GURU: ON THE BACK OF YOUR PP GURU's FORTY-SECOND SCREAMDOWN!!

The PP Guru continues with his time machine forays into his personal history by counting Yes studio albums in tribute to the new 3 CD live box set, The Word is Live released by Rhino Records (on sale at Tower Records for $39.99 and a double concert DVD - Songs from Tsongas out now from Imagine Entertainment (also on sale at Tower for $ 19.99). We are now up to the ninth studio lp called Tormato which was the first Yes album that kept the PP Guru in the loop as he was entering his freshman year of high school.

The follow up to the revitalized Going For the One, the one which welcomed back Rick Wakeman to the first of his many coming and goings throughout the band in its' later years had to contend with the sweeping new trends of both punk and the burgeoning new wave usurping the charts from other such prog rock stalwarts such as Genesis, ELP, Gentle Giant, and Jethro Tull- Yes had to compensate with eight more songs which were more variegated and shorter.

Brian Lane, clearing up some of the tax problems that plagued the group in forcing them to take refuge to record Going for the One in Switzerland, booked them back into London's Advision studios and RAK for the mixing process (although Rick remained behind to live there- obviously his own tax problems were bigger than the band's own). Yes were back producing themselves, once again not retaining the services of engineer supreme Eddie Offord - (but he'll be back for one final time Count on it.).

The result of Tormato, divided amongst critics and fans alike were lukewarm at best. This was the album that even the band couldn't consider to be their best. Descension among the ranks was begining to rear it's ugly head in the politics of putting the project together. No one really wanted to run the show, hampering the band to act as a incohesive unit. No one really knew who was who playing what, as Steve Howe would attest, when he would sit down to lay down a guitar track and Rick Wakeman's keyboards would spiral into a whole different direction altogether.

Cover of the Yes album Tormato

And of course, there were plenty of goofing off in addition to the sloppiness of some sessions, the running of studio costs, and drunken debauchery going on behind the scenes. Some of the ideas were lacking in inspiration, that it took Maestro Jon A to percolate up an idea after he took in a matinee showing of Close Encounters of the Third Kind as the foundation of 'Arriving UFO '. