What is your rating of Relayer?

[BrianD]

This has been done before but not in a way to keep track of the scores - hopefully this will overcome that by allowing you to choose one score per album.

You can base your evaluation on any version of the album including the Rhino remaster

[MARS]

Wild! Loved it! 10

[BrianD]

Wild! Loved it! 10

Have adjusted your rating to 10

[neilius]

Love this album.
Im not too fond of 'To be over' hence the 8/10

[Yes2Yes]

I think this album rates a solid 9..

[True Believer]

Love this album.
Im not too fond of 'To be over' hence the 8/10

Neil!!! To Be Over is a gem! My 2nd all time fave track (next to AYAI). I gave this album a 9. Only CTTE can have a 10.

[prem895]

10

[YesfanAndy]

Took me many years to warm up to the rest of this album other than GOD. I didnt even like TBO until a few years ago. Now that I know it chapter and verse - of course it's awesome. Not as good as Tales though..

[tormatotork]

Relayer is the dogs bollocks. It blew my head into various pieces when I first it. Without doubt a monument to progressive rock. To be over is splendid by the way. That songs takes us to where we all want to be.10

[Roan's Lady]

Relayer is my only "10" Yes album. Yes at their absolute greatest.

[Timmo]

Can I give it a 12???

My favorite Yes album, and probably my favorite album, ever, by anyone.

I loved it from first listen at the tender age of 14, and my love of this album has grown over the years.

"Gates" is one of the best pieces of music from the 20th Century.

If only they'd done one more album with Patrick....

[tormatotork]

Can I give it a 12???

My favorite Yes album, and probably my favorite album, ever, by anyone.

I loved it from first listen at the tender age of 14, and my love of this album has grown over the years.

"Gates" is one of the best pieces of music from the 20th Century.

If only they'd done one more album with Patrick....
Very well said sir, I couldn't have put it better myself. :theband:

[Hill St.]

10!Cha,Cha,Cha, Cha,Cha

[cinderella]

http://www.millan.net/minimations/smileys/approvedsmile.gif

Great songs, great cover. A definite 10!

[Yes_Fan_4_Life26]

10!Cha,Cha,Cha, Cha,Cha

Same here man, same here. WHOO I'm listening to SC right now LOL

10 no doubt

Paulson

[Timmo]

And I'm eating pizza at the moment, Yes_Fan_4_Life26.

But I'm listening to Porcupine Tree's Deadwing.

[Yes_Fan_4_Life26]

And I'm eating pizza at the moment, Yes_Fan_4_Life26.

But I'm listening to Porcupine Tree's Deadwing.

Aww lucky guy I would do anything for like a box of pizza. Ah well.

Paulson

[YesJen357]

It's the classic's classic. What more could one say?

[Timmo]

Aww lucky guy I would do anything for like a box of pizza. Ah well.

PaulsonWow, they have pizza in Canada???

KIDDING!

[Albedo]

I give it a 9 because I have never quite been able to fully appreciate the density of the production. But great none the less.

[ronsalehnasir]

I also gave it a 9, but only because nothing is perfect. Relayer is highly successful in capturing the essential archetypes of war and peace, as well as man and nature. It is a brilliant album that came out at the peak of what I consider to be the revolutionary spirit of the 1970s, which was then soon "To be Over." My only criticism is that its mood is often so intensely manic-depressive that those of us who took this album into our hearts were gambling with our mental health. I think this is why they had to get Wakeman back and produce Going for the One, which was a "cure" for the bipolar-like mood of Relayer.

[pianozach]

A perfect album. Solid musicianship, great lyrics, solid songwriting and arranging. Only one mildly embarrassing moment ("Tcha tcha tcha, Tcha tcha!")

Beats out CTTE in my book.

This judge rates it a "10."

[Jonah]

An 8. Some dodgy soloing in there.

[Whitefish]

It is an absolute 10! Every note on it is perfect and everything about the album is perfect.

Yes musicianship at its best. Everyone is giving 120%.

