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Rating: In 1980, something incredible happens: Yes announces that the founding members, Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman, have been replaced by... Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes, better known as BUGGLES. Yes, the very same inventors of Bubble-gum music, authors of the ultimate hit Video Killed The Radio Star, which brought the first success to the newly born MTV.
The two step in as both musicians and writers, and believe it or not, Yes really needed them. The previous album, Tormato, was now old and chaotic, with synthetic sounds dominating the short compositions of the album. With Drama, the goal is not to erase the old sound but to renew and make it more contemporary. The two Buggles have always been fans of Yes, which makes the task easier. Additionally, they are excellent musicians with good ideas, and the result is surprising.
The beginning is entrusted to Machine Messiah, a beautiful piece in its opening featuring a great rhythmic section by Squire and White, with razor-like synths by Downes. Over it all, Howe's guitar reigns superbly. Horn delivers an excellent vocal performance; he doesn’t have the same timbre as Anderson, but he is equally pleasant and engaging. White Car, the next track, is a typical Buggles song: surreal lyrics and minimal music. Howe, on the other hand, showcases a disco-echoing guitar in the following track, Does It Really Happen?, which in Italy was used as the opening for a musical TV show. The song is well-constructed and executed, just like Into The Lens, with the chorus later picked up by Buggles (i'm a camera) for their own song. Run Through The Light is a piece similar to the compositions of The Police, especially in the singing, where Horn is very reminiscent of Sting. The conclusion, entrusted to Tempus Fugit, offers listeners a great performance by White and Squire, so much so that it was included in their last tour in 2003.
Shortly after the support tour, the band definitively splits, but the album's legacy will be felt when in 1983, the band Cinema with White and Squire, calls on Anderson for the debut album and Horn for production. The group changes its name to Yes and... 90125 will mark a new beginning with different sounds not always embraced by the old fans.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Machine Messiah (10:26)
PART 1
Run down a street where the glass shows that summer has gone
Age in the doorways, resenting the pace of the dawn.
All of them standing in line
All of them waiting for time.
From time, the great helaer,
The machine messiah is born.
Cables that carry the life to the cities we build
Threads that link diamonds of light to the satanic mills
Ah, to see in every way
That, we feel it every day, and know that
Maybe we'll change
Offered the chance
To finally unlearn our lessons and alter our stance.
PART 2
Friends make their way into systems of chance
Friends make their way of escape into systems of chance
Escape to freedom, I need to be there
Waiting and watching, the tables are turning
I'm waiting and watching
I need to be there.
I care to see them walk away
And, to be there when they say
They will return.
Machine, machine messiah
The mindless search for a higher controller
Take me to the fire and hold me
Show me the strength of your singular eye.
PART 3
History dictating symptoms of ruling romance
Claws at the shores of the water upon which we dance
All of us standing in line
All of us waiting for time
To feel it all the way
And to be there when they say they know that
Maybe we'll change
Offered the chance
To finally unlearn our lessons and alter our stance.
Machine, machine messiah
Take me into the fire.
Hold me, machine messiah
And show me
The strength of your singular eye.
02 White Car (01:23)
I see a man in a white car
Move like a ghost on the skyline
Take all your dreams
And you throw them away
Man in a white car.
04 Into the Lens (08:35)
Memories, how they fade so fast
Look back, that is no escape
Tied down, now you see too late.
Lovers, they will never wait.
I am a camera
Take heart, I could never let you go
And you, always let the feeling show
Love us all, how you never broke your heart
You lose them
If you feel the feeling start.
I am a camera, camera, camera
And you, may find time will blind you
This to just remind you
All is meant to be.
Here, by the waterside
There, where the lens is wide
You and me
By the sea
Taken in tranquility.
Taken, taken so easily
To pass into glass reality
Transform, to transfer, to energy.
Taken, taken, so easily
To pass into glass reality
Transformer, transferring energy.
05 Run Through the Light (04:44)
I asked my love to give me shelter
And all she offered me were dreams
Of all the moments spent together
That move like never ending streams.
Run to the light
Everything is alright
Run thro' the light of day
You run to the light of night
And every movement made together
Till every thought was just the same
And all the pieces fit forever
In the game.
Welcome to the light
Now everything is okay
Run thro' the light of night
You run to the light of day.
06 Tempus Fugit (05:16)
(Yes, yes)
(Yes, yes)
(Yes, yes)
Born in the night, she would run like a leopard
That freaks at the sight of a mind close beside herself
And the nearer I came, how the country would change
She was using the landscape to hide herself
More in the mind than the body this feeling
A sense at the end like a circular line
That is drawn at an angle I see when I'm with you
To navigate waters and finally answer to yes
If you were there you would want to be near me
Innocence, you could hold the materials
And though nothing would really be living
It would shock your fall into landing light
In the north sky, time flies fast to the morning
The cold of the dawn, it meant nothing to us
You were keeping your best situation, an answer to yes
(Yes, yes) And the moment I see you
(Yes, yes) It's so good to be near you
(Yes, yes) And the feeling you give me
(Yes, yes) Makes me want to be with you
(Yes, yes) From the moment you tell me yes
If you could see all the roads I have travelled
Towards some unusable last equilibrium
Run like an athlete and die like a dead beaten speed freak
An answer to all of your answers to yes
In the north sky, time flies faster than morning
The cold of the dawn it meant nothing to us
You were keeping your best situation, an answer to yes
(Yes, yes) And the moment I see you
(Yes, yes) It's so good to be near you
(Yes, yes) And the feeling you give me
(Yes, yes) Makes me want to be with you
(Yes, yes) If we wait for an answer
(Yes, yes) Will the silence be broken
(Yes, yes) Should we wait for an answer
(Yes, yes) Do we leave it unspoken
(Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes . . .)
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Other reviews
By Valeriorivoli
Finally, you can listen to Yes for an hour without getting worn out by the virtuosity.
What a piece, poignant, epic, martial, unforgettable.
By Ilovemusic
‘Drama’ captures a bold new direction for Yes without losing the band’s creative spark.
A landmark moment that proved Yes could reinvent themselves and thrive.
