Yes: Tormato

[Xanadu93]

QUOTE (ghostworks @ Sep 26 2010, 04:22 PM)

Tormato is musically stagnant - it doesn't look forward, and rests too much on Jon's 'peace love clowns and aliens' influence

I wouldn't go quite as far, but yes... 90125 destroys Tormato. That's not saying Tormato is a bad album, it's just that 90125 is that good.

[rushgoober]

QUOTE (WIDE-ANGLE WATCHER @ Sep 26 2010, 02:47 PM)

QUOTE (ghostworks @ Sep 26 2010, 03:22 PM) Tormato is musically stagnant - it doesn't look forward, and rests too much on Jon's 'peace love clowns and aliens' influence THIS IS WRONG.....SO VERY VERY WRONG.       edited....because....it's just so wrong... I totally agree. In fact, I find Tormato to have a very refreshing sound. The sound is somewhat akin to Going for the One, but outside of that certainly sounds very different than Relayer, or TFTO, or any of the other albums prior. And, while I think GFTO is a great album, I always enjoyed Tormato more. Of course Tormato doesn't have an epic the likes of Awaken, but every song is great and I've just always played it more.   Tormato has always been one of my very favorite Yes albums, and I've always thought it among the three most underrated; Tales, Time and a Word & Tormato - those three have always been top five Yes albums for me.

[micgtr71]

QUOTE (rushgoober @ Sep 26 2010, 07:38 PM)

QUOTE (WIDE-ANGLE WATCHER @ Sep 26 2010, 02:47 PM) QUOTE (ghostworks @ Sep 26 2010, 03:22 PM) Tormato is musically stagnant - it doesn't look forward, and rests too much on Jon's 'peace love clowns and aliens' influence THIS IS WRONG.....SO VERY VERY WRONG.       edited....because....it's just so wrong... I totally agree. In fact, I find Tormato to have a very refreshing sound. The sound is somewhat akin to Going for the One, but outside of that certainly sounds very different than Relayer, or TFTO, or any of the other albums prior. And, while I think GFTO is a great album, I always enjoyed Tormato more. Of course Tormato doesn't have an epic the likes of Awaken, but every song is great and I've just always played it more.   Tormato has always been one of my very favorite Yes albums, and I've always thought it among the three most underrated; Tales, Time and a Word & Tormato - those three have always been top five Yes albums for me. I see what you are saying. The album is under-rated. I feel that I would like to add the self-titled album to your list as well. Peter Banks was quite a guitarist, unfortunately not the chops-gifted guy Howe is. That being said, I went back to listen to Tormato today and it was like seeing an old friend. It has gotten better with age. I'm not going to lie, Going For the One is much more interesting in my opinion. The title track for me is the weakest, but Turn of the Century and Awaken are some of the most amazing melodies ever. I can go back to this album time and time again.

[thelocator]

QUOTE (micgtr71 @ Sep 26 2010, 08:22 PM)

I feel that I would like to add the self-titled album to your list as well. Peter Banks was quite a guitarist, unfortunately not the chops-gifted guy Howe is.

Did you follow-up that love fer Banks with checking out the first two FLASH recordings? Absolutely E-SSENTIAL FARE for big fans of the first two YES titles.

 

About the third or fourth time through these recordings and this Banks/Kaye splinter group in effect becomes YES bonus material for the listener...

 

There's two tracks on each title that are virtually indistinguishable from the best of YES was doing during period, their best, like 'Sweet Dreams' and 'Astral Traveller'...

 

I started listening to these albums about two years ago, but only now am I totally crazy about them. I listen to the first two FLASH recordings far more than the actual first two YES releases at this point.

 

I got an easy way to sell any big YES fan on this band...Go and try to find the full-length samples for any of the following tracks...Probably MySpace or LastFM would be where you could hear 'em...These three: Small Beginnings, Lifetime, There No More...I can't think of the fourth track.

 

 

I've been reading through many upon many of the reviews of 90125 from the real longtime YES fans, and so so many of them point to something about either 'Our Song' or 'Hearts' that reminds them of them being 'bridge songs' connecting the 80's version of YES with it's prior incarnation in the 70's...It should be pretty obvious to the listener...This is the average review I'm coming across...

 

 

"Luckily, after the nadir comes the zenith: 'Hearts', the album closer, is probably the closest to 'traditional Yes' here than anything else, for quite a number of reasons. First, it's relatively long (seven and a half minutes - the average length of a short Yes filler). Second, it has some great organ from Kaye, and thus has at least a little retro-ish sound. Third and most important, it gives us the nostalgic opportunity to get to hear the 'Time And A Word'-style Jon Anderson once again: the refrain has some gorgeous falsetto vocals that recreate the innocent hippie optimism that helped redeem Jon's early compositions. It might be rather 'simplistic' for Yes standards, but it's certainly more complex than your average pop love ballad. In fact, I could have easily dubbed it my favourite song on the album if it weren't for the atrocious guitar solo that Trevor Rabin probably picked off a conveyer transporting 'heaven and hellish' guitar solos to all the bland 'progressive' bands of the Eighties. As it is, 'Changes' sounds more compact."

 

http://starling.rinet.ru/music/yes.htm

 

 

[rushgoober]

QUOTE (micgtr71 @ Sep 26 2010, 06:22 PM)

QUOTE (rushgoober @ Sep 26 2010, 07:38 PM) QUOTE (WIDE-ANGLE WATCHER @ Sep 26 2010, 02:47 PM) QUOTE (ghostworks @ Sep 26 2010, 03:22 PM) Tormato is musically stagnant - it doesn't look forward, and rests too much on Jon's 'peace love clowns and aliens' influence THIS IS WRONG.....SO VERY VERY WRONG.       edited....because....it's just so wrong... I totally agree. In fact, I find Tormato to have a very refreshing sound. The sound is somewhat akin to Going for the One, but outside of that certainly sounds very different than Relayer, or TFTO, or any of the other albums prior. And, while I think GFTO is a great album, I always enjoyed Tormato more. Of course Tormato doesn't have an epic the likes of Awaken, but every song is great and I've just always played it more.   Tormato has always been one of my very favorite Yes albums, and I've always thought it among the three most underrated; Tales, Time and a Word & Tormato - those three have always been top five Yes albums for me. I see what you are saying. The album is under-rated. I feel that I would like to add the self-titled album to your list as well. I tend to think of their first album as somewhat haphazard with flashes of brilliance. They were still finding their identity IMHO. One could say they were also still finding their footing with Time and a Word, but that one I thought was far more consistent and enjoyable.

[RUSHHEAD666]

QUOTE (spacement @ Sep 25 2010, 10:55 PM)

QUOTE (RUSHHEAD666 @ Sep 25 2010, 11:38 PM) This is an amazing thread.  I never thought that "Tormato" would get so much attention. I honestly haven't listened to this album enough in my life to make a judgement call. Guess I should spin this disc and get back to you all. Love, "Attack Of The Killer Tormatos"  I recently discovered just how much I like "Future Times" off that album. I remember coming home from the Jersey Shore right after that album was released. One of my friends won a copy on the boardwalk and was commenting on how different that cover was from other yes covers. I really need to put this record on. Maybe tomorrow.   I'm in a Thin Lizzy mode. Can you tell buddy?   "I've got to give it up....... that stuff."

[ghostworks]

QUOTE (WIDE-ANGLE WATCHER @ Sep 26 2010, 04:47 PM)

QUOTE (ghostworks @ Sep 26 2010, 03:22 PM) Tormato is musically stagnant - it doesn't look forward, and rests too much on Jon's 'peace love clowns and aliens' influence THIS IS WRONG.....SO VERY VERY WRONG. denial of facts isn't very healthy - I'm a little worried about you   please don't mistake my assessment for opinion (the band themselves said as much about Tormato)   and regardless of the fact I find 90125 to be the 'better' album as a whole, Tormato stil manages to hold a few essential Yes tracks for me

[Hatchetaxe&saw]

Wow, 7 pages on Tormato. Who'da thunk it?

 

If you take out Circus of Heaven & Arriving UFO, and slot in the demos of Richard, Some Are Born, and as the locator mentioned earlier, Abilene & Picasso, then you've got a shit-hot album.

 

Imagine if they'd finished Richard, Picasso and Some Are Born....if and buts.

 

The Song of Seven version of Some Are Born is fine, but in the right hands...

 

Would a page on Open Your Eyes garner as much attention, I wonder......