[ronsalehnasir]

An 8. Some dodgy soloing in there.

Although I like Howe's solo, I do recall a lot of similar criticism (you know the solo I am talking about i.e., Sound Chaser). These same critics didn't like Tales either. They felt that the music was getting too strange and introverted. Although I was a militant defender of Tales and Relayer, I can now understand the criticism as objective. It is understandable that many people would be turned off. This music is, nevertheless, an important tool for exploring the psyche: it is hypnotic, hypogogic and hypnopompic! Jungian analysis might be able to cast some light on the systematized images and themes in Relayer.

[allgoodyes]

At the time of its release, Relayer seemed to me to be light years ahead of any other music being released back then. It continues to be one of my favourite Yes albums due to the quality of the musicianship and the unique production value. I rate it as a "10".

[Ktrek]

I love Relayer. Gates is one of my all time favorite YES pieces. It doesn't take you close to the edge but right on over IMO! Whenever I want to drive my wife nuts I play this one in the car! LOL :theband:

Kevin

[Mostly Harmless]

I gave it an 8. It's almost as good as CTTE and GFtO.

[gitsy]

It is the best yes album period.

[ANTIOCH]

It's a 10 in my books !
"CTTE" is also a 10, but the energy and deviation of style put's this one right up there.

[GoD57]

I wasn't sure how to vote on this, but then I saw my screen name...10 doesn't do it justice!!!!. Gates, imho, may be the finest song ever written! I could listen to it every day, and some weeks I do. I'm not that upset that Patrick didn't do another album with the band, how do you follow perfection?


just my 2 cents.

Bill

[new_sum_do_solve_ay]

10....their peak

[Steve St Thomas]

I gave it a 10, because that album is as close to perfection that you can get, EVEN with that bum note Howe hits during the solo of Sound Chaser. Well not necessarily a bum note, moreso a slight stumble up the fretboard. But even with that, RELAYER is one of my favourite yes albums ever.

[allpurechance]

Ohhh,it's a 10 alright.Though there are many reasons why(read Timmo's posts!),my primary one is that there has never been anything like Relayer before or since,and there probably never will be,unless Yes does it themselves.

Utterly singular,unique.

[ronsalehnasir]

I'm surprised that so many of you gave it a 10, given the common notions about populariity. Most people believe that GFTO was the great "comeback" album after a strange interlude of Tales and Relayer. I was never one of them, but I was not aware that there were so many like-minded individuals out there.

I listened to it last night on my ipod while jogging in Riverside Park on the Upper West Side. What a thrill. I have to say, however, that I've become aware how DARK Gates really is. This stuff is dangerous, and just think that it had once shaped our young, impressionable teenage minds.

[Timmo]

It sure as hell shaped this then-young, impressionable mind.

Although the fact that the first time I heard Gates I was frying on blotter acid contributed to this impression.

[ronsalehnasir]

Relayer was the currently released Yes album when I was 13-14 and just getting into Yes. So I bought it (at Caldors Dept. Store). I remember this very clearly. I played about two or three minutes of the first side before deciding to return it. I exchanged it for ELP's Brian Salad Surgery, which I accepted. Then, after discussing the matter with a more experienced friend, I purchased Fragile, then Close the Edge, etc., finally working my way up to Relayer. By the time I first saw Yes in the summer of 1976 at Colt Park in Hartford, I was an experienced fan of Relayer.

I happened to notice on the site dedicated the Relayer tour, which someone provided a link to, there are no 1976 tour dates posted. I believe this is an error. I am sure that I saw the last leg of the Relayer tour in the summer of 1976.

[Bluebird71]

Such a *busy* record, apart from Soon and To Be Over. Sound Chaser would have been a fitting title for it if you ask me!

I feel that they were trying just a little bit too hard on this one but still, I enjoy it for the most part when I am in the right frame of mind to listen to it.

8 will do, I think.

