YES version of THE RUTLES ?

[RobAdams]

I finally have my first CD of DRAMA. Had it on vinyl....Had it on cassette...Now I have it on a shiny disc. This is such an odd YES album. I miss Jon here, but I'm also a fan of Steve, Chris and Alan. Today as I listened to the album it occured to me - this is almost a Rutles approach to Yes music. The album is full of Yes nuances, a bit over emphasized. It's clear that they wanted this line-up to succeed. TORMATO, the album before this, really bombed sales wise. When DRAMA came out TORMATO could already be found with a cut corner for 2.99 at almost any record shop. The band tried hard to make DRAMA more like the older Yes and less like TORMATO.

I'm not a big fan of Trevor Horn's singing, but he does well here trying to fill unfillable shoes. Geoff Downes did try to capture the Yes keyboard sound here, and sounds like a cross between
Rick and Tony Kaye. This album does rock.

[Q]

I think the Rutles and Spinal Tap achieved essentially the same thing: forgeries so good that they were in themselves as credible as the originals. DRAMA may be thought of in the same way.

I for one wonder if there were places DRAMA succeeded where Yes could not have. The racing double-vocal line in "Tempus Fugit," for instance, strikes me as something Jon would not have wanted to do ... Horn and Squire are astonishing ...

[RobAdams]

INTO THE LENS has some great playing on it. I forgot how good much of it is. If I could only mix out the "I Am A Cameras" that keep repeating. Steve's guitar work on INTO THE LENS hints strongly toward the sound he used in ASIA.

[Joedude]

Originally posted by Quantum
I think the Rutles and Spinal Tap achieved essentially the same thing: forgeries so good that they were in themselves as credible as the originals. DRAMA may be thought of in the same way.

To me, that would kinda devalue Drama to something other than Yesmusic. The Rutles (Beatles) and Spinal Tap (any number of heavy metal bands) are very good parodies but usually aren't mistaken for the real thing.

[RobAdams]

I don't mean to imply that DRAMA is a parody of YES, but it's hard to ignore the parody of YES approach taken here. At one point they even slip into the same sustaining chord effect that ends the instrumental climax of PERPETUAL CHANGE. I think they tried hard to give the album classic Yes hooks and nuances because they knew an album without Rick & Jon would be hard for fans to accept. If the DRAMA line up had not taken this specific approach, this may have been quite a different album. I think less of this try to sound like 'old Yes' went into 90125.

Neil Innes and Eric Idle used the same approach to create the infamous Beatles parody, THE RUTLES. According to Innes and Idle, George Harrison gave them a lot of suggestions as far as recording the tracks, i.e. 'Hey George, how'd you guys get the guitar to do this?' 'We plugged it into a revolving Leslie organ speaker' etc...

[Jackaranda]

If the Drama line up does another album, maybe they should call it "Broken", or "Far From the Center". :theband:

[Hex]

Today as I listened to the album it occured to me - this is almost a Rutles approach to Yes music. The album is full of Yes nuances, a bit over emphasized. It's clear that they wanted this line-up to succeed.


I've never heard Drama, but I found this interesting, and I think I know what you mean. I found the same with Genesis' "A Trick of The Tail". Especially "Robbery Assault & Battery". That could be 'the Rutles'.

[fish62858]

I think they tried hard to give the album classic Yes hooks and nuances

i don't see it as "trying hard" but more of Chris being Chris. its those things that you mention as Yes nuances that i think are Chris's tendancies and they were still there, along with Steve and Alan, despite the lack of Jon and Rick.

not sure if that makes sense, but i hear Drama as a Chris Squire album that Steve and Alan played on along with TH and GD. Just as ABWH sounded different without Chris, stuff that Chris is on has a Yes-ness to it (in my ears) that can't be denied.

[pedro skychaser]

[quote=RobAdams;29010]I don't mean to imply that DRAMA is a parody of YES, but it's hard to ignore the parody of YES approach taken here. At one point they even slip into the same sustaining chord effect that ends the instrumental climax of PERPETUAL CHANGE. I think they tried hard to give the album classic Yes hooks and nuances because they knew an album without Rick & Jon would be hard for fans to accept. If the DRAMA line up had not taken this specific approach, this may have been quite a different album. I think less of this try to sound like 'old Yes' went into 90125.