[metaldad]

QUOTE (Xanadu93 @ Sep 26 2010, 04:51 PM)

90125 destroysTormato

You like Green Day right ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[metaldad]

QUOTE (ghostworks @ Sep 26 2010, 03:22 PM)

90125 resurrected an out of gas prog band and launched a six year reinvention that found the band threading the needle of pop/prog with contemporary flair and the exiting kick of heavier guitars and production

No, MTV did that . If it was not for that shit t.v. channel they would have fell of the map

[rushgoober]

QUOTE (metaldad @ Sep 27 2010, 06:27 AM)

QUOTE (ghostworks @ Sep 26 2010, 03:22 PM) 90125 resurrected an out of gas prog band and launched a six year reinvention that found the band threading the needle of pop/prog with contemporary flair and the exiting kick of heavier guitars and production No, MTV did that . If it was not for that shit t.v. channel they would have fell of the map It's hard to play the what if game, because any band in 1983/1984 knew if they wanted any chance of BIG success that they had to make videos. If they didn't make any videos they surely wouldn't have done AS well, but that was hardly an option as that was part of the game back then.   MTV did a tremendous amount for them, but Owner of a Lonely Heart had HUGE HIT written all over it.

[metaldad]

QUOTE (rushgoober @ Sep 27 2010, 08:49 AM)

QUOTE (metaldad @ Sep 27 2010, 06:27 AM) QUOTE (ghostworks @ Sep 26 2010, 03:22 PM) 90125 resurrected an out of gas prog band and launched a six year reinvention that found the band threading the needle of pop/prog with contemporary flair and the exiting kick of heavier guitars and production No, MTV did that . If it was not for that shit t.v. channel they would have fell of the map It's hard to play the what if game, because any band in 1983/1984 knew if they wanted any chance of BIG success that they had to make videos. If they didn't make any videos they surely wouldn't have done AS well, but that was hardly an option as that was part of the game back then.   MTV did a tremendous amount for them, but Owner of a Lonely Heart had HUGE HIT written all over it. I am not saying it would Not have sold anything but it would have died a fast death if there was no MTV . They would have been playing theaters, not arenas . MTV gave them a second life

[Hatchetaxe&saw]

QUOTE (rushgoober @ Sep 27 2010, 01:49 PM)

QUOTE (metaldad @ Sep 27 2010, 06:27 AM) QUOTE (ghostworks @ Sep 26 2010, 03:22 PM) 90125 resurrected an out of gas prog band and launched a six year reinvention that found the band threading the needle of pop/prog with contemporary flair and the exiting kick of heavier guitars and production No, MTV did that . If it was not for that shit t.v. channel they would have fell of the map It's hard to play the what if game, because any band in 1983/1984 knew if they wanted any chance of BIG success that they had to make videos. If they didn't make any videos they surely wouldn't have done AS well, but that was hardly an option as that was part of the game back then.   MTV did a tremendous amount for them, but Owner of a Lonely Heart had HUGE HIT written all over it. That opening salvo from Rabin is catchier than herpes.   The "band turning into animals" video stank though, especially the false start.....oooh, nasty....Jon, with the last traces of his Accrington accent sailing away in the breeze, "'Ang on, 'ang on..."

[rushgoober]

QUOTE (Hatchetaxe&saw @ Sep 27 2010, 07:00 AM)

QUOTE (rushgoober @ Sep 27 2010, 01:49 PM) QUOTE (metaldad @ Sep 27 2010, 06:27 AM) QUOTE (ghostworks @ Sep 26 2010, 03:22 PM) 90125 resurrected an out of gas prog band and launched a six year reinvention that found the band threading the needle of pop/prog with contemporary flair and the exiting kick of heavier guitars and production No, MTV did that . If it was not for that shit t.v. channel they would have fell of the map It's hard to play the what if game, because any band in 1983/1984 knew if they wanted any chance of BIG success that they had to make videos. If they didn't make any videos they surely wouldn't have done AS well, but that was hardly an option as that was part of the game back then.   MTV did a tremendous amount for them, but Owner of a Lonely Heart had HUGE HIT written all over it. That opening salvo from Rabin is catchier than herpes.   The "band turning into animals" video stank though, especially the false start.....oooh, nasty....Jon, with the last traces of his Accrington accent sailing away in the breeze, "'Ang on, 'ang on..." I thought the video was really cool, and while it's dated somewhat, I think it's aged pretty well.   Does anyone remember back then how the video for Leave It was somewhat of an event? They had something like 20 different variant videos for that song using at what that time was pretty cool cutting-edge technology.   I must admit that their videos back then did put Yes on my radar screen in a way that might not have happened otherwise, as I didn't listen to the radio anywhere near as much as I watched videos. Still, had MTV not existed, I probably would have listened to the radio more, so it's a difficult point to argue and so hard to play the what if game. MTV's influence was so huge back then that you pretty much HAD to make videos.   Even with those songs on MTV, however, I didn't become a Yes fan until a few years later when I was really ready for all-out prog. I remember my brother had 90125 when it came out, but at the time I didn't really care much for the other songs other than Owner of a Lonely Heart and Leave It - years later I would get into most of the songs from that album, but even today I rate every Yes albums of theirs from 1970-1978 significantly higher.

