Catalog Rundown: Yes (Part 6) - Relayer (1974)

Catalog Rundown (formerly Artist Rundown) is a periodic feature in which I briefly share my thoughts, memories and opinions of an artist or group's entire recorded work in chronological order. First up is one of the bands which helped developed my love of and taste in music: progressive rock legends Yes.

Yes - Relayer (1974)

While Tales from Topographic Oceans was a huge commercial success, its epic length and abstract concept left many confounded, including keyboardist Rick Wakeman. Dissatisfied with the direction of the band (and reportedly insufferable to the rest of the members on the ensuing tour), Wakeman left in the spring of 1974.

Enter Swiss keyboardist Patrick Moraz, a prodigious talent whose previous ventures included post-The Nice outfit Refugee. While Moraz was every bit as classically trained as Wakeman, he had a distinct taste for the emerging jazz-fusion scene, bringing a fresh perspective to the band's keyboard sound.

Meanwhile, the instrumental capabilities of Howe, Squire and White were reaching almost frightening proportions. As a result, Relayer, the Moraz lineup's sole effort, stands as the most complex and instrumentally ferocious album in the band's catalog.

Reprising the format of Close to the Edge, Relayer features one sidelong piece backed by two nine-minute "mini-epics". At first this may seem like a retrograde step, but the actual music couldn't be more different. In fact, Moraz's jazz-fusion leanings, coupled with Yes' newfound interest in chaos and dissonance, make this album the biggest departure from the traditional Yes sound yet attempted.

The opening "Gates of Delirium," a 22-minute epic inspired by Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace," is more or less divided into three thematic parts: the propaganda-filled wind-up to war, a musical representation of the chaos and violence of battle, and a soothing "post-war" finale in which Anderson yearns for peace like an angel descending on a war-torn battlefield.

The middle section of "Gates" is perhaps the most maniacal concoction in Yes' discography. Time signatures shift, extra beats are thrown in where they don't belong and dissonant guitar and keyboard passages burst forth when they're least expected. Add in some maddening musique concrete-type effects, the sounds of clashing metal and Howe's machine gun-like Telecaster and you've got one hell of a battlefield scene.

"Sound Chaser" kicks off Side B with a similarly dissonant approach. It's not total chaos -- the opening vocal section is melodic enough, only there are, uh, a ton of melodies going on at once. The guitar takes center stage about midway through, ripping through an unaccompanied, rockabilly-infused solo that somehow morphs into an almost "electric classical" motif before you're even aware what's happened. Squire and White follow this by locking into a manic sixteenth-note groove that continually speeds up and slows down in a merciless roller-coaster ride of shifting rhythms.

Finally, there's "To Be Over," a gorgeous ballad that opens with some of Steve Howe's most sensitive and life-affirming melodies yet. The following three-part vocal harmonies are positively relaxing, and not just in the context of this particularly aggressive album. Of course, the band just can't help but mess with the song structure, and soon enough we are presented with a series of brief, distinct sections that change so quickly it's easy to lose track if you're not paying close attention. It's somewhat jarring, but your patience is rewarded when the whole thing finishes with a sparklingly beautiful wordless chorale that launches the band well into the stratosphere.

The album was another success, peaking at No. 4 and No. 5 in the U.K. and U.S. respectively. The ensuing tour was massively successful, breaking stadium attendance records in several American cities. The group had a hard time producing ideas for a follow-up album and instead spent the better part of 1975 preparing individual solo albums, setting out on another Relayer-based tour in 1976. Of course, the story of Yes is a long and strange one, and some familiar faces were to return to the fold before the end of the '70s.

Postscript: It should be noted that for this album Howe swapped his Gibson jazz guitars for a Fender Telecaster, a guitar known for its bright and cutting tone. This heavily contributes to the album's overall aggressive posture.

Unfortunately, neither "Sound Chaser" or "To Be Over" have been played live since 1976, despite many pleas from fans. "The Gates of Delirium" was briefly resurrected in 2000 and 2001 but has not been revisited since.