YES - The Gates of Delirium, Sound Chaser & To Be Over | REACTION | Relayer (1974)
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- Опубликовано: 4 окт 2024
- #thegatesofdelirium #relayer #yes
The Metal Junkie reacts to the entire Yes album Relayer from 1974
Track list:
1. The Gates Of Delirium
2. Sound Chaser
3. To Be Over
Fair Use Disclaimer: I do not own any pictures/videos contained within this video.
"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."
Let me know in the comments what you would like me to react to in the future.
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The song was Yes's attempt to put Tolstoy's War and Peace to music and has 3 definite sections - escalating conflict, all out war, and then the aftermath and search for peace and meaning - helps to understand a long and complex song. The bandmembers at the time were impressed with what other really technical bands like Mahavishnu Orchestra and King Crimson were doing at the time and really wanted to show they could match them . They came up with this album which is both insanely virtuosic throughout and yet, like most of Yes's early prog , they maintained funk and groove and melody throughout. Ridiculously good . When I first listened to this album in 1974 I was blown away and can remember thinking this music is 50 years ahead of its time . Now 50 years later I still feel the same way .
I agree with you. I have been a YES fan since I first heard TYA in 72 when I was 21. I'm still a fan 50 years later, though I prefer GFTO, RELAYER, & their previous albums the best.
PURE ECSTACY !!!!!! As a lover and a witness to them doing this live as a teen since the 70's, I still can't comprehend how they even conceptualized, let alone, made this music , if I can even call it that! Absolutely a work of genius beyond all anything ever created! And the fact that they reached this level on their previous 2 albums as well is simply mind-blowing! It was the 70s so whenever we went to a YES show, ELLIS D. had to joined us. Afterward we'd remain stunned in the parking lot for an hour trying to figure what had just happened to us waiting for our minds to return
Sound Chaser to this day.. Is heavy.. Miss this band dearly
I’m 56 years old. I just love to watch young people descovering the fantastic sounds from the good times : 60,70,80’s pop/rock (and a little from 90’s)
Hugs from Brazil 🎉
I am 64 and totally agree with you. We thought our music was something special back then, now we come to realise just how great it was. Now that it is being rediscovered by the young, just maybe new music has a chance to become great and inventive once again.
Me too 66 and I've seen YES 36 times. Relayer tour was my first blessing in 75
Also agree. Some reactors, including our Young Master Nic here, really "get off" on our music, it's all over their faces. We kinda blew it on, oh, Fossil Fuel, Drugs, Plastic in the Oceans, Climate Change etc.....but, we sure had great music!
@@lesblatnyak5947
I love this story!❤
The Gates of Delirium. Probably the greatest piece of music ever written by the greatest band that has graced this planet. Based on Tolstoy's War and Peace. You really enloyed this truly amazing music with the most unique incredible voice of Jon Anderson.
Yes, it's easily one of their top three (and that being without Wakeman!). And I have a huge soft spot for "Yes and "Time And A Word", not least for the dynamite interplay by Bruford and Squire already then. Greatest band ever on the planet? I put Genesis before Yes if I have to choose, due to greater emotional and musical depth ... but it's lucky one doesn't *have* to choose! 😉
But at the end of the day ... there is no question of the greatest band ever: *The Beatles* - easily!
Fully agree
With you all the way. ❤
No..
But i can discuss that stament with the Yesshows live versión...!!!.. Really better than studio..
@@carlosmachucabustamante2965 Not for me. The Yesshows version is great don't get me wrong but it's missing the sound effects which imo are crucial to this track.
Relayer is the peak of Yes creativity, IMO.
I'm 68 years old and have seen YES live 49 times. I'm glad you have joined the YES World. YES is the best band, ever. Period.
^ This.❤
the ending of To Be Over is the most blissful sound ive ever heard
The "Soon" section, imo, was the last great melody/collaboration from Steve & Jon, (I'll get hammered for that).
Relayer is a "big ask" for a new/casual Yes fan.
