Alternate track listing for Tormato?

[Esthe]

There are quite a few bonus tracks on Tormato that with a little more reworking could’ve easily replaced some of the worse tracks on the album. They are:

* Abilene
* Money
* Picasso
* Some Are Born (you can also use the Song Of Seven version)
* You Can Be Saved
* High
* Days (once again, you also can use the Song Of Seven version)
* Countryside
* Everybody’s Song (later turned into Does It Really Happen)

My Tracklisting

Side 1

1. Some Are Born
2. Don’t Kill The Whale
3. Picasso
4. Money
5. Abilene

Side 2

6. On The Silent Wings Of Freedom
7. Circus Of Heaven
8. Future Times/Rejoice
9. Onward

[Ceasar’s Palace]

I saw the thread title and thought you meant the different running order on the cassette...

Personally I think Tormato is just fine as it is.
But I have constructed the missing 1979 Yes album as follows:

Golden Age

1 Richard
2 Golden Age
3 In The Tower
4 Surface Tension
5 You Can Be Saved
6 Days (demo)
7 All’s A Chord
8 Look Over Your Shoulder
9 Everybody Loves You (from Song Of Seven)
10 Song Of Seven

[Soundwaveseeker]

With an overabundance of songs and song ideas for the Tormato period, I can almost see Tormato as conceived as a double album. Maybe side one of Tormato is still side one, but side two is side four. That leaves side two and three for the sketchier tracks and demos that they didn't get to hone into a proper side two and three.

SIDE TWO:

Not a bad album side - some nice, melodic Yes material mostly in the Wonderous Stories/Madrigal mode.

1) Abilene
2) Richard
3) Picasso
4) Some Are Born
5) Money

Side Three:

Here's where its half baked and the songs weren't realized enough for a proper side three.

1) High
2) You Can Be Saved
3) Days
4) Countryside
5) Everybody's Song

Such an album would have been lacking in epics and heavier fare. But it works as a what if scenario, of which Yes has oodles.

[Ash Armstrong]

Damn! You reminded me of the existence of Abilene. I'd successfully forgotten it for years too! Now I'll have to forget it all over again.

Apart from the two songs that were realised on Song of Seven, the rest are rightly consigned to the bonus bin. That's their natural home, it's where they belong. Leave them there.
The album is ok, more or less, as it is, despite its unevenness and internecine antagonisms.

[Old Frothingslosh]

I don't really see anything in the bonus area that would have been an upgrade to what was released on Tormato. It's always been in my top 3 for Yes overall and for me the only real weak track is Onward and that pretty darn good itself. Bring on the Seven golden chariots in tow and the Seven Lords of the Mountains!

[Ceasar’s Palace]

Damn! You reminded me of the existence of Abilene. I'd successfully forgotten it for years too! Now I'll have to forget it all over again.

Apart from the two songs that were realised on Song of Seven, the rest are rightly consigned to the bonus bin. That's their natural home, it's where they belong. Leave them there.
The album is ok, more or less, as it is, despite its unevenness and internecine antagonisms.

Thanks for expanding my vocabulary with internecine!

[Esthe]

Damn! You reminded me of the existence of Abilene. I'd successfully forgotten it for years too! Now I'll have to forget it all over again.

Apart from the two songs that were realised on Song of Seven, the rest are rightly consigned to the bonus bin. That's their natural home, it's where they belong. Leave them there.
The album is ok, more or less, as it is, despite its unevenness and internecine antagonisms.

I don’t get all the hate for Abilene. It may not be Wonderous Stories, but it’s an okay track.

[Ash Armstrong]

I don’t get all the hate for Abilene. It may not be Wonderous Stories, but it’s an okay track.

There is no 'all the hate'. That's extreme and unnuanced. At the time, and I first heard it on the 'b' side of the single of the Whale song, Yes doing just 'okay songs' wasn't okay. Whatever direction they were looking in when they conceived it, it wasn't a direction I wished to go. I wanted them to aim and hit much higher than this, just being okay was well short of their capabilities as creative musicians, supposedly operating as part of a progressive musical movement. Obviously, I didn't know at the time what would unfold for them in the following five years or so.
Suffice it to say, Abilene wasn't the kind of music I wanted my Yes to be doing; they could safely leave that to those to whom it came more naturally. But please try not to use sweeping generalisations like 'all the hate' you don't get, just because someone else isn't okay with just okay from a band that had previously conceived Relayer, Tales, Going For The One, &c.

[Sharp On Attack]

Just insert Money in the spot of Circus of Heaven and I'm good !

[kilianltia]

The bonus tracks on the Rhino release all vary in terms of quality and how finished they are. For example, High doesn't sound anything close to finished plus the guide vocal lets it down as a recording. Likewise Some Are Born is a really nice song and I think particularly Steve's guitar embellishments serve it well but the whole speed up instrumental section in the middle doesn't feel necessary.

On the other hand, I'm surprised You Can Be Saved wasn't included on the original album or at least considered for a future release, particularly given Chris's proclivity for repurposing unused songs from the past. Countryside and Picasso are also a nice listen and they imply the acoustic side of Yes which seems to be missing from a lot of Tormato itself.

A Panegyric remix of Tormato would be great and hopefully alternate versions of the songs on the album would be included like the outtake of On The Silent Wings Of Freedom which is puported to exist, or the version of Don't Kill The Whale with a bass intro which Dave Watkinson mentioned on YMP...

[Esthe]

Just insert Money in the spot of Circus of Heaven and I'm good !

Am I the only one here who actually likes Circus Of Heaven?

[Ash Armstrong]

Am I the only one here who actually likes Circus Of Heaven?

I like it a lot. Complex little song, musically and lyrically. It became a favourite target for detractors who cited it as an example of Jon being twee. I've long thought of it as trying to explain the end of the world, the Apocalypse, to a child, to soften the blow. That Jon could write a lyric that dense, with that many syllables, have it hang together as something that could be sung, and have a narrative and content that rich, AND then have the band play it, it's one of the stronger songs on the album. None of which means anyone else will like it or care. I remember it got a lot of warm appreciation at Wembley in 1978, and a spontaneous cheer for Damien's bit. Very clever little song.

[RelayerI]

I don't really see anything in the bonus area that would have been an upgrade to what was released on Tormato.

^ This.

Swapping in any of the suggested leftovers would only harm the album.

[kilianltia]

Circus Of Heaven is a strange track but the instrumentation alone makes it interesting for me. The electric mandolin with delay gives it a unique sound and I really like the fact that Chris's bass riff spans the entire neck of the bass (which Sean pointed out on the SOAL Night Live History Of Yes).

[Ceasar’s Palace]

I always liked Abilene. They made the right choice IMO, it wasn’t quite as good as the album, but worthy of a b-side.
Come to think of it, in hindsight, it kind of pointed the way towards The Quest:
Howe driven, mid tempo, semi-acoustic, sometimes repetitive...
Of course, Howe’s guitar was a busy bee then, doing solos whether there was singing going on or not.