Relayer - Yes (1974)

70s progressive rock generally, and Yes in particular, seemed to have two rules:

1) Nothing is ever so complex or busy that you can’t slap another layer on top of it
2) Once you’ve added that extra layer, see rule 1

I don’t listen to Yes often, so I kind of have an idea in my head of what they sound like that’s maybe different than what they actually do. One thing that stuck out to me about this record is that it feels more raw and energetic (especially the drums and guitars). A lot of their bigger records are polished to such a shiny gloss that it sounds almost like self-parody. But here you get a sense of the guys sweating in the studio as they’re playing, which I like.

Jon Anderson has a great voice. I don’t know what he’s talking about most of the time, but it’s fun to hear him say it. These are all great musicians, and at the best moments (like most of Gates Of Delirium) they all come together and mesh, and it’s transcendent. Then there are other moments when the illusion shatters (like the end of Sound Chaser) and it just seems like a bunch of guys clamoring to get noticed over one another.

It’s grandiose and precise and ambitious (and totally fair to add “pretentious” here, in a peculiar 70s British rock sort of way). For better and/or worse, people don’t really make music like this anymore, at least not for major labels or a large audience. Listening to it, besides that fact that it’s pretty great music, has the energy of “walking with dinosaurs” documentaries: a bygone era that must have been magnificent to witness.