[ronsalehnasir]

Relayer was the final push to overcome mortality. As such, it was destined to end in "To Be Over." We cannot overcome. Although this realization is rather obvious, I believe that it is one that each and every ego-centric human being must discover for him or her self. Here I am equating ego-centrism with something good, i.e., all radical forms of creativity depend upon the ego-centric sense that one is truly an original God-like being. To me, this phase in Yes both peaked and ended in Relayer.

[Timmo]

I happened to notice on the site dedicated the Relayer tour, which someone provided a link to, there are no 1976 tour dates posted. I believe this is an error. I am sure that I saw the last leg of the Relayer tour in the summer of 1976.TECHNICALLY the Summer of '76 Tour was known as the Solos tour. They didn't have a new Yes album, but Jon, Chris, Steve and Patrick had all done solo albums. The initial dates of the tour included extensive solo songs (what I would do to hear "Hold Out Your Hand" and "You By My Side" from "Fish out of Water!"), but they were mostly dropped after the first 3-4 dates.

The OFFICIAL Relayer tour, where they were supporting the then-new album "Relayer", spanned from November 8, 1974 through August 23, 1975. This tour had two "legs," the first North American Leg in the fall, then Spring in Europe, then back to North America for the Summer of '75 through July (with a final single appearance at a UK festival in late August).

They then all retired to various studios and produced their solo albums, which came out in the fall/winter, and they started the '76 Solo tour after that.

[Deliriumyes]

Although the fact that the first time I heard Gates I was frying on blotter acid contributed to this impression.

:lmao:

Timmo, you kill me!!

I love Relayer with (almost) as much enthusiasm as you, my friend. I think I'll go and give it a play right now! :headset:

[Jackaranda]

It's a 10. Easily. Best Yes album ever, imo.

I gave it to my oldest son the other day. I think he's gonna like it.

[Timmo]

:lmao:

Timmo, you kill me!!

I love Relayer with (almost) as much enthusiasm as you, my friend. I think I'll go and give it a play right now! :headset:Sometimes I miss drugs.

I think I'll do the same, and give ole Relayer a spin.

[JL]

I gave it a 9, the thinking behind that being for the purpose of the current crop of new rating polls, I was going to give a 10 only to GFTO and Yessongs, my favorite all time album and greatest live album ever, respectively. That they had multi track gear set up and recording on the night they pulled off the Yessongs versions of CTTE and Starship Trooper makes one a believer in divine intervention in music recording.

In any other context, Relayer is a 10+.

[Scooty]

Relayer is a 10, completely and totally a 10.

One of those albums that I spin...and once its over I must spin again immediately to make sure I heard what I think I just did...STIIL, to this day, Relayer confounds me in its brilliance.

[THEN]

On A Scale Of 1-10 Relayer Gets A 1,000,000,000. Off The Charts. Amazinggg

[BrianD]

Relayer currently averages 9.5

[heartofthesunrise]

Relayer was one of those albums I had to grow with; liking GOD was easy, but SC and TBO took a while. Now that I've grown up, they're easily in my top ten. That's why Relayer gets the gold star and the 10.

[Andy Haines]

Not the easiest Yes album to get into, but over the years I've found it one of the most rewarding.

[Andy Haines]

...Oh yeah, and I love that edgy, metallic Telecaster sound Steve has from this period... :rightG:

[Signifier]

10/10. Sound Chaser and To Be Over are both good tracks - but they could be replaced with 30 minutes of blackboard scraping and that album would still be a perfect 10. The Gates of Delirium is one of the greatest accomplishments music has ever seen.

It can't dethrone Starship Trooper as my favorite Yes song, but it comes close.

[yessongs72]

I give Relayer an 8 only because Moraz had so much performing this album live,not only this album but all of Yes. I just still have nightmares of Maraz seemed like sometimes he had no clue where he was. He just didn't fit,much better with the Moodies. The album could have been much better with Wakeman imho.

[Awaken1976]

All I can say is Patrick Moraz is the man on the keys. :) The whole band and album deserves a 10 IMHO.

[maximumdan]

EVEN with that bum note Howe hits during the solo of Sound Chaser. Well not necessarily a bum note, moreso a slight stumble up the fretboard.

where is that? i never noticed it and want to hear it could you give me a time please?

