Comments for Yes, Relayer

Despite the absence of Rick Wakeman, _Relayer_ is an exceptionally strong album. "Sound Chaser", especially, is a very complex and exciting work. Patrick Moraz asserts himself very nicely in the role of keyboardist, and in fact this reviewer considers him to be considerably superior to Wakeman...

Great album. Very powerful, full of energy and talent, hard progressive rock rhythms and quiet melodies, as in the best YES tradition. The format is the same as "Close to the edge", and there was need, I think, of a really consistent one-side-long suite like "Gates of delirium" after the controversial experience of "Topographic oceans". "Sound chaser" is absolutely formidable for the rhythm section and for Steve electric guitar solo. GL

INSPIRATION is what "YES" is all about, that's where their great unique rock and roll comes from. Like "Yes", my primary source of inspiration is the GREAT SPIRIT potentially inside all of us. Among my finest influences in reaching some of that spiritual potential have been the great rock & roll group "Yes", and the spiritually inspiring books written by "KEN CAREY". How do you rate inspiration? "Yes" & "Ken Carey" get 10's in my "opinion". -Ed McConnell

This may be my favorite Yes album. It's very intense. The music is complex and maybe a bit bizarre and jagged. Side One is great power progressive music, Side Two more of the same but with a lovely melodic piece to close the album. These guys were really getting good at this; this is full of (intricate) ideas and interesting concepts (some free jazz crept into the band's sensibilities) well executed.

I'm not so sure about this one. It seems to me like a pale imitation of "Close To The Edge". It has the same format: one very long track and two shorter songs, one of them very hard rocking, the other one softer. I find all of them inferior to their counterparts on Close To The Edge, especially "To Be Over" compared to "And You And I". A lot of people like "Sound Chaser" but I'm not one of them. The Best Relayer track is "The Gates Of Delirium", although it's not nearly as impressive as "Close To The Edge". It's closing section "Soon" is among the greatest five minutes of Yes music. I have nothing against Moraz but I don't like Howe's guitar as much as on the other Yes albums.

"Relayer" seemed to be a "Close To The Edge" hangover. Anderson walked in one day with a tune in his brain, pounded it out on the piano and then said: "Huh? Huhhhh? C'mon guys! Let's do it!" By large "The Gates Of Delirium" is forgettable with the exception of "Soon". "Sound Chaser" is energetic but jumbled. "To Be Over" seems like a musical apology note tacked on to the end of the album. I'll give Yes an "E" for the effort on this one.

I think that prom the musical point of view this album is one of their best albums. 'Gates of Delirium' and 'Sound Chaser' especially are very well constructed. The sound is very complex, mature, and contains the whole flavor of an Yes song. A classic one...

Rick quits for a solo career, and Patrick comes in. Patrick's presence makes Relayer a very interesting Yes album because Patrick's style is so different than Rick's, yet he's almost (if not totally) equal in musical ability. Steve in particular shines through brilliantly on all 3 songs on Relayer. "Sound Chaser" remains the most unique Yes song, with its blazingly fast instrumental breaks. Relayer is the last of the 5 must-own Yes albums for any prog rock fan.

I agree that this album ''had'' to have a coherent side-long epic, and well I won''t even compare Wakeman and Moraz, let''s say that this album has a ''unique'' Yes'' sound because of the presence of Moraz. I think this gives Steve a jazzy-far-out push sometimes and this is what makes the album work. The gtr playing in ''Sound Chaser'' is ''blistering'' and I think Steve''s electric solo on ''To be Over'' is right there with his best...

Relayer is a masterpiece. Moraz is awesome, he has much more power, energy, intensity and opened ideas than Wakeman, and of course Kaye. Everybody knows the songs, so no sense to say anything, but it's a pity than after such a successful tour and having achieved such a powerful sound as a band they fired Moraz to come back to the Wakeman classical and sometimes ridiculous keyboard approach, which can be heard in Tormato and in 'The Golden Age' unreleased Paris sessions. Unreleased for humanity's musical luck. Ego kills and industry too.

This is a great album. The music is complex and intricate. The musicianship is virtuoso. I wish Patrick Moraz had done more albums with Yes. He is all over this album. In a word awesome.

A disc of incredible power, and one that leaves the vague lyrics of "Close to The Edge" far behind. Even if it's not a narrowly olitical track, "Gates of Delirium" is as close to a statement on the idea of "a just war/ a righteous revolution" as any sympho band would get. When I heard this album in the 80s, I grew to feel that it was ten years ahead of its time musically. I still think it is.