Yes TORMATO

Includes nine bonus tracks.
Yes: Jon Anderson (vocals, 10-string guitar); Steve Howe (acoustic & electric guitars, background vocals); Rick Wakeman (Hammond B-3 organ, Polymoog synthesizer; keyboards); Chris Squire (bass, background vocals); Alan White (vibraphone, drums, crotales, percussion, background vocals).
Recorded at Advision Studios, London, England. Originally released on Atlantic (19202).
There's no ignoring the fact that TORMATO was Yes' most roundly (and unjustly) ignored recording. For reasons unknown, the album languished in bargain bins for years, despite being substantially less pretentious than some earlier work and much more "progressive" than Yes' later pop crossovers. On many tracks, there seems to be a concerted effort to cut back on the bombast. "Onward" is a simple, piano-based ballad, effectively rendered. "Future Times," "Don't Kill the Whale" and others find Steve Howe delivering some of his most visceral, biting guitar work, interacting nicely with Chris Squire's upper register bass lines. There's lots of carnival-like keyboard work and fanciful imagery (see the striking, harpsichord-driven "Madrigal" and the poignant "Circus of Heaven"), but hell, this is a Yes album. And it all works.

• Format: Vinyl
• Genre: Pop