WELL they were gonna call it "THE NEW YES ALBUM"...:dj:

[wolfhound]

The thing about DRAMA is that is has Steve Howe playing guitar.
He's pure fire on that album. I guess he got into some great groove.

To be honest, the ONLY thing that bugged me about DRAMA were the lyrics, "I am a camera. camera camera" That bothered me years ago. It really shouldn't have though.

It sounds like Chris wrote "Does It Really Happen?" I Love That Song ! ! !

This is a YES album that seems to come from a different source, but with Steve and Chris, dear gawd, it is cool !

[relayer4u]

I've never heard Drama,...

You must be kidding, right?

Go get you a copy ASAP! The music alone will blow you away. I for one think "Into the Lens" (the dreaded camera song) is a freakin masterpiece, musically AND lyricly. Few here may agree with me, but that's the beauty of music: it's up to each and every one of us to decide what we consider brilliant or filler.

[Buglunch]

Eric Idle was great in The Rutles.
He plays guitar and sings,writes- can sing high.

Squire and the boys could have written for any vocal range before Drama came out.

You do the algebra.
:crazy:

[fish62858]

The music alone will blow you away.

Amen, brother!

[rememberer]

For what's it worth, my impression of Drama is that a lot of the music was worked out before Horn's lyrics / vocals and Downes' keys were added, so if I have that right it would be very much Yes music in that sense.

Particularly "Does It Really Happen," there is a demo of that in the bonus tracks on Rhino's re-release of Drama (called "Everybody's Song," I think), that version with Jon singing bears a very suspicious resemblance to the finished version with Trevor. I wish Yes would actually perform the song with Jon on that account. I bet they'd have loads of fun with it.

An interesting thing about those Rhino bonus tracks that I never knew for a long time, one of the instrumental ones (called "Satellite" or some such thing there) is actually the music to "Telephone Secrets" that Chris and Alan worked on with Jimmy Page in the XYZ sessions. That would have been worth Rhino pointing out in the liner notes but I sure can't remember them doing so.

I listened to that demo on Drama and thought "gee what an awful song" but when I heard it with Chris' vocal awhile back I was utterly amazed at the difference. The talent it shows for taking an idea and bringing it to life and making it work, is remarkable.

[pianozach]

I for one think "Into the Lens" (the dreaded camera song) is a freakin masterpiece, musically AND lyricly. Few here may agree with me, but that's the beauty of music: it's up to each and every one of us to decide what we consider brilliant or filler.

Hey, Ray, you're considerably brave to admit this.

And I'd have to agree with you. Although the "camera, camera" part is somewhat annoying, it's programatic of the subject of the song. I AM a camera, camera, camera. The rest of the song is kickaass! And the rest of the album's not bad either.

Hey, you're from Henderson? Mark Schmidt (bass player in Tales at this years' gathering) is from Henderson!

And my sister lives next to the OTHER airport in Vegas.

[ToBeOver]

I've never heard Drama, but I found this interesting, and I think I know what you mean. I found the same with Genesis' "A Trick of The Tail". Especially "Robbery Assault & Battery". That could be 'the Rutles'.

TONY!!! :cussing:

What do you mean you've never heard Drama????

I may have to reconsider our friendship! :lmao:

You really need to get this one.... I think you'll really like it. ;)


:keyboard:

[SonicDeath10]

I'd say that Spock's Beard's first few albums are Yes as the Rutles. Sorry to all Spock's Beard fans!

[Hex]

TONY!!! :cussing:

What do you mean you've never heard Drama????

I may have to reconsider our friendship! :lmao:

You really need to get this one.... I think you'll really like it. ;)



But...but...it's got the Buggles on it!!

Don't make me!...I'm scared!

[SonicDeath10]

The funny thing is, the Buggles was actually quite a great band. And Geoff Downes keyboard playing is very impressive!

[Imperatrix]

TONY!!! :cussing:

What do you mean you've never heard Drama????

I may have to reconsider our friendship! :lmao:

You really need to get this one.... I think you'll really like it. ;)


:keyboard:

But...but...it's got the Buggles on it!!

Don't make me!...I'm scared!

:sofunny: :dog: I love this.