Relayer- Rating out of 5?

[soundchaser09]

Heading into the very Progressive stuff now- I love me some chasing sound, and everything else I might add!

[Gilly Goodness]

5

The masterpiece.

Sounds like no one from this planet.

Steve's metallic tones are great.

Beautiful production.

Majestic Dean cover.

Even like the poem on the inside.

Peak prog.

[Yorkshire Square]

5. Nuff said.

[Homemade Parachute]

5. It's not necessarily my favourite, but I think it's one of those (maybe too rare) albums where they got exactly where they wanted to go. Everyone feels invested in it. It's exploratory, definitely fresh sounding, and to these grizzled ears an actual step forwards/sideways from CTTE, where TFTO was, well, perhaps less so… I don't think there's a bum note, or a wasted note, to be found on it. (Weirdly, if you're just counting words, it might be Anderson's shortest batch of lyrics yet…)

(Possibly interesting topic for discussion: new musicians obviously bring new sounds to a band, and Moraz is certainly no exception. He definitely points to a direction they could have gone in, but chose not to. But Yes is maybe unique, or at least extreme, in having members go away and come back, with, yes, Wakeman returning right after this. So, question: do *returning* musicians bring something new back with them, or do we hit the law of diminishing returns, as they retreat into old patterns? Did anything Wakeman did after coming back sound as interesting as Fragile/CTTE? Did anything Howe did from 1989, 1991, or 1996 sound as innovative or exciting (depending on how you measure his return(s)? Do you hear evidence of their adventures away from the band upon their return, I guess? And if so, where?)

[pianozach]

5. It's not necessarily my favourite, but I think it's one of those (maybe too rare) albums where they got exactly where they wanted to go. Everyone feels invested in it. It's exploratory, definitely fresh sounding, and to these grizzled ears an actual step forwards/sideways from CTTE, where TFTO was, well, perhaps less so… I don't think there's a bum note, or a wasted note, to be found on it. (Weirdly, if you're just counting words, it might be Anderson's shortest batch of lyrics yet…)

(Possibly interesting topic for discussion: new musicians obviously bring new sounds to a band, and Moraz is certainly no exception. He definitely points to a direction they could have gone in, but chose not to. But Yes is maybe unique, or at least extreme, in having members go away and come back, with, yes, Wakeman returning right after this. So, question: do *returning* musicians bring something new back with them, or do we hit the law of diminishing returns, as they retreat into old patterns? Did anything Wakeman did after coming back sound as interesting as Fragile/CTTE? Did anything Howe did from 1989, 1991, or 1996 sound as innovative or exciting (depending on how you measure his return(s)? Do you hear evidence of their adventures away from the band upon their return, I guess? And if so, where?)

Yeah, I hear ya on the "new musicians obviously bring new sounds to a band" theme.

But when Wakeman returned on GFtO, I don't think it really did much for the band.

[Soundwaveseeker]

Relayer! That's a mysterious album for me. Possibly the proggiest Yes album, whatever 'proggy' is or if such an album could be gaged in such a way. Whatever that way is, I'm not sure but Relayer is indeed a bold album. Automatic 5.

The GOOD:

Patrick Moraz. He is a muthafocka. Sick keyboard skills, as good as any of the Wakemans or Emersons or Eddie Jobsons or any of those superskill keyboard heroes of the 70's. He bought in some funk to the band. The note-bendy thing, musically delicious. I wish there was more studio material with Moraz and I wish he had come back to the band for another stint. Wakeman came back four times. I would trade one of those Wakeman returns for a Moraz one any day of the week.