You did it though Nic.
Way to go.
A 50 year old masterpiece from the masters of music! Nobody does it better than the greatest band there ever was or ever will be!🤩
👍😎
Oh, totally!!!!
Yep. The greatest band of our time.
In our humble opinions of course.
YES❣️❣️❣️The greatest band on this or any other planet❗️❗️❗️🪐🪐🪐🎵🎼🎶🔈🔉🔊😎
^ This!❤
"The pen won't stay the demons wings, the hour approach's pounding out the devils sermon"
Sounds like the news on tv today.
RELAYER AND TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS ARE THE BEST THEY EVER DID....
It’s a masterpiece. A maze of an album with surprises around every corner. It always leaves me wishing Patrick Moraz recorded more with Yes.
His solo album 'Story of i" is a post Relayer incredible record.
I’ll definitely check it out. Thanks! And for another post Relayer recording , I’ll add Moraz and Howe performing Steve Howe Beginnings. The RUclips video is awesome.
Here too. Can you imagine Awaken done by this line up? It had it's beginnings in the Relayer sessions but because of financial constraints it was shelved. As much as i like it on GFTO, i think it would have been even better had they finished it for Relayer and i'm sure it would have been another 20 minute side long track..
@@wendellwiggins2900 YES, I second that one! A unique album, too.
If you return to Relayer [or Tales, etc] your rankings will change over and over. To Be Over has probably some of the best advice heard in any lyric ever... "dont doubt your part..." and is emblematic of their positive brand. If you get a chance see Jon while he still tours. He is one amazing 78 year old! ❤
I think this album is effing awesome. There ya go.
You're hearing a Pedal Steel/Slide Guitar on many sections of all the songs. Steve "The Maestro" doesn't just play guitar, he is The String Section for a Band that makes the most unique
music I've ever heard. I got to hear this as a teenager when it first came out, on a nice quad stereo system. This album is truly a Masterpiece, way ahead of its time. Blew my mind
as a teenager, and still blows me away 50 years later. When you have memorized the songs, it only gets more satisfying to appreciate the skill that these Master Musicians possess.
Yep. The whole album has stood the test of time so well. I feel as though future listeners will still feel like this music is ahead of THEIR time!l lol
Visionaries.
One of the many things Yes were in their time.
You need to see them play and some of your questions would be answered. Steve Howe quite frequently uses a pedal steel guitar, which is usually a country-western sort of thing, but he puts a lot of echo on it, and produces a dreamlike weirdness with it.
WHO TF gave RELAYER mixed Reviews? SMH. IT'S GENIUS! As groundbreaking, creative, imaginative, unpredictable, unimaginable, creative and adventurous as anything anyone has EVER done! even YES. ❤❤❤ Getting Moraz was a masterstroke & exactly what they needed in
74. GATES of hell, this is about WAR! Seriously! And then Chasing Sound to ascend & Be Over where we truly get to experience YES at their highest heights. Putting emotion into sound is YES's forte' & gift to the planet.
I imagine it was some uptight critics who gave it mixed reviews when it came out
^ This! ❤ @ WendellWiggins
Woot! My Fav Band and One of there Best imho. Gates is A Lot and So is Sound Chaser! The more you listen to it…the more you’ll hear. All the different contributions from each member.
Like I said there is a lot going on. Its Amazing! (Road trip Album!)
Have gotten on this ride Many times in the Past 50 years and keep coming back to this album! Hope you appreciate & Enjoy!❤
🥰Have been fortunate to see Relayer tour front row -taken to another place!!
Unforgettable ❤
Not to disparage the rest of the band, but this is a Steve Howe masterclass. If this was the only album I ever heard from him, he'd be one of my all-time favorite guitarists. It's crazy how versatile and how good he is on this album.
I think it's also Alan White's best album, and cemented his place amongst my all-time favorite drummers.
Great album Moraz's and Alan Whites Finest work. I am a fan saw them around 73 times. Close to the Edge is their masterpiece
My favorite yes album
More so than any of YES' other masterpieces, TGOD tries to capture the *emotional moods* associated with a theme, in this case, The Story Of War. From the beginning, when the talk of war is merely rhetorical, the mood is not so serious, almost whimsical at times, but as the talk of war develops & The Enemy is demonized, the mood gets more strident. Then, a pause when 2nd thoughts are entertained, only to be followed by a plunge into 100% War Fever. As the battle of armies ensues, they try to capture the ebb & flow of the battle, when mood swings between brave optimism & sober reality as the body bags are filled. This finally descends into the pure horror of battle where all the shrieking sounds & moans of dying soldiers drown out most everything else. All this ascending to the final climax of the fighting, just before the first of the three "release" moments in the epic, where the shooting stops & everyone knows that it's finally over. This is sustained for a while (best part of the song IMO) but finally breaks into the 2nd of the "release" moments, one of extraordinary beauty & emotional catharsis, which unfolds into the final mood: the sober reflection on how it was all for nothing & how they mustn't let it happen again. That of course ends with the 3rd "release", the extraordinarily peaceful strings drawing down the curtain.
The guys did a great job of this monumental achievement. Chris Squire's bass playing throughout really pulls it all together, capturing a lot of the emotional mood changes quite perceptively, IMO. The next few times you listen to it, you'll continue to shake your head in awe...
❤
Chris Squire at the time said this was going to be Yes' "funkiest" album. I'm not sure his idea of funk and Bootsy Collins' was the same, but Relayer is definitely one of the most experimental albums Yes ever made. Most fans think this was all for the good. The production is really crazy, with all those crashing car parts on side 1, and it was almost as if they didn't want the guitar and synths to sound anything like themselves. Steve was also playing a Fender Telecaster for the first time, which was a huge break from the hollow body Gibsons he'd been playing up til then. That alone helped give the album a brittle, metallic sheen. Some would also describe this album as Yes' 'coldest' (the silvery-gray album cover contributed to that.)
Personally I'm like most hard core fans and love every second of Relayer. One thing that's cool about it is you can sort of break the whole thing down by the band's three main writers: "Gates of Delirium" is clearly Jon's main contribution, "Sound Chaser" is based off a riff Chris came up with (his vocal is also most pronounced on it), and "To Be Over" is mostly Steve's (and is what can be considered the most traditionally 'Yes-y' song on the album). Nothing like it was attempted before or since, and for that reason alone it holds a special place in the catalog.
Yep. Here is a band which gave the world both Close To The Edge AND Relayer. (Or, shoukd I say Relayer and Close To The Edge? lol)
(…not to mention!!!….[insert your favorite Yes album here.])
Just amazing musical achievements. ❤
Greatest band ever. Period. It’s not even really close.
(One man’s opinion.)
Most serious Yes fans love Relayer. I like it more than Tales from Topographic Oceans.
so do I
Me too! Much more.
Musically untouchable in my opinion. Nothing like them before, or since.
🎉🎉🎉Relayer is a Masterpiece album every song is a Masterpiece. Just some Yes fans were and still is, attached to the playing of certain members of the band and when those members or member left the band, certain fans felt that sound left the band, so they don't like the new sound didn't go over so well....they felt like it wasn't the Yes sound or Signature sound that made Yes ...YES. Great reactions to this Masterpiece album by you. You are not going to get music like this EVER....not today....not ever. People, especially young people like everything "Microwave. " They don't have the time or patience for this kind of music. 😊😊😊😊😊
The last song grows on you! One of the best Yes albums. great review!
^ This! To Be Over only gets better every time you hear it. Among so many great songs, this is one of Yes’ very finest moments. The entire Relayer album. A lifetime’s worth of extremely rewarding, exhilarating study.
Your Jinjer reactions caught my attention but the YES reactions got me to subscribe. The chord progressions on Soon are some of the greatest ever, only to be surpassed in "Awaken". Haven't checked yet but I'm sure you'll be blown away with that track.
35:40 Steve's solo midway through the song is a technical masterpiece of course, but it's also strikingly emotional - the feeling of grief, loss, absence he evokes here is amazing, and it still hits me and excites me more than forty years after I first heard it. And the dramatic entry of Moraz's textured keyboards at the end of it and the lead back to the third verse are perfect!
Steve Howe's guitar playing on this album is one of the definite peaks of his entire career.
Yes is pure emotion...The voices, harmonies, Steves' pedal steel. I was fortunate to grow up in SoCal, a teen in the '70s seeing them on their Relayer tour in '75 for the first of many, many trips to the Alter.
This was a full album in those days due to the format. Incredible album.
71 yr here..YES - no words, just feeling. On your own you might want to watch YES Symphonic and they perform Gates of Delirium. Amazing...
Hell, just watch the whole concert for a visual treat..
-Peace-
Heard this just after it came out and was utterly stunned. It was as if aliens had arrived with a whole new way to make music. I thought after this everyone would make music like this. How wrong I was! Not even Yes made another album equal to this one!
The rockabilly sound could be attribited to the fact Steve Howe is playing a Fender Telecaster.
Ladies and gentlemen Chris Squire and Yes, the greatest show on earth. Relayer tour was my first time seeing YES. I was so impressed I saw YES 35 more times over forty years. 🙏🎶
You really need to hear the live version of "Gates of Delirium" from the album YesShows (you can find it on RUclips). I love the studio version, but this live version is my favorite. It's amazing to hear 5 musicians perform the song live, without any studio manipulation (and no crazy sound effects), and they REALLY BRING IT! Also, the YesShows version is recorded beautifully - so crisp and clear! Do yourself a favor and give it a listen. By the way....I don't know what the song is about either, but the first half seems to be about a war (or a battle) and the second half seems to be about peace...lol. That's good enough for me! Cheers!
Totally agree!!!!... i find Yesshows version wayyyy better....
You aaaare corect sir!
It was amazing that they were able to pull the song off live of course - and they did so in great style - but IMO the studio version is better, it has more sonic depth and complexity. And the sound effects are far from just some "flashy decorations", they're integral to the way this epic visualizes war and draining battle.
Yeah, it's one of the most epic songs ever, but the Yesshows version in particular, I can't listen to without cranking the volume all way up. The energy is insane!
Another YES Masterpiece. Absolute Genius.
I saw this whole Album performed Live, at my hometown venue in 1975, aged 19.
On the ‘Relayer Tour’. Wonderful.
Hope you get to hear ‘Tales From Topographic Oceans’. Which was 2 years earlier, 1973.
Hopefully all 4 Sides, (4 Tracks). Another Masterpiece.
🎶❤️🎶
Patrick Moraz played keyboards on this album. It was his first and only Yes album. Yes had toured with the Mahavishnu Orchestra and they started really getting into jazz fusion. Especially Jon... Moraz had more of a jazz fusion flavor so they auditioned him and he was hired on the spot. In fact some of the stuff on Relayer was recorded the first day they met him. Relayer is considered to be their fusion album . It was and still is a divisive record. Many people feel it's their best album. But a lot of other people hate it. I saw them play this on the 1976 tour. It was my first Yes concert and after seeing them at least a dozen times the 1976 tour is still my favorite.
thankfully they released moraz after this albumm as he wanted to continue in a more jazz vein
one of the great shredding albums of the early 70s. if you want something intense, it delivers.
"I may be the Metal Junkie ... but I still have a heart." LOL So true, brother! :)
He is still the best!!!!
My favorite Yes Album, and in the conversation for greatest prog album ever. I always consider DSOTM by Pink Floyd the greatest album ever, but this is not far behind. 🤘👍🤟
And now you know. Great review, thanks!
Most people feel Close to the Edge is Yes at their peak. But for me, this is it. Both have three great songs, but I always come back the Relayer and hear something new each time. And I've been listening to it since it came out. It never gets old. I'm so glad you hit this, its more metal than most metal!
Remember...Steve Howe masters 19 string instruments including a slide Mandolin. And on "To Be Over " Steve Howe plays a Satyr. 😊😊😊
Ahhhh…. Relayer….., Yess!!!
The second part of Gates is a prayer for peace. 🙏📿
Patrick Moraz on keyboards was a nice change from Wakeman.
Gates of Delirium is one of their best, if not their best.
Albums were around the 40min mark because the best qualilty was 20 min per side of an LP. Most albums were sub 40 min or just over that mark.
❤❤You get it!❤️🔥
This was an extremely enjoyable reaction to ride along with you on. I commend the expansive scope of your artistic horizons to be able to hear and appreciate so much new and strange musical wonders without getting overwhelmed. Your ears and brain are being sonically waterboarded but you're up for it! The last few minutes of To Be Over are so glorious that Steve Howe reportedly listened to it after decades away from it and was shocked at what they achieved, saying "Who WAS this band?!" I heard it tonight and said "Thank God that there is still beauty in this world." I appreciate the reminder, and you.
I love To Be Over. Especially after listening to Gates and Sound Chaser!
Yep. To Be Over gets better every time I hear it and that’s fifty years worth, now.
Maybe someday Yes will get the credit they deserve.
Yes was never really mainstream while at their (imo) creative peak. I think they're getting all the attention they deserve from all us who can appreciate them and I'm glad they followed their true spirit and didn't chase popularity in the 70's. There's always been enough of us who really appreciate what they did then.
The 80's was a different affair, where they hit more numbers than quality imo.
I'm glad they eventually rejoined their earlier path in a way. But it's all a matter of taste of course.
I loved your insights and reaction to this album. As far as i'm concerned, Relayer is the best piece of music ever created - only rivalled by the classical masters. Song structure, sound elements, compositions and technical brilliance are not seen anywhere else in the last 100 years. The only reasons why this album isn't given the accolades that it so deserves is that most people just don't understand it, or don't give it a chance to sink in with repeated listens. Awaken, the other masterpiece which appears on Going for the One, had it's beginnings during the Relayer sessions but because of budget constraints (and the negative after effects of Tales from Topographic Oceans) a double album was not possible. We could only imagine how wonderful and different it would have been if recorded during this time.
50 years old as of this year! unbelievable! Yes' most urgent and dark work imo. So haunting and captivating
Right on= the whole album
As a teenager, it took me a long time to learn to love the album. However, listening habits were completely different back then. Not enough money, too many good albums, so we held listening parties and usually listened to albums several times. I wouldn't be able to drive to this album in today's road conditions. You have to be able to fully immerse yourself in the music, then you can discover so many musical nuances, a magical musical journey even today. But it was the same with Supper's Ready, Echoes, Tarkus, Atom Mother Heart ... . Thanks!
Addendum: I'm still ambivalent about "self-realized!?!" DLP Tales Of The Topographic Ocean.
AWESOME! Its a unique album! Good Choice! Steve Howe goes off on this album. It's got a lot more jazz influence than any of their other albums. One of their top 4-5 albums for sure! LOVE IT! THX
Fav album by yes. As others have said, Gates of delirium is about the Napoleonic wars and was based on War & Peace by Tolstoy. The “sound effects” you mentioned were the sounds of the battle … guns shots screaming etc. thanks for the video man!
one of the sound effects was Alan accidently knocking over a stand hung with car parts from a junkyard...they kept it in
What a fantastic reaction! It was fun to see your expression change from puzzled at the start through to loving it at the end .
Thank you for reacting to my favourite Yes album of all !
Thanks for posting this, Relayer is a rollercoaster of an album. The prog wars were an innovative time, the member's had to have true talent, there were no computers to enhance their talent. I think "Going For The One" should be on your radar, it truly is a collection of what the band was, and of course Wakeman was back... This is music that should never be forgotten.