[Hatchetaxe&saw]

QUOTE (rushgoober @ Sep 27 2010, 02:14 PM)

QUOTE (Hatchetaxe&saw @ Sep 27 2010, 07:00 AM) QUOTE (rushgoober @ Sep 27 2010, 01:49 PM) QUOTE (metaldad @ Sep 27 2010, 06:27 AM) QUOTE (ghostworks @ Sep 26 2010, 03:22 PM) 90125 resurrected an out of gas prog band and launched a six year reinvention that found the band threading the needle of pop/prog with contemporary flair and the exiting kick of heavier guitars and production No, MTV did that . If it was not for that shit t.v. channel they would have fell of the map It's hard to play the what if game, because any band in 1983/1984 knew if they wanted any chance of BIG success that they had to make videos. If they didn't make any videos they surely wouldn't have done AS well, but that was hardly an option as that was part of the game back then.   MTV did a tremendous amount for them, but Owner of a Lonely Heart had HUGE HIT written all over it. That opening salvo from Rabin is catchier than herpes.   The "band turning into animals" video stank though, especially the false start.....oooh, nasty....Jon, with the last traces of his Accrington accent sailing away in the breeze, "'Ang on, 'ang on..." I thought the video was really cool, and while it's dated somewhat, I think it's aged pretty well.   Does anyone remember back then how the video for Leave It was somewhat of an event? They had something like 20 different variant videos for that song using at what that time was pretty cool cutting-edge technology.   I must admit that their videos back then did put Yes on my radar screen in a way that might not have happened otherwise, as I didn't listen to the radio anywhere near as much as I watched videos. Still, had MTV not existed, I probably would have listened to the radio more, so it's a difficult point to argue and so hard to play the what if game. MTV's influence was so huge back then that you pretty much HAD to make videos.   Even with those songs on MTV, however, I didn't become a Yes fan until a few years later when I was really ready for all-out prog. I remember my brother had 90125 when it came out, but at the time I didn't really care much for the other songs other than Owner of a Lonely Heart and Leave It - years later I would get into most of the songs from that album, but even today I rate every Yes albums of theirs from 1970-1978 significantly higher. Leave It was cool when it came out. Still love it now. The Turkish Steam bath effect of It Can Happen has not aged well though...   But all pale when it comes to this Kilimanjaro of cheese. The shoulder pads, the crystal guitar, the jet, the campfire, the mullets, it can only be....."I EAT AT CHEZ NOUS!!!!!"     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqJL7YcDgpQ   Has Chris Squire ever had good hair? Jon Anderson and wearing white, he clearly chops his spaghetti. Does Tony Kaye even know what a piano accordion does? Who flew the plane?   Questions....

[rushgoober]

QUOTE (Hatchetaxe&saw @ Sep 27 2010, 07:34 AM)