[BlueEagle]

For me, appreciating it and liking it are two different things. It's very adventurous musically, and more conceptual than TALES and the playing is awesome, WAY better than on TORMATO but I just never got into it like CTTE or GFTO. Of the three, TO BE OVER is my favorite track, especially the ending.

[Roan's Lady]

For me, appreciating it and liking it are two different things. It's very adventurous musically, and more conceptual than TALES and the playing is awesome, WAY better than on TORMATO but I just never got into it like CTTE or GFTO. Of the three, TO BE OVER is my favorite track, especially the ending.

Sound Chaser alone is the epitome of adventure - in my opinion, their most adventurous song ever. I loved that spirit. Relayer was Yes at their peak of greatness.

[Skyward]

Alas, she has come around! It's an inescapable fact, Amy!

[Symbol]

Yes at its best in the studio.

Tales and Relayer... always my favorite two Yes albums. :headset:

[BrianD]

After 94 votes, an average of 9.26

[BrianD]

On January 7 2006 after 100 votes Relayer rates 9.20

[luckeydoug1]

My least favorite of all Yes albums.

[hailhail]

Had to be a 10

How anybody can criticise Moraz on this album is beyond me
He made this album.Especially on Gates.
Steve how stole side 2 for me utterly amazing work on Chaser &To Be Over
Chris and Alan were solid all the way thru and Jon... how f***ing good
does this guy have to be before the whole world just gives up and appoints him Supreme Ruler of Everything
The vocal jump on Soon ( long ago...set into rhyme )still shakes my spine to this day

31 years ago and still a gem
Doesn`t get much better than being a fan of a band...does it.

:dance: :dance: :dance:

[relayerjim]

I gave it a 10, it’s just perfect. Steve Howe’s guitar work is incredible on Relayer!

[relayeire]

http://www.millan.net/minimations/smileys/approvedsmile.gif

Great songs, great cover. A definite 10!

this kinds sums it up for me... there's no other Yes album quite like it... unique sound, even for Yes... and that cover - the grey shocked me at first, after being used to covers like Fragile and CTTE... it's got to be one of Dean's best...

the frenetic, heavy playing is out of this world... beginning a song with a drum solo, as SC does, seems like a very ballsy thing to do... Jon belts it out like a hard rock singer on GoD, then sings some of his most beautiful words at the end... TBO - incredible guitar work... great harmonies... I don't think Jon sings by himself at all in this one(?)

[sunburstbasser]

I can't find anything I don't like. The opening lyrics of "To Be Over" are the only part that seems weak, but even so the rest is just beautiful. Gates and Soundchaser are excellent.

10.

[BrianD]

[QUOTE=relayeire]this kinds sums it up for me... there's no other Yes album quite like it... unique sound, even for Yes... and that cover - the grey shocked me at first, after being used to covers like Fragile and CTTE... it's got to be one of Dean's best...

QUOTE]

One of the highlights of my 2004 visit to the west coast was to attend the opening of Roger Dean's exhibition in SF where the original for the Relayer cover was shown. There were a couple of surprises with that - first was that it was not much larger than the cover itself, the second was the colours - the cover has never done it justice, it is not grey at all, it is full of salmon pinks, stone, beiges - it is a much warmer picture than the cover - and it is even better than the cover. I have been fortunate to see a quite a few of the originals for Roger's yes covers - this is the one that imroves the most with the original.

[scootwhoman]

'Relayer' would get 10 from me except for the incredible amount of tape hiss on the album. I was sorely disappointed when the 'remastered' version came out, because it didn't sound any different than the original, and they hadn't gotten rid of the tape hiss! The only change that I noticed on the remastered version was the songs faded out quicker, which I object to. Every note of that music is important! Considering that the album was recorded on a mobile studio truck at somebody's estate, the quality is staggering. (I guess that Atlantic was fed up with albums that had no songs suitable for radio play, and told the band they would have to pay for the studio time.)

