Relayer

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Relayer
Relayer cover
Studio album by Yes
Released December 13, 1974
Recorded August-October 1974
Genre Progressive rock
Length 40:31
Label Atlantic Records
Producer(s) Yes and Eddie Offord
Professional reviews
Yes chronology
Tales from Topographic Oceans
(1973)		 Relayer
(1974)		 Yesterdays
(1975)


Relayer is the seventh studio album by the progressive rock band Yes. Recorded and released in 1974, it is the only studio album to feature Patrick Moraz, who replaced popular keyboardist Rick Wakeman earlier in the year.

Contents

[edit] History

After the ambitious double-concept album Tales from Topographic Oceans, Rick Wakeman left Yes to resume his solo career. The band auditioned several prospective replacements, the closest contender being the Greek keyboardist Vangelis. He did not become a member of Yes, but these auditions paved the way for several future collaborations between Vangelis and Jon Anderson. The band finally chose Swiss-born Patrick Moraz as a replacement while this album was well into production. The album title is from lyrics of "The Remembering (High The Memory)" from Tales.

Relayer has the same song format as 1972's Close to the Edge—a long epic on the first side, and two nine-minute pieces on the second—but employs a radically different musical style. "The Gates of Delirium" is a dense, 22-minute piece that was inspired by Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. It features lengthy improvisations by each member of the band, sometimes clashing intentionally with one another. Featuring lyrics about the futility of war, it remains one of the most musically aggressive songs ever produced by the band. The final section, in which the aggression of the previous 16 minutes is suddenly replaced by a gentle melody and a lyrical prayer for peace, was released as a U.S. single under the title "Soon" in early 1975. "Sound Chaser" is a jazzy, mostly instrumental piece that echoes King Crimson. "To Be Over" is the gentlest piece on the album, and features complex, melodic arrangements of guitar and electric sitar.

Relayer features artwork by Roger Dean. The CD release features two additional paintings by Dean. The cover was later used in a Pepsi-Cola ad[citation needed], as the t-shirt worn by Shakira.

The critical reaction to Relayer, coming after a predecessor that many felt went over the breaking point, was mixed. However, it was still a commercial success with many observers later considering it vastly underrated.[citation needed]. No doubt, many were surprised at the sudden departure in terms of sound which Yes had made on this disc. The atmosphere and sonic quality are very different from Close To The Edge or most of Tales From Topographic Oceans (the one track there which could be said to point towards Relayer is The Ancient with its free-form, spinning rhythms, arabic-tinged percussion and its frantic, dramatic guitar work.) The vocals on Relayer are more dramatic, emotionally charged with aggression and even spiteful hostility. And the guitar has stepped up to the front (in consequence of Wakeman's sudden departure) and shows a new hard edge (Gates of Delirium is "all Telecaster" according to Howe ( The Steve Howe Guitar Collection, 1994, p.43); before he had generally and famously used Gibson); on To Be Over & the last parts of Gates of Delirum a pedal steel guitar is used (Steve Howe G.C. p.47). Squire's bass lines and White's drumming throughout the album are of amazing dynamic range and complexity, without sounding like musical athletics for its own sake. Bill Martin (in his book The music of Yes) recalls how he, as a teenager, saw the band doing a live concert in Atlanta in late 1974. As they opened with Sound Chaser, then still unreleased and very unlike anything they'd previously recorded, Martin tells us his first thought was that the band had gone crazy.

Relayer was remastered and reissued on Rhino Records in 2003 with three bonus tracks, including a complete studio run-through of Gates of Delirium with partly different or improvised lyrics. It's interesting to note that while much of the keyboards are not yet present and some of the structure of the song is different, the complex rhythm track for the "battle" section has the same layout as in the finished version.

Happy Birthday by Roger Dean. Featured inside the CD booklet.

Other painting by Roger Dean in the CD booklet.

[edit] Recording

Recorded at Chris Squire's home in Virginia Water, Surrey, UK, August-October 1974. Mixed at Advision Studios, London, autumn 1974 (some overdubs probably done at Advision). Produced by Yes and Eddie Offord. Recording/mixing engineer (apart from Offord): unknown.

The recording made use of synths and percussive sounds not found on any other Yes album. Patrick Moraz got equipment (from its developers) which was still in prototype stage and which coloured the sound effects on the instrumental/collage section of Gates of Delirium, for example the whooping and wheezing sounds ("electric slinky") suggestive of wraiths or people being torched alive about midway through the track, and Jon Anderson recalls (in the 2003 CD booklet) how he and Alan White would stop by a trashed-car park/replacement shop on the way to Squire's house and buy discarded metal parts (brakes, clutches etc) which were to be used as percussion. This contributes to the dense, concrete music-like sound of Gates. The album also probably has more tape and echo effects than just about any other Yes recording.

[edit] Track listing

All songs written by Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Alan White & Patrick Moraz.

  1. "The Gates of Delirium" – 21:50
  2. "Sound Chaser" – 9:26
  3. "To Be Over" – 9:06

[edit] Bonus tracks (2003 re-issue)

  1. "Soon (Single version)" – 4:18
  2. "Sound Chaser (Single version)" – 3:13
  3. "The Gates of Delirium (Studio run through)" – 21:16

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Sources

"To be sourced properly"

  • Relayer, CD booklet essay, Doug & Glenn Gotlieb, c.2003[citation needed]
  • AllMusicGuide.com
  • "Top Pop Albums 1955-2001", Joel Whitburn, c.2002[citation needed]
  • Bill Martin, The Music Of Yes. Open Court Books, Chicago IL, 1997

[edit] Charts

Album

Year Chart Position
1975 Billboard Pop Albums 5

[edit] Reissues

1988 - Atlantic - CD
1994 - Atlantic - CD (Remastered )
1998 - JPN limited edition (LP-style sleeve)
2003 - Rhino - CD (Remastered with Bonus Tracks )

Yes
Jon Anderson | Chris Squire | Steve Howe | Rick Wakeman | Alan White
Peter Banks | Tony Kaye | Bill Bruford | Patrick Moraz | Geoff Downes | Trevor Horn | Trevor Rabin | Billy Sherwood | Igor Khoroshev
Discography
Studio albums: Yes | Time and a Word | The Yes Album | Fragile | Close to the Edge | Tales from Topographic Oceans | Relayer | Going for the One | Tormato | Drama | 90125 | Big Generator | Union | Talk | Open Your Eyes | The Ladder | Magnification
Live albums: Yessongs | Yesshows | 9012Live: The Solos | Keys to Ascension | Keys to Ascension 2 | House of Yes: Live from House of Blues
Compilations: Yesterdays | Classic Yes | Yesstory | The Ultimate Yes: 35th Anniversary Collection
Remix albums: Yes Remixes
Video releases: Yes: Live - 1975 at Q.P.R.
Box sets: Yesyears | In a Word: Yes (1969 - ) | The Word is Live | Essentially Yes
Related Articles
Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe
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