QUOTE (rushgoober @ Sep 27 2010, 02:14 PM) QUOTE (Hatchetaxe&saw @ Sep 27 2010, 07:00 AM) QUOTE (rushgoober @ Sep 27 2010, 01:49 PM) QUOTE (metaldad @ Sep 27 2010, 06:27 AM) QUOTE (ghostworks @ Sep 26 2010, 03:22 PM) 90125 resurrected an out of gas prog band and launched a six year reinvention that found the band threading the needle of pop/prog with contemporary flair and the exiting kick of heavier guitars and production No, MTV did that . If it was not for that shit t.v. channel they would have fell of the map It's hard to play the what if game, because any band in 1983/1984 knew if they wanted any chance of BIG success that they had to make videos. If they didn't make any videos they surely wouldn't have done AS well, but that was hardly an option as that was part of the game back then.   MTV did a tremendous amount for them, but Owner of a Lonely Heart had HUGE HIT written all over it. That opening salvo from Rabin is catchier than herpes.   The "band turning into animals" video stank though, especially the false start.....oooh, nasty....Jon, with the last traces of his Accrington accent sailing away in the breeze, "'Ang on, 'ang on..." I thought the video was really cool, and while it's dated somewhat, I think it's aged pretty well.   Does anyone remember back then how the video for Leave It was somewhat of an event? They had something like 20 different variant videos for that song using at what that time was pretty cool cutting-edge technology.   I must admit that their videos back then did put Yes on my radar screen in a way that might not have happened otherwise, as I didn't listen to the radio anywhere near as much as I watched videos. Still, had MTV not existed, I probably would have listened to the radio more, so it's a difficult point to argue and so hard to play the what if game. MTV's influence was so huge back then that you pretty much HAD to make videos.   Even with those songs on MTV, however, I didn't become a Yes fan until a few years later when I was really ready for all-out prog. I remember my brother had 90125 when it came out, but at the time I didn't really care much for the other songs other than Owner of a Lonely Heart and Leave It - years later I would get into most of the songs from that album, but even today I rate every Yes albums of theirs from 1970-1978 significantly higher. Leave It was cool when it came out. Still love it now. The Turkish Steam bath effect of It Can Happen has not aged well though...   But all pale when it comes to this Kilimanjaro of cheese. The shoulder pads, the crystal guitar, the jet, the campfire, the mullets, it can only be....."I EAT AT CHEZ NOUS!!!!!"     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqJL7YcDgpQ   Has Chris Squire ever had good hair? Jon Anderson and wearing white, he clearly chops his spaghetti. Does Tony Kaye even know what a piano accordion does? Who flew the plane?   Questions....   That video is bad, but it's pretty par for the course for mid to late 80's cheesy videos that were so prevalent back then. Rush had some pretty cheesy ones too.   It kind of fit the music though, as while Love Will Find A Way is a catchy song, by that point they were devolving into musical cheesiness anyway. Best forgotten IMHO...

[ghostworks]

QUOTE (Hatchetaxe&saw @ Sep 27 2010, 08:16 AM)

Wow, 7 pages on Tormato. Who'da thunk it?

to be fair, we've spent a large® amount of time discussing every Yes album besides Tormato...

 

(but who's counting?)

[rushgoober]

[Hatchetaxe&saw]

[Mystic Slipperman]

QUOTE (ghostworks @ Sep 24 2010, 02:45 PM)

QUOTE (rushgoober @ Sep 24 2010, 02:02 PM) ...when you say "they've 'restored' the original ocean/synth/guitar intro to RSOGod (about 2:00 extra minutes)," what do you mean exactly?  Are you saying that the version of The Revealing Science of God is actually 2 minutes longer than the one on previous cd issues?  If so, I guess I'm curious to hear that, but I don't want them messing around with it!  Unless of course that means that the original album had that song 2 minutes longer and previous cd issues cropped the song for some reason?  I'm confused now... ^ when TFTO was originally released, Eddie Offord & the band edited the song to begin with Jon's vocals   when Bill Inglot (@ Rhino) remastered TFTO, the original master tapes revealed the original intro, and the decision was made (although I don't know by whom) to 'add it in'   FWIW, that intro is on the studio run-through as well, so the song was obviously intended to be that way   funny though - after all that, I prefer the original edit (that exists on all but the Rhino version) - it's certainly more dramatic As do I. The ambient intro is interesting.....but I like the originially released intro better.

[rushgoober]

[rushgoober]

[Hatchetaxe&saw]

[ghostworks]

[thelocator]

QUOTE (Hatchetaxe&saw @ Sep 27 2010, 11:02 AM)

I think Magnificiation is marvellously consistent, let down only by Anderson's twee Soft As A Dove.

The verbose oracle of Prog deems this assessment to be correct...I think that Magnification is easily their BEST and most consistent offering Post-90125...That's not to say that I'm not into all the others...And, if 'Keystudio' were a proper release instead of a hodgepodge, maybe that would be their B&MC.