Every Yes album I have bought has required a learning period for me, before I can really hear the total creation. But unlike the other Yes albums, this one demanded my attention to the point where I could hardly listen to anything else for about 6 weeks. Then, I didn't want to listen to anything else for another 4 weeks. (Good thing that I had headphones, or I wouldn't be here right now! I was living in an Air Force dormitory at the time, and subjecting my roomie to that would have been grounds for justifiable homicide.) Over the years, I wore out 9 copies of the vinyl LP, (using a high quality turntable,) and three cassettes with 'Relayer' on both sides, so that I wouldn't have to rewind. I have had guests ask to hear it three times in a single day, back when I spent a lot of time hanging out with people.

To me, it is obvious that the album was conceived and recorded as a single work, because the last notes of 'To Be Over' wrap up the whole experience just as the last notes of a good symphony do. I won't listen to the album unless I expect to be able to hear the whole thing, and listening to it is always an emotional experience. I am not aware of any musical composition which attempts to depict the chaos of battle like 'The Gates Of Delirium.' Music associated with war is almost always marching music, very ordered, the total opposite of what war is really like. After the crescendo in 'Gates', I can easily picture a battlefield in the aftermath, smoke drifting, dead sprawled as no living bodies can, the sense of shock, numbness, survivors staggering around, searching for their mess mates. On 'YesYears' there is the single edit of the last movement of 'The Gates Of Delirium', the song 'Soon.' Without the buildup, cacaphony, and ethereal interlude, 'Soon' has no impact, no meaning. Yet, it is the most incredible finale of any work I have ever heard, capturing hope, inspiration, spiritualness, fulfillment.

The opening notes of 'Sound Chaser' are so jarring after that incredible piece, yet they quickly bring me back to the moment, and then launch me on another voyage of musical visions, intense, driving, and then, the incredible guitar work of Steve Howe, with Chris Squire doing beautifully minimalist support. Chris starts with a low bass note, builds up the scale, and Steve meets him, and carries on, sculpting powerful emotions out of sound. And all of this is merely a buildup to some of the most frenetic rock and roll ever recorded, not a bunch of hot licks and riffs stuck together, but a composition, building up to train wreck intensity.

After that, 'To Be Over' is so soothing, relaxed, and, what the devil, these guys are doing a round, just like 'Row, row, row your boat!' And the message that emerges is so affirming, positive, warm; "After all, don't doubt your part, be ready to be loved." Rock bands back then were always talking about wanting love, and this one was saying be ready to receive it! And the final chords step down the hill gently, quietly, almost pleading, to an ending which is not just of a single song, but of a complete work. (Sigh!)

One of the reasons that 'Relayer' is so special to me is that the muscianship is so balanced. Rick Wakeman is so flashy, so dominant, that he always stands out in a piece, almost like the rest of the group is just his back up. Patrick Maraz blended so well with the rest of the group that it is hard to tell where the guitar ends and the keyboards start. He almost completely avoids the center stage, but is almost always working away in the background, embroidering the vocals, counterpointing with the guitars, creating a sound more balanced than I have heard on almost any other Yes album. Because Moraz had a totally different approach to keyboards, he did really struggle with the live performances. But his work on 'Relayer' is exceptional, in my opinion, and I seriously doubt if the album could have been done with the same feeling if Wakeman had been on keyboards.

I was so convinced that 'Relayer' was a commercial flop that I never thought that it would be released on CD. The whole music store heard me when I found out that I was wrong!

"Soon, oh soon the light, pass within and soothe this endless night..."

[Joe]

How did I miss this poll! :pat:

"Relayer" is wild! 10+ :thumbup:

[chungiemunchin]

The only reason I didn't rate it a 10 (rated it a 9) is more from personal taste than performance (which, given the excellence of each of the musicians, I haven't the right to judge anyway). No, my 9 has more to do with personal taste. I am totally blown away with the performance...I mean, knocked down and carried out with it. Oh, and the artwork on the cover is among my favorites along with that on Tales.......but there is something in the overall composition that keeps this album from being a 10 in my book. I am just one of those that prefers the Yes Album compositions over the more frenetic pieces evidenced on so many of the latter album releases. There is just something about the entire concept of Yes (that which their music seems to stand for...and express) which goes so beyond the execution and production of any of their albums. I can't explain it but it is bigger than the mere songs which we hear just on a physical plane. Do you know what I mean?

