Fine, you guys didn't care for my prog rock masterpiece yesterday, so let's move forward to 1983. The band Yes has a long and convoluted history of personnel changes. Things were bad after 1978's poorly received Tormato and vocalist Jon Anderson and keyboardist Rick Wakemen left the band. After another shitty album with their replacements the band was pretty much over. Bassist Chris Squire (the only guy that has played on every Yes album... weird) and drummer Alan White were working on some non Yes material and enlisted pre-Wakemen keyboardist Tony Kaye who hadn't played with them for over a decade. Jon Anderson liked what he heard and jumped back on board. Confused yet?
Yeah, so these aging prog hipies turned it into an official Yes project and put out an album of 80s pop. Sounds like the ultimate recipe for disaster. Yet it ended up being their biggest selling album ever, thanks to the brilliant FM classic Owner of a Lonely Heart. Plenty of people watching the video on Mtv didn't even realize these guys had been writing 30 min psychedelic odysseys a few years prior. A number of other singles did well at the time, and while none of them reach the pure pop perfection of Lonely Heart, the song Leave It comes close. A hint of cringe at the beginning, but when those vocal harmonies come in at 1 min I'm sold.
Previously in BYT Fav Song of the Day:
- 2/13: BYT Fav Song of the Day: The Hood Internet
- 2/10: BYT Fav Song of the Day: Travis Morrison Hellfighters
- 2/7: BYT Fav Song of the Day: Bryan Ferry
- 2/3: BYT Fav Song of the Day: The Misfits
- 2/2: BYT Fav Song of the Day: Led Zeppelin
- 1/30: BYT Fav Song of the Day: Lefty Frizzell
- 1/27: BYT Fav Song of the Day: The Knife
- 1/25: BYT Fav Song of the Day: The Darcys
- 1/18: BYT Fav Song of the Day: Aimee Mann
- 1/17: BYT Fav Song of the Day: Super Furry Animals
God loves a cheerful giver.
This whole record is full of some juicy melodies. You can't discount the involvement of Trevor Horn though, as he was a commercial tsunami by this point.
Yeah - my first draft went into the Buggles connection but then I realized it was getting more tedious than it already was.
I still don't understand why Steve Howe wasn't involved tho.
Wait, wait, wait - Drama is NOT a shitty album in the slightest... Machine Messiah, hello? And Steve Howe was on that one.
But, y'know...I had the Buggles on the ipod this morning so - grain of salt.
Right - I meant shitty mostly in terms of sales/reception.
And you know, Trevor trying to be Jon Anderson which just feels disingenuous no matter what.
Agreed on the T. Horn point...but I'll say it: it's my favorite Yes record.
Awaiting strong rebuke...
To be honest, I haven't spent that much time with it as I only listened to early Yes during my new wave hating high school years. I will give it another spin though just for you.
Cale, today and yesterday.... amazing!
Every once in awhile when I go home, my Dad and I end up driving to Smith Point while listening to Anderson's Olias of Sunhollow. Sort of a tradition, I guess. Now tell me you're going to do a King Crimson Day next, yeah?
Sounds like a plan
wait, can you put up And You And I? all this talk of Yes made me want to hear it and i can't find my CD.
Yeah, I actually was gonna post You & I (remastered) yesterday but went with Roundabout instead.