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December 28, 2003
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Source: Yescography
http://yescography.tripod.com/drama.htm
Review: Drama -- Release Date August 18, 1980
By Henry Potts
One of Yes's most controversial albums: this was the first time that the
band had changed two band members at once and it is the only album without
Jon Anderson. Yet, in some ways, the album's style is closer to 'classic
Yes' than its predecessor, Tormato, with a style harkening back to The Yes
Album. The songs are much darker than Anderson's usual positivity and
Squire comes to the fore as the main composer; comparisons could also be
made with Squire's Fish Out of Water solo album. There are also hints of
what was to come with "Run with the Fox" (see YesYears) and 90125.
I should admit that I am a huge fan of Drama (and, with Anthony Lawless (né
Hobbs), coined the term 'Panthers' for fans of the album), but many other
Yes fans are very negative about it. So, the following may be a biased
perspective. Steve Howe, Chris Squire and Alan White all play
fantastically. Geoff Downes, the first Yes keyboardist (the first Yes
member at all) to have completed a music degree, is equally strong. As
Downes has often said, as Yes's fourth keyboardist, he had an easier time
than Trevor Horn. Jon Anderson is hard man to follow and, although Horn's
vocal style has some similarities, this change is the most noticeable.
However, personally, I think Horn's vocals are very strong. In some ways,
the more striking change is in his lyrical style. It is also worth noting
that Squire is much to the fore in the vocals too and effectively joint
lead on some songs.
After Tormato, the band re-grouped at the end of 1979 for sessions in Paris
with Roy Thomas Baker (who had produced Queen, most famously). The sessions
went badly and the resultant material was poor. White then broke his foot
in a roller skating accident, which brought the sessions to an end. All bar
one of the known songs from these November sessions have since been
released. "Tango" and "Never Done Before" (known on bootlegs as "Flower
Girl") were included on In a Word, while four pieces are included on the
2004 Rhino expanded & remastered release of Drama. The one, known,
unreleased, Paris song was "Everybody Loves You" (later recorded by Jon
Anderson for his solo album Song of Seven); the first track listing seen
for the 2004 Drama, on hmv.co.jp in early Jan 2004 (nearly two months
before the release data), included "Everybody Loves You" as a seventeenth
track, which may indicate that it was planned, but it would not fit on an
album already over 79 minutes long.
Of the four songs on the Rhino Drama, "Golden Age" was cannibalised by both
Rick Wakeman (in the track "Maybe '80" on Rock n' Roll Prophet) and Jon
Anderson (for parts of "Some Are Born" on Song of Seven), while "Dancing
Through the Light", was an early version of "Run Through the Light".
The traditional story is that, at this point, in Paris, Anderson and
Wakeman decided to leave the band. In actuality, the process was more
complex. The band returned to their respective homes, unable to agree on a
future direction. Squire, Howe and White soon re-grouped and started
working on new material, what was to form the basis to Drama. It appears
that they had soon further developed "Run Through the Light" and had early
versions of "Does It Really Happen?" and "Tempus Fugit". Five pieces were
well-known from bootlegs, the aforementioned three and two untitled pieces.
An edit of "Untitled I" was released as "Crossfire" on In a Word, while
"Untitled II" is on the Rhino Drama as "Song No. 4 (Satellite)". "Song No.
4" was also tried by XYZ (an abortive project involving Squire, White and
Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page around 1981) in a vocal form, known variously as
"Telephone Lies" or "Telephone Secrets". The Rhino Drama also includes
"Have We Really Got to Go Go Through This" from the same period (but not
previously bootlegged), a very early version of a piece played live by the
Drama band and traditionally known as "Go Through This". "Does It Really
Happen?" actually dates back further to around the time of Tormato. An
early version with Anderson and Wakeman is on the Rhino Tormato as
"Everybody's Song".
At some point in early 1980, Squire, Howe and White presented their
material to Anderson, although precisely how far they had got in developing
it is unclear, and there was some attempt to make a go of things. (There
seems also to have been some contact with Wakeman, although he seems not to
have met up with the other four.) However, Anderson and the Drama trio
could not agree on a musical direction: Anderson did not like their
material and they did not like Anderson's ideas. Moreover, there were
divisions in the band of a non-musical kind. Yes's finances had been
worsening as the seventies ended: a thorough accounting process headed by
Brian Lane suggested that Anderson had been spending more than his fair
share. This led to animosity with the other band members, particularly
between Anderson and Howe and between Jenny Anderson (Jon's wife) and Nikki
Squire (Chris's wife). Lane proposed a scheme to adjust payments from the
forthcoming 1980 tour, but Anderson's own investigations blamed others for
the band's poor financial situation and he backed out of the proposed
scheme. Squire and Howe purportedly asked Anderson to leave if he would not
pay back the money he owed. Wakeman did not see a future for the band
without Anderson and went too. (The feud lasted some time: Nikki Squire was
said to still be furious with Anderson when he re-joined the band before
90125. However, following the success of 90125, Atlantic 'discovered' that
they owed Yes a large sum from activity in the seventies, which helped
explained the band's dire financial situation in 1980 and Anderson and Howe
settled their differences, which would eventually lead to ABWH.)
