Yes Releases “Topographic Drama: Live Across America”
Yes has released a new live album, Topographic Drama: Live Across America, taken from the legendary prog band’s U.S. tour in 2016 and 2017. The album title is a play on the songs from the tour which included their 1980 album Drama in its entirety plus the first and fourth sides of the 1973 release Tales From Topographic Oceans. Besides the album themes, the group also played their classics like “Heart of the Sunrise,” “Starship Trooper,” and “Roundabout.”
The lineup for the tour includes Steve Howe, Alan White, Geoff Downes, Jon Davison, and Billy Sherwood, who was picked by Chris Squire to replace him before the founding bassist’s death. Sherwood, who sifted through the tour recordings to pick out the album cuts, said that the song “Ritual” was the most challenging moment of the tour.
“It’s a very intensely bass-driven song, and there is also a bass solo within it,” he told Something Else Reviews. “My challenge was to retain the notes and emotional content which Chris Squire brought to it while finding my own thing inside it, as well. To that end, I tried my best to remain true to the iconic bass moments that we all know and love, and then expand on it and bring my own dimension to it. I think it worked quite well and represents both Chris and myself in a very nice way.”
Topographic Drama is available now on CD, vinyl and as a digital download (iTunes and Amazon MP3).
Track List:
Disc 1:
- Machine Messiah
- White Car
- Does It Really Happen?
- Into The Lens
- Run Through The Light
- Tempus Fugit
- And You And I
- Heart Of The Sunrise
Disc 2:
- The Revealing Science Of God
- Leaves Of Green
- Ritual
- Roundabout
- Starship Trooper
