This Day in Music History (09/20): Yes/Tormato and Yes/The Ladder

On this day in music history, Yes was at it again (they love the month of September apparently) with not one, but two different albums released on this date.

First, in 1978, Yes released Tormato, which had a few decent ideas, but overall was basically crap.

The original album title was to be Yes Tor, referring to a geological formation in southern England. The photographs taken by Hipgnosis for the album cover were seen as so unimpressive that Rick Wakeman (RW!), in frustration, threw a tomato at the pictures. The cover and title were adjusted accordingly. No, really. That's how it got its name.

This Day in Music History:Yes/Drama (08/22)

Released on this day in 1980, Drama is the tenth studio album by British progressive rock band Yes. It is also the first Yes album without vocalist Jon Anderson (gasp!).

Friday and the Random Ten (Chris Squire Edition)

It was a sad week in music for me as Chris Squire, bass player extraordinaire for my favorite band YES, passed away suddenly from Leukemia at the age of 67. Since he was the only member who played on every album, this week's randomness will center solely on their music. Even though the Top 10 list from last week sent them to Exile Island, I am going to flip that around as the only music to be featured this week. It's my tribute to a great musician.

********************************************************************************

Music Monday: Yes/Drama (Side 1)

Drama is the tenth studio album by Yes. It is the first Yes album without vocalist Jon Anderson. In early 1980, after rehearsing music for the follow-up to the tepidly-received Tormato, both Anderson and keyboardist Rick Wakeman (RW!) departed the band over creative and financial differences.

Music Monday (Tormato, Side 2)

Side one of Tormato (covered here) was actually not too bad. Unfortunately albums have two sides to them. Personally, I would have thrown a tomato at this crap too.

By the way, check out the back cover:

Did they all show up for this picture by individually flying their own airplanes to the shoot location? RW is the tallest in the pic and appears to be chuckling. Why wouldn't he? He's the one that threw the tomato.

Now, on to the "music".

1) Arriving UFO - Yeah. Now I know this was the 70's and the time period when a lot of this stuff was popular in movies like Close Encounters of the Third Kind and books such as Chariots of the Gods. But damn. This is where some of those other historical songs that got left out could have been used instead of this crap. and you know what? The next song is even worse...

2) Circus of Heaven - Now this song actually stays with the historical theme in sections, but it is truly horrible. This is a song about a "special" circus coming to town and the parade that follows, complete with unicorns and fairies and elves and centaurs and angels.

Still with me? Okay good because this is where it starts to get weird. Inside the giant circus tent, the ringmaster (errr I mean the Seventh Lord from the Seventh Age) doesn't put on a show, but asks the townsfolk what scenes they would like to see portrayed from history or mythology. They came for a show and instead got a PowerPoint presentation.

So as the circus leaves town on its invisible course, Jon Anderson literally asks his son what he thought about it. His actual son Damian finishes the song by saying these lines:

 Oh! It was OK! But there were no clowns, or tigers, or lions,

No bears, candy-floss, toffee apples.

No clowns...

To me, I just picture him looking up at his old man and going "WTF was that Dad? I wanted a real circus, not some LSD messed up acid trip!"

I have included the lyrics over there → to the right, just so you can see how messed up this song is.

3) Onward - This is actually a nice love song, but for some reason it just sounds so dreary to me. Maybe it's because of the first two songs on this side messing with your brain so much that this one just makes you want to fall asleep and forget about all that has come before. The orchestral version of this is quite good and was included as a bonus track.

 4) On the Silent Wings of Freedom - This is easily the best song on this side and maybe the whole album. A longer song that is just pure Yes. Like Release, Release before, this one also sounds like it would fit in on Going for the One.

****************************************************************************

More Bonus Tracks



Music Monday (Tormato, Side 1)

Well another Monday rears its ugly head, and the best way I know to get through it is with music. As we continue our journey through the Yes catalog, we have left Going for the One (Side 1, Side 2) in the rearview mirror and continue on to 1977's Tormato. I have briefly hit on this album here, but today I will delve more into the music, starting with Side 1.