[Simon Woodhouse]

I gave it a six.

I've got a friend who's not keen on Yes music. He says it sounds like they're making it up as they go along. I don't agree, of course, except when it comes to Sound Chaser. I know some people love that song, but I find it excruciating.

Relayer gets a six on the strength of Gates. Next to Ritual, it's Yes' best epic.

[hailhail]

@ "scootwhoman"
beautiful, just beautif*****gful

so good

[HoweDevotee]

A perfect 10. :D

[Timmo]

I give it an 11.

[Robbie693]

A truly great Yes album, the epic battle of Gates of Delerium is breathtaking - the ending is filled with great sadness - possibly Jon Anderson,s finest moment.

[ronsalehnasir]

A truly great Yes album, the epic battle of Gates of Delerium is breathtaking - the ending is filled with great sadness - possibly Jon Anderson,s finest moment.

I hope that Jon Anderson can draw strength from that moment in his current personal struggle against illness. I hope to see him on stage performing the Gates of Delerium once again in this life. But if that does not come to pass, at least I did see him last perform this epic at Radio City Music Hall on an amazing Saturday night, 9/9/01, which, for me, definitively ended the old millenium and ushered in a new and uncertain world that is unfortunately not beyond war. I am now nostalgic for the masterworks nostalgia tours when the Yes I had come to love in the 70s helped me sustain and regenerate my true self. Jon is like a big brother to me in the Spirit and want him to be well again and to sing for us again. I don't think anyone can rightfully take his place in Yes.

[oliasdoug]

I agree with Timmo. Let's bump it up to a 12.

And to think, for the most part, I HATED this album the first time I heard it.

As it started to grow on me, though, I recognized it for the masterpiece that it was and, in a moment that can only be described as an epiphany, I realized that Yes had reached their musical Mount Everest. This was the band at their peak and everything else would be judged by it. It was daring & experimental, uplifting & spiritually rejuvenating. As I've said in other posts, "Soon," for me, was Jon Anderson's finest moment. I loved it so much I used it for the intro music when my former partner and I tied the knot at our Holy Union on October 16th, 1994 (my 40th birthday). I have the greatest respect for Rick Wakeman, Tony Kaye & Igor Khorachev as keyboardists, but the maestro Moraz took Yes into a completely new dimension...and I was VERY sad that he left the band afterwards...but was overjoyed to have been fortunate enough to see him perform 3 times with Yes in '75 and '76.

Say what you will, but I honestly believe, with every fiber of my being, that RELAYER will be listened to a hundred years from now and will still make peoples' jaws drop in amazement.

[True Believer]

Now this is worth a 10!

[Steve Mahoney]

7

[Roan's Lady]

I agree with Timmo. Let's bump it up to a 12.

It was daring & experimental, uplifting & spiritually rejuvenating.

I'm with this. A brilliant album; and in my opinion, their absolute finest.


And to think, for the most part, I HATED this album the first time I heard it.

Same here! :crazy:

[Scooty]

Without a doubt a perfect 10.

[BrianD]

On July 1 2008 after 145 votes, average 9.16

[Jackaranda]

It's still a 10+. Timeless and as great as they come.

[Lifeseeker66]

I find the popularity of this album to be enigmatic. For me, I gave it a 7. To be honest with you, when I was getting into Yes in my high school years, this was probably my least-listened to. My main reasons for not liking Relayer as much as the four previous albums, or even the two subsequent ones, are as follows:

The style of the music on the album is way out there, very hard-edged for Yes, especially at the time
Gates of Delirium I often found to be a very depressing track to listen to... to me, not Yes-like in the sense it wasn't positive, and wasn't even sweet to the ear.
I always loved To Be Over, still my favorite from this album. Probably because it's softer-edged, the keyboards are melodic, the guitar work is great.
I've grown to really love Sound Chaser, but sometimes I have to be in the right mood to hear it, as it's jazz oriented. Always loved the bass work
Even the cover of this album was depressing, with it's grays overpowering most of the other artwork. Not saying it wasn't masterfully done, just like looking at the grey sky all day....
I still find Gates to be the hardest song for me on this album. So what, it's an epic. If it wasn't so darn depressing (lyrically and musically) I might be more inclined to spin this record. If it wasn't the first track, maybe I wouldn't pass this album up as much as I have.This album does not make my top five Yes albums...

[gitsy]

That's whats so wonderful about this site we are all yes fans but have a different take on the music. The album for me rates as their best (except when I play ctte) then I think that's the best!) . So much better than tales which wouldn't make my top five.

[CybrKhatru]

a 10. I love everything about this album, especially how different it is from the others.

[TOBYSGRAPHICGOKART]

This gets an 11/10 everytime.
Gates is even more awesome now than when I first heard it all those many years ago.Still the pinnacle of their career IMO.

[yes372]

My best memory of Relayer was that I was casually listening to the radio in late 1974 and being totally surprised at hearing "Soundchaser" for the very first time. I had not been aware that a new album was being recorded let alone the possiblility of having a new Yes album for Christmas. It was just one of those 'special' moments when you would hear a new Yes recording for the first time....you know what I mean!

[shortexchanges]

A masterpiece that stands up as well as Close to the edge. I like Relayer more.

[milestownyes]

As I've said over and over, for me Soundchaser encapsulates everything Yes ever was, is and can be. For incredible music this album is #1 and I probably like it so much because it IS harder edged. Soon just floats me away though and is one of those concert pieces I absolutely love live.

[sam]

I am so glad that I perservered with this album-which I found hard-going on the first couple of listenings. The Gates of Delirium is a fantastic song. It sounds so modern to me even though it is 33 years old. Twelve minutes into the record conjures sounds hellish to me, in the sense that conjures up a sense of chaotic evil, and then with "Soon" a sad sense of calm. Wonderful.

[somissound]

My All time favorite Yes album from beginning to end...

What a ride!!! ;)

[needaneasierway]

Only first listened to it about two years ago (and I've been a Yes fan for, like, more than twenty years) and Jon's voice on 'Gates of Delirium'....I just couldn't get that song out of my head for weeks.

[pjt]

8/10
I've always felt Sound Chaser to be out of character for Yes.

[CloseToTheHedge]

I'm sure my opinion will change after I've listened to Yes for a decade or more, but I gave it a 10 without having to think too hard - I really do love Close To The Edge's individual songs better in general (IMO To Be Over doesn't match up to any of CTTE's songs) but as an album, Relayer works so perfectly it's impossible. It's like sound-wise, the three songs feature different pigments that go together to make a weave of united colour, if I'm making any sense here.

For a simpler song-by-song rating, GoD gets a 10, To Be Over would only get a 7.5-ish for now but Sound Chaser gets something in the realm of 993582309528509258423*, which balances out to a max of 10 for the album.

*For someone raised on jazz and only recently exposed to prog rock proper, SC is the only Yes song that has genuinely, truly kept me hanging onto every note within 5 seconds of the song. Nothing to "get used to" (...okay, except maybe cha-cha-cha), no part that makes me drift away, and yet after rounds of listening to it with full attention there's always something new to discover.

[dwendesq]

I first thought 8; but I was wrong. A definite 10. Can I chage my vote?.

[yesanneyes]

Wow - I remember listening to Relayer when I was young, and not getting it. I tried really hard to get it, but I always found myself just waiting for Soon to come on. I'm speaking Gates, of course.

Now, I understand it a bit better and my approach to it is different. I LOVE Relayer. I finally understood that with this one you have to be willing to go inside of it. You have to go through a door and once you're inside, it's incredible.