Meanwhile, Horn and Downes, who had been working together for some years,
had recently found success with the single "Video Killed the Radio Star"
from the Buggles' debut album, The Age of Plastic. Booked into the next
door studio as Yes (or what was left of Yes) and sharing the same manager
in Lane, the two bands soon met. Horn and Downes were both huge Yes fans
and Horn soon tried to sell Yes a song, entitled "We Can Fly from Here".
Squire was interested and there was a session with Horn, Downes, Squire and
Bill Bruford to try the song. (Why Bruford? It appears that White was
temporarily unavailable and Bruford was filling in.) There appears also to
have been a later session with the full Drama line-up performing this song.
Many were surprised when a version of "We Can Fly from Here" failed to
appear on the Rhino remaster. Trevor Horn has a recording and offered it to
the band, but there was an unexplained breakdown in communication between
Warner/Rhino and Yes's management on one side and Jill Sinclair (Horn's
wife and manager) and the use of the track was never sorted.
Soon Horn and Downes were working with Yes, although it was some time
before Squire actually broke the news to Horn that Anderson was not going
to appear, possibly because there was still some possibility he would.
However, with Yes having been spending money before they had generated it,
the band were already committed to a tour and an album was required. Drama
was quickly put together, Horn hurrying to write lyrics. The tracking
session for "Tempus Fugit" on the Rhino remaster has Horn still developing
a lyric.
Although the album is credited as having being written by all five band
members, most of the music was either from Horn/Downes or Squire/White,
with Horn doing most of the lyrics and, certainly, all five members were
involved in arrangements. "Machine Messiah", which Downes has said is his
favourite piece on the album, appears to be the most group written. Part of
the song appears to have been by Horn/Downes, but there were considerable
contributions from the others. Downes quotes Charles-Marie Widor
(1844-1937) in his keyboard parts. White claims the odd-time middle
instrumental section as his. "White Car", a tribute to Gary Numan, is by
Horn/Downes. The music on this short piece was entirely produced on a
Fairlight synthesizer and Squire/Howe/White purportedly do not appear on
the track.
"Does It Really Happen?", "Run Through the Light" and "Tempus Fugit", as
mentioned above, had been developed by Squire/Howe/White before they hooked
up with Horn/Downes. "Into the Lens" was a Buggles piece and their own
version, entitled "I am a Camera", was released on the subsequent Buggles
album Adventures in Modern Recording. The lyrics are based on "Goodbye to
Berlin" by Christopher Isherwood (1906-1986), a semi-autobiographical novel
about Berlin during the Weimar Republic.
"I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not
thinking. Recording the man shaving at the window opposite and the woman in
the kimono washing her hair. Some day, all this will have to be developed,
carefully printed, fixed." (from "Goodbye to Berlin", 1939)
The novel (and the loosely-linked, "Mr Norris Changes Trains", 1935) were
turned into a play entitled "I am a Camera", which in turn was made into a
film (1955). The play was then converted into a musical, "Cabaret", also
filmed (1972).
Early dates on the tour went on sale before the new line up was announced
(possibly before the new line up had been determined). When the
announcement came, it was a huge surprise to the music press and to fans.
Live, the band played almost the whole album and two further pieces: the
aforementioned "We Can Fly from Here" (which the five Drama members appear
to have also demo'd) and "Go Through This". Earlier shows had a Downes solo
spot referred to as the "Man in a White Car Suite", while later shows
included a largely a cappella version of "White Car" as well. The one piece
omitted from the usual set list was "Run Through the Light", although one
report has it that this too was played live at least once. On tour, Horn
had to sing prior Yes numbers, a challenge particularly as Squire argued
against transposing the material to a lower key. Horn, who had never sung
live to such large audiences before, found the tour an enormous strain. His
voice worsened as the tour progressed and British audiences later on the
tour were more vocally hostile than the American audiences had been. Boots
from later on the tour reveal some poor singing (and Squire and Howe on
backing vocals were weak too), although on the Drama material, Horn's live
performances are generally better. Horn has said he has had recurring
nightmares about the experience since and he would not perform again live
until the late 1990s!
After the tour and Horn's decision to leave Yes, the band soon fell apart.
Squire and White announced they would be pursuing other directions. Howe
and Downes, the only remaining members, decided not to try to continue the
band (although they were soon playing together again in Asia). Early in
1981, Yes ended.
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