Relayer

Relayer
Studio album by Yes
Released 13 December, 1974
Recorded August–October 1974 in England on Eddie Offord's mobile equipment
Genre Progressive rock
Length 40:31
Label Atlantic
Producer Yes, Eddie Offord
Yes chronology
Tales from Topographic Oceans
(1973)
Relayer
(1974)
Going for the One
(1977)
Jon Anderson albums chronology
Olias of Sunhillow
(1976)

Relayer is the seventh studio album from the English progressive rock band Yes, released in 1974 on Atlantic Records. It is the only Yes studio album to feature Patrick Moraz, who replaced keyboardist Rick Wakeman earlier in the year. Relayer reached #4 in the UK (remaining 8 weeks in the Top 40) and #5 in the US (remaining 16 weeks in the Top 200).

Contents

Background

After the ambitious concept double 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, previously of the bands Refugee and Mainhorse, as a replacement while this album was well into production. The album title comes from the lyrics of "The Remembering (High The Memory)" from Tales from Topographic Oceans.

Cover artwork

As with most of Yes' previous albums, Relayer features artwork by Roger Dean. The CD release features two additional paintings by Dean.

Recording

The album was recorded at Chris Squire's home in Virginia Water, Surrey, UK, August–October 1974, with Yes and Eddie Offord as producers. It was mixed at Advision Studios, London, autumn 1974. The recording/mixing engineers were Offord and Genaro Rippo.[1]

The recording made use of synthesizers and percussive sounds not found on any other Yes album. Patrick Moraz used equipment which was still in prototype stage (for example, a Vako Orchestron, used for the string sounds throughout the album) to colour the sound effects on the instrumental/collage section of Gates of Delirium. For example, the whooping and wheezing sounds ("electric slinky") about midway through the track were created by one such synthesizer. Jon Anderson recalled (in the 2003 CD booklet) that 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.

Musical style

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 lyrics about the futility of war and a lengthy instrumental middle section portraying 'battle' with galloping rhythms, martial melodies, dissonant harmonies, and clashing sound effects. The final section, in which the drive of the previous sixteen minutes is 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 mostly instrumental piece that echoes the then-popular jazz fusion of Mahavishnu Orchestra and Return To Forever. "To Be Over" features complex, melodic arrangements of guitar and electric sitar (at one point quoting a theme from Tales from Topographic Oceans), and relatively straightforward lyrics.

All the guitars used on Gates of Delirium are Telecasters, according to Howe; [2] prior to this recording he had generally used a Gibson. On To Be Over and the last parts of Gates of Delirium, a pedal steel guitar is used.[3] Squire uses a Fender bass on To Be Over rather than his usual Rickenbacker. Bill Martin (in his book The Music of Yes) recalled how, as a teenager, he saw the band performing live in Atlanta in late 1974. As they opened with Sound Chaser, then still-unreleased and very unlike anything they had previously recorded, Martin's first thought was that the band had gone crazy.[4]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [5]

A special promotional only, white label, "banded for airplay" version of the LP was available to U.S. radio stations in 1974. It has the track "The Gates of Delirium" broken into three segments: the opening vocal section, the instrumental "battle" middle section, and the "Soon" final section, with slight fades between each to aid with on-air segues. This was done to try to increase Relayer's radio exposure, as most radio stations would provide only limited, if any, air time to a 22-minute song. The edit of "Soon" resulting from this treatment was subsequently released as a single in the U.S.

The critical reaction to Relayer, coming after a predecessor that many critics felt was pretentious and long-winded, was mixed. However, it was still a commercial success, with many observers later considering it vastly underrated.[6]

Reissue

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. While most 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.

Track listing

All songs written by Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Alan White and Patrick Moraz except where noted.

No. Title Length
1. "The Gates of Delirium
  • I."Prelude"
  • II."Battle"
  • III."Soon""  
21:50
2. "Sound Chaser"   9:26
3. "To Be Over"   9:06
Bonus tracks (2003 re-issue)
No. Title Length
4. "Soon (Single version)" (Jon Anderson) 4:18
5. "Sound Chaser (Single version)"   3:13
6. "The Gates of Delirium (Studio run-through)"   21:16

Personnel

Production

Charts

Album

Year Chart Position
1975 Billboard Pop Albums 5[7]
1975 UK Albums Chart 4[8]

Reissues

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

References

  1. ^ "Production credits". www.discogs.com. http://www.discogs.com/Yes-Relayer/release/2326580. Retrieved 17 September 2011. 
  2. ^ The Steve Howe Guitar Collection, 1994, p. 43
  3. ^ The Steve Howe Guitar Collection, 1994, p. 47
  4. ^ Bill Martin, The Music Of Yes. Open Court Books, Chicago IL, 1997
  5. ^ Ruhlmann, William. Album review Yes Relayer at Allmusic. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
  6. ^ "Top Pop Albums 1955-2001", Joel Whitburn, c.2002
  7. ^ Billboard album charts info - Yes Relayer at Allmusic. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
  8. ^ "UK chart history - Yes Relayer". www.chartstats.com. http://www.chartstats.com/release.php?release=37814. Retrieved 16 September 2011.