What you said. ❤
Yes, this is a great reaction to a great album.. ❤
Thanks so much! You’ve made a great many old Yesheads happy.
Glad you got to witness this master piece I hope you play it back from time to time. The more you hear the more you hear. Great reaction.
Thoroughly enjoyed your review of a truly masterpiece of an album. Went to the Philadelphia Spectrum to see them when this came out. What a mind blower. From Fragile, Close to the Edge, Topographic Oceans, Relayer and Going for the One YES was absolutely the most talented creative band in the 70’s. I was so privileged to be a teenager growing up in the 70’s listening to such an amazing band.
Were you at JFK in 1976?😊😊
My favorite yes song. GATES can be a difficult listen the first time due to the complexity. But take heart to know that this is the kind of song that just gets better the more and more you listen to it and memorize passages. It never grows old. I've probably heard it 40-80 times by now at the least, and I'm ready to take this ride again. Let's do this!
I’ve listened to the entire album it has to be literally thousands of times. It’s never stopped sounding better each time. Imho, immortality.
This album blew my mind when it came out and remains one of my top favorite albums all bands mixed. I can't say which is my favorite Yes album between Relayer and Tales From Topographic Oceans, I love them both equally for different reasons. Relayer is just pure energy. I remember asking myself, when it came out, what would be the next step in music. But this way wasn't followed. all went in different directions. I don't judge that, it's life. But so Relayer remains a peak in music.
Always thought of To Be Over as a 'round the campfire ' thing; it has that relaxed and enjoyable feel to it, and then absolutely soars at the climax.
15, stoned, meditating, first listen. Favorite yes album for me.😮😢🤯
Relayer is at the top of the YES canon for me. I’ve been listening to it since the late 70’s and despite how challenging it can be at times I found myself lost in its beautiful complexities. The melodies and tone and instrumentation are flawless and Jon’s vocal sprinkled in make it next level. GOD on Yessongs should be your next listen pair it with Ritual off the same live album and be prepared to be transported.
Saw Yes perform G.O.D. at Radio City Music Hall in NYC a couple of nights before 9/11 where the gates of delirium turned out to be the twin towers. Jon's calming baraka was a pre-booster shot to weather the chaos only hours away. Many people were soon...to be over. To be over. A song about dying and the glorious surrender to the greater spirits. Epic reaction to an epic album. The mixed reaction from people were partly from missing Rick, and partly because it corrals chaos and tames it. Far ahead of its time, like most protoprog.
Like most if not all works of genius, Relayer will always be ahead of it’s time. Thus the album title.❤
Wow. Top of my feed and favorite Yes album ❤
YES! 😊
What makes this song unique is that yes not only speaks about war lyrically, as so many other song writers had done going back to the sixties, but they take the next step and depict before, during and after the battles through the music. Because war is horrific, and yes attempts to paint the picture of it, it can't be an easy listen. It's a tribute to yes' creativity and talent that they pulled it off. They should've put a disclaimer at the beginning saying this depicts war and the chaos that comes with it. Once you know what they were doing the music then makes sense. The more you listen to it, the more you appreciate how well they executed such a difficult undertaking.
Rewatching as a treat to myself ❤
You caught Alan White’s four distinct hi-hat hits when Jon sings the words “battle drum” at around minute 11:47 in the video. You’re the only one who ever has 😎
Check out the last Yes album Chris Squire was on, “Fly From Here: Return Trip” ❤
Great 👍 reaction! This is one of my favorite Yes albums. Alan White sounds amazing on drums 🥁 I wish Patrick Moraz stayed in the band for one more album. I agree with another post that he brings a jazz fusion element to the music that I absolutely love. Totally unique, one of a kind album!
The whistling guitar you are talking about in Gates of Delirium during Soon, and also in To be over is a Fender Dual Console Steel Guitar, Steve has used that in many Yes songs including And You and I, Soon, Awaken and many others.
It's a Danelectro Coral Sitar Guitar!!!
nope Double Steel Guitar he has played that live many time I have seen him do it many times.@@riccardorissa5845
Patrick Moraz improvised the opening electric piano riff on sound chaser during his audition with Yes.
Yup, he recalled that and the entire audition in a (very funny and enlightening) interview with Keyboard Magazine in May 1991. I had never heard of the mag before but on seeing Moraz on the cover in a newspapers and magazines store I bought it on the spot - I had been looking fr an interview with him for years! Still have it (he also criticizes the Moody Blues, who fired him from the keyboards chair when the paper came out and they read it!)
I saw him play with the Moody Blues he made the Old Charlotte tremble with the opening note of Long Distance Voyager. He was increadible. @@louise_rose
Great review and video. You seem to have a real appreciation. Well done. I have this album hanging on the wall. It is special.💙🎵🎶
Killer album, off the hook, so unique. Try the whole Going For The One album by Yes, it's perfect.
Hej Metal Junkie! What a ride, wasn't it? One of their absolute best. They managed to pull off what the couldn't manage with "Tales ...".
I'm looking forward to your full album reaction of Genesis' "The Lamb ...", but to ease into it, maybe start with the full "Selling England ..."? 😉
Keep up the good work!
Jon Anderson cited Tolstoy as an inspiration, but I think Gates is also inspired by wars that were much closer in time - WW2 of course (Jon Anderson was born in 1944 and would have heard a lot about the war while growing up), but just as much, the Vietnam War, fresh on everybody's minds at the time. Already "Yours is no Disgrace" three years earlier had been a comment on media images and propaganda around the Vietnam war, a remarkably sophisticated look at the topic. In so far as Gates is a comment on Vietnam, I would say it's primarily seen from the angle of the FNL and the Vietnamese people, against the insanely brutal warfare of the US and their Saigon allies, but it also acknowledges that war will often brutalize the hearts and minds of both sides to some extent - some of what is said about "us" or supposedly the good guys in the song really sounds kinda questionable: "Our Gods awake in thunderstorms /and guide the Leader's hands in Paths of Glory to the cause" or "the hour approaches, pounding out the Devil's sermon"?? It is very rare for Jon Anderson as a singer to sound as *angry* and vehement as he does here, voicing these characters..
The song follows the war effort from the early stages of defence until a time when the war has become memory or history, perhaps a century later, but is still present in the minds of descendants of those who fought it. In many ways this is Yes'' most ambitipus and complex song ever, and it went far beyond the seventies prog rock frameworks. I first heard this brilliant album around 1978/79 and loved it too, but it took yeas for me to really understand what Yes are doing in musical terms here and what it is that sets the album apart from the rest of their catalogue. Yes and Genesis are two bands that really expanded my understanding of music, and how to listen to music.
Definitely a fan favorite. Coming after Tales of Topographic Oceans it was exactly what Yes fans needed. If some music critics didn't like it back in the day it was because they were behind the curve when it came to progressive rock. Fans loved it!
Gates of Delirium was Jon Anderson's adaptation of Tolstoy's War and Peace. The song is divided into section, the intro a town about their business leaders talking about how they are being oppressed by other tribe or town, the song then scalates into call to action to rebel againts the oppressor, then they call for battle. The intense instrumenta movement is the begining of the battle with the section with the side effects representing the clashes of swords represent the intesity of the battle, they finally it resolves in triumph and then the Soon section represents Peace... The warriors come home to enjoy peace with their love ones. A Master Piece of Yes music.
I've been thrilled by this for 48 years. I pray that you're still enjoying it 50 years from now! It was SO fun to listen with you and see you get thrilled by it.
Great music, Great reaction! I've been enjoying this one for decades. This is an album where we, as real music fans, need that f***-the-review attitude.
Nice! Now try Awaken. It goes up another level. Another journey.
Seeing someone react the way I did when I first heard this gave me those first time feelings again, thank you for that for facilitating that.
Probably my second favorite album of theirs next to Close to the Edge. Every other day I change my mind as to which is the best album.
Rather than just set a mood, Anderson's lyrics in the Gates Of Delirium actually tell an unambiguous story.
Definitely read the lyric to Gates Of Delirium, Aderson described it as a war brewing, attempts at peace fail, then the battle, and the ending that has brought me to tears from time to time.
'Sound Chaser' is just pure fun! It puts a smile on everyone's face.
To Be Over, is such an underrated song, beautiful mood.
I'm 65... loved your reaction, LOL when you mentioned being blown away by Sound Chaser... Imagine starting 1971 with Yes Album and Fragile... 1972 Close to the Edge, 1973 Tales... 1974 Relayer... I remember those years... we were waiting for each Yes album, and getting ready to be blown away each time... and they never disappointed... we were really lucky to be teens in those years... Keep enjoying the Yes discovery. Peace!
Yes = The Best......get the vinyl and look close at the Roger Dean cover, the vinyl centre image, the bands photo, read the lyrics and the poem. Go deep into Yesworld ok.....you will be happy. 🙂
You're hearing the sound of WAR as it ebbs and flows. Would have been nice for you to know before listening. lol
Yes, it was kind of funny seeing the confusion as you were listening, MJ. And when you said it almost sounds like the keys and guitar were battling, lol. Would definitely have been helpful to know the story of the song going in.
Not sure if I did on first listen when it came out in 1974, though... 😮
I haven't watched this yet, but you just made my night! This is such a great album. Cheers!
I think they were always way ahead of the sound of their time that they always got mixed reviews. That whistling sound in gates is Howe on steel guitar.
Great start to my day, watching your reaction to this insanely amazing album. Thanks!!
I’ve watched all of Gates now (it’s been a busy day). As with a few songs, this one never fails to excite me when I see a new reaction. Music like this needs listening to closely, and as a shared experience it’s always rewarding. On to Sound Chaser now. I always think of this as the icy frosty glinting Yes as opposed to the warmer ones. And that makes this a standout album 🎉
I subscribed and look forward to finding more. Good genuine enthusiasm. 🎉🎉
There's just something about Sound Chaser that amazes me every time I hear it. Its absolutely fantastic. Great Review BTW.
Brilliant album 🙏🎶
Damn can’t believe this is 2 months old I was waiting for this!
The really high "whistling" guitar parts, as well as the slide guitar on "soon the light" and the other songs, are played by Steve Howe standing over a pedal steel guitar (as is typically used in country bands).
He really made the pedal steel his own. He makes it sound so epic. When I first heard Yes in the 80s I didn't know how he was getting those sounds and thought it was some type of effect. It wasn't until i saw the yessongs video that I got it.
Patrick Moraz brought a jazz fusion sensibility to this entire album that gave it a particular stamp that none of the other yes albums have, plus the band was inclined to be even more experimental than usual after the chaos of Tales From Topographic Oceans; simply put, they were trying to find their way. This is Steve Howe's album here - the guitar really dominates, more than on any other yes album. (He was using a Fender Telecaster through most of this album, which gives that very trebly, sharp sound that cuts through the mix. Also, there is a lot of slide guitar and guitar with volume control, which is easy to mistake for keyboard.) But of course, everyone is at the top of their game. As you noted, the expressive playing with the elasticity of time, the adroitly executed tempo changes, the differing meters and time signatures, the many layers of different riffs occurring simultaneously show their mastery. It's a real tour de force, even if it is sort of a "one-off" or cul-de-sac in the band's discography, using a style that was never really revisited.
There are elements on Tales that were pointing in the direction of Relayer. But it would have been a very different album with Wakeman. When they auditioned Moraz he came up with the intro to Sound Chaser on the spot at the audition. Moraz was perfect for Relayer.
If you should listen to another Yes album, I strongly recommend Going For the One. It’s the band’s follow up to Relayer after taking a short break releasing solo albums. Rick Wakeman returns and plays some fantastic church organ, as well as the old synths.