The album format is like CTTE - a sidelong suite and two long songs for the second half, but that's where comparisons end. These three tracks are all primed to kill. Gates is bold and dangerous. It drives deep and then releases with the masterful 'Soon' theme. Sound Chaser is the closest Yes got to the jazz/rock fusion of the day. Chaos and serenity, up and down. What a wonderful track. Moraz' solo - killer. But the real diamond here is To Be Over, which is literally the sound of back in the days when you were younger and didn't have too much to worry about. This track is laid back and summery. And yes, orangey skies do come to mind. None of side two has been performed in full since those Relayer days. Perhaps they will eventually perform it, but maybe it's wiser to put it off as long as they can. Handling pure concentrated magic like side 2 of Relayer album may be hazardous to one's health and they may need to perform it wearing hazmat suits. To Be Over is probably in my top 10 Yes songs.

The BAD:

Well, I can't think of anything for the bad category. Any complaint about Relayer would be like 'why does this apple taste like an apple and not an orange'. One thing I can think of is that there's no real acoustic piano on Relayer, and Yes alway s has a song or two on an album with some obvious piano moments. Sure, there's that Moraz electric piano, but no South Side Of The Sky, A Venture, Awaken etc. piano. It's just not that kind of album. Relayer is intense in places - interesting that all the serene moments are at the end of both album sides, rather than mixed in for contrast throughout the album's duration like on other Yes albums.

The UGLY:

Nothing ugly about Relayer, but the fact that Moraz had to disband his previous group Refugee to join Yes could indeed be deemed ugly. It robbed us of a great prog band that gave ELP a run for their money. The one Refugee album (Moraz with Lee Jackson & Brian Davidson of The Nice, Keith Emerson's old band) is excellent. Classical playing and virtuoso keyboard bombast in the best 70's prog way, long suites with recurring themes, organ piano and synths all over the place. Basically it was the Nice with another keyboard player or how the Nice could have sounded like had they not disbanded and moved into the 1970's. In fact, I think Refugee should have been called The Nice, if only for marketing purposes. They were like ELP. That could have been musical revenge for Emerson sacking Lee & Brian to form Emerson Lake & Palmer. A shame there wasn't more from Refugee, one of Moraz' best projects.

I love Relayer and the bold audacity of the music contained within. I get the vibe that it was done for music's sake - just a band hitting some sort of stride.

[Homemade Parachute]

Yeah, I hear ya on the "new musicians obviously bring new sounds to a band" theme.

But when Wakeman returned on GFtO, I don't think it really did much for the band.

Kind of my sense as well: every Time Wakeman returns, his arsenal of sound effects gets a little thinner, a little tinnier and a little cheesier… A great musician, but not always with great taste, when keyboard presets come to mind…

[Old Frothingslosh]

5
Ambitious, mind bogglingly complex, utterly dazzling album Moraz delivers in a way Wakeman never could.

[Gilly Goodness]

But the real diamond here is To Be Over, which is literally the sound of back in the days when you were younger and didn't have too much to worry about. This track is laid back and summery. And yes, orangey skies do come to mind.

[/QUOTE]




Your lips to my ears. Or somesuch.

[Mr. Holland]

5!! My second favourite Yes album, carrying my all time favourite Yes song: Gates of Delirium. I think their most adventurous album (sorry Tales lovers), yet not adventurous just to be adventurous, the playing really serves the songs and their messages. Soon is the most serene and beautiful finale to a song ever recorded in my opinion. Also Chris' and Alan's pinnacle as a rhythm section. Magnificent from start to finish.

[alex peters]

I gave it a 4. For decades it was a 5 for me but for some reason or another and this is just me Relayer has lost a bit thru the decades. For me it has not aged perfectly. Moraz is great but Live he was so off the tracks the rest of the band had trouble working with him. He was not a TEAM player live. The rest of the band never knew what he was going to do next.

[Oldie on the Goldie]

Of course Relayer is a solid 5. Duh.

[Gary Betts]

5 as there wasn’t a 6

[Ash Armstrong]

5 as there wasn’t a 6

What he said.
If there was a 6, I'd say 7.

I was listening to it this afternoon out walking in the sunshine. It made me do a couple of twirls ..

[Davy]

I'm the 3. 😁 There's sections of all three songs that I love, and parts (mainly in Sound Chaser and the battle sequence) where I think, why am I listening to this?