the earlier parts of the song in that it is entire soft, but it is also entirely beautiful. Jon Anderson's vocals shine here and round off this song, making The Gates of Delirium one of the greatest progressive rock tracks ever written.
(full version: sputnikmusic.com/review/11160/Yes-Relayer/) Review by clairvoyant. February 21st, 2007