[Dramato]

I'm of two minds on Relayer. As an Olympics judge (not the East German one) I would give it a 10. As a regular Yesfan, an 8. So that comes out as a solid 9.

I think I "get it" more or less, but I also think it was as far as they could go. In some ways it's a "scary" album, and I don't just mean the war-is-hell subject of Gates of Delirium or the "cha-cha-cha" barber-shop-quartet-of-cannibals thing in Sound Chaser. Very sharp, angular, dissonant, edgy...

They hit an amazing level of technique but if they kept on in that direction they really would have lost their heart and become just some kind of brilliant fusion type band, imploding the way King Crimson did around that time.

An album like Going for the One had to follow an album like Relayer. I'm glad it did.

[Sonny G]

Relayer is my favorite of all the YES albums, and was one of the best concerts I ever saw in my life.

[Rocksurfer]

I give it a solid 7, it was not the best album ever put forth from them but it was one of the best.

[Stever]

Relayer is the peak of perfection as a band effort. For me it remains a snapshot of the paramount of potential for the rock music genre. What music was aspiring to until it was reached with this album, and the point at which all subsequent rock music became a slightly lesser thing. Yes, themselves would never quite get there again.

For others, I know that Close to the Edge was that epoch. Fair enough. I can certainly see where one could draw that conclusion. But when I listen to the perfection that is CTTE, and then listen to Relayer, back to back, (an exceedingly pleasant way to kill an hour and a half, by the way), I come away with the impression that Relayer was turning everything up to 11, to use a Spinal Tap analogy. Why not just stop at 10 with CTTE, and have CTTE be the pinnacle of rock music?

Answer "Because Relayer goes to 11".

It's because it was there. In them still. It needed to become. It doesn't diminish CTTE. It accentuates Yes.

[Vevey]

Oooh yes fantastic fantastic!!!

Always one of my absolute favourites! If it were an option... I would rate it Infinity.

[gitsy]

Yep 10 out of 10

[JB86]

8.

To Be Over is why I love this album so much. My 2nd favorite.

[CaffieneMan]

10!

Great album from start to finish, a must have after Close to The Edge.

[cjreyes]

Perfect 10, Baby!!!!

[bjlevine]

Ten. Yes, again, stretching the boundaries.

Funny thing is that I hated this album when I first heard it. Put it away and didn't bother with it for a few months. Then I heard Gates of Delirium on the radio (dating myself here) and was intrigued. Pulled out the album and fell in love.

Anyone know how Bruford feels about Relayer? Seems like it would've been right up his alley. Not that Alan doesn't do a terrific job on it.

[Soundchaser_413]

This has always been my favorite Yes album. These days I'm not sure if I have a favorite but it very well may still be.

My favorite period for Yes is anything from Time and a word up to and including Tormato. I like much of the later stuff too but that time span is very special for me.

[relayer_1]

I rate myself as a perfect 10!

This album is a landmark in Yes history and lives on through the decades as one of their true Masterworks indeed.

My only regret is that this is the only (aside from a few Live recordings) Yes album to have the talents of keyboard virtuoso Patrick Moraz. His other bands like Refugee and Moody Blues did not provide him with the adequate musical vehicle given by Yes, having such masterful bandmates got the best out of him and we all benefited from this collective effort.

I agree with Stever, it is the peak of perfection as a band effort.

[YYY]

I probably responded to this thread but if not?

RELAYER is the last of the GREATEST TOTAL MASTERPIECES YES had ever imagined. It fulfills all of my expectation of what YES was and could be! It's CTTE on steroids! When I really want a massive prog fix, I put on GATES & Sound Chaser. 2B Over is one of YES prettiest songs ever and has one of Steve's freshest solos.

[rabinmovies]

Relayer is just brilliant. The Gates of Delirium is an outstanding epic. I prefer the more heavier sounds of Yes and I put this as my 2nd favourite of the 20min songs. Endless Dream is my favourite of all time. Soundchaser, musically is brilliant and To Be Over eases the pace after the previous 2 tracks