Drama [Expanded & Remastered] [Extra tracks, Original recording remastered]

Reading again and again how this recording is derided by comparing it to Anderson-era-Yes is particularly depressing, since this is a hell of a record in its own terms. Nobody seemed to like it when it appeared, while now more and more people realize how unjustly Drama was treated at the time. "Machine Messiah" and "Tempus Fugit" are sensational tracks. The rest is simply very good. Chris Squire's bass playing and Alan White's drumming in this CD are simply astounding. Yes, Jon Anderson is not there, but just listen to this music for what it is, without prejudice, and what you get is one of the prog-classics of all time.

While writing the follow up to 1978's Tormato, singer Jon Anderson and keyboardist, Rick Wakeman left the group.
This lineup of Yes is definitely the most controversial in the bands history. Combining the musical talents of Steve Howe, Chris Squire and Alan White with those of The Buggles (video killed the radio star anyone?) seemed a disasterous one. However, they got away with it and Drama stands for me as one of Yes' best efforts, despite being a somewhat neglected record.
OK Trevor Horn could never replace Jon Anderson on vocals, and most of the songs are crying out for his angelic tones. But there's a charm and sincerity about Horn's vocal style, and with Chris Squires distinctive backing vocal to supplement him, as well as Steve Howe mucking in, the vocal side of Drama is quite alright.
Geoff Downes is a revelation on keyboards, and he handles the 'widdly widdly' stuff excellently while throwing his own keyboarding style into the mix. It's no surprise that he would continue to work with Steve Howe on this type of music in the incredibly successful Asia.
As for Steve Howe, he plays some of his heaviest, most aggressive sounding guitar since 1974's Relayer, and the Chris Squire/Alan White rhythm section seems re energised and more driving than before.
The songs on Drama are first class. 'Machine Messiah' is a huge, moody behemoth of an opener with some superb melodies, great vocal harmonies, swirling keyboards and heavy metal guitar, hammered home with some great rolling bass, and thumping drums.
'White Car' is a beautifully sung track, but suffers from being a short song which ends almost as soon as it's begun.
'Does It Really Happen' is a pointer to the more commercial sounding music Yes would make in the 1980s. Despite this, it's catchy, powerful, and benefits from some superb bass playing from Squire.
'Into The Lens', like 'Machine Messiah', is a whopper of a song. It's stop/start style is reminiscent of early Genesis, and again the vocal harmonies are spot on. Also, the individual playing is excellent throughout the track.
'Run Through The Light' is a fairly traditional Yes piece with some good acoustic guitar and some cool keyboard sounds. It has an unusual vocal display from Trevor Horn, which has you wishing that Jon Anderson had sung on the track, other than that, it's another strong number.
Closing track 'Tempus Fugit' is a song strikingly similar to the kind of numbers The Police would make in the early eighties. It's dominated by Chris Squire's bass and Alan White's drums (they would use 'Tempus Fugit' live in Squire and White's joint solo), and Geoff Downes adds some more top notch swirling keyboard effects.
The production on Drama is tight as a drum (Horn would go on to become one of the world's premier music producers) and every member of the band gives 100%
The whole package is also once again complimented by the welcome return of some Roger Dean artwork. It's a slightly darker concept than before but just as effective, and brings back the visual identity that the band lost somewhat after 1975.
Yes fans never quite took to this line up of the band and I suppose it's understandable. Rick Wakeman had been replaced before, but for both he AND Jon Anderson to be absent, was too much for most Yes fans to take. However, for me Drama is a better album than the debut and Time And A Word. It's more entertaining than Tales From Topographic Oceans and Relayer, and wipes the floor with Tormato. It's also better produced than all five of those albums. For a Yes album without messrs Anderson and Wakeman, that's quite an achievement.
There will still be Yes fans who cannot comprehend a Yes album with The Buggles playing on it. I'm a Yes fan, and I'm afraid I f*****g love it.

Drama is a surprising album. Surprising because it unites one half of the "classic" Yes line up (Steve Howe, Alan White, Chris Squire) with 80's pop duo, "The Buggles" (Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes). On the face of it not the most likely of partnerships and one that for Yes fans would seem doomed to fail since this particular inacrnation of the band was less its principle songwriter and singer, Jon Anderson.

In their 70's heyday, Yes produced sprawling Prog-Rock epics that went under ungainly titles such as "The Revealing Science of God" or "The Gates of Delerium". But by the early 80's, Yes and other bands of their ilk were a spent force in musical terms; having the metaphoricals kicked out of them by the aggression and nihilism of Punk.
The Buggles at the time, however, were flush with the success of their Top 5 hit "Video Killed the Radio Star" a song which seemed to signal a fresh and succesful decade for pop and the new art form of the music video.
So in some ways The Buggles had more to lose than the remaining members of Yes by chancing their arms on this collabrative venture. But Sqiure et al still had their reputations as superlative musicians to think about and there was no way that this album was ever going to be compromise on that front. The resulting album was not therefore a curious pop-rock record but still an unashamedly prog one.
Hovever, the playing is less frilly and the presentation less wayward, benefting from the directness Horn and Downes were giving them. Although Horn's vocals don't come anywhere near to Jon Anderson's range and delicacy he manages to more than hold his own in what must been a very daunting situation to find himself in. Production and overall sound of the album is excellent with Steve Howe electing to go for a heavier guitar sound than rather shrill presentation of previous albums and compliments Downes' straight forward style very well. Alan White's drumming is superlative, delivered with high precision and power thoughout while Chris Squire produces arguably his best performance on a Yes album, before or since. Lyrically it doesn't do much, but compared to some of the nonsense from previous albums it is a vast improvement.

In short Drama is a real gem and represents a breath of Fresh air for Yes, after their listless performance on the previous album, "Tormato" which lead to the departure of Anderson and keyboardist, Rick Wakeman.

Becoming increasingly aware of just how big the shadow of Jon Anderson was casting over the lead singer spot in the band, Horn only lasted the album and a subsequent tour but went on to produce the mega-selling, AOR follow up to Drama, 90125.

Although this isn't classic Yes music in the strictest sense of the word and will be considered by many fans as a bit of an oddity, this album is paradoxically one of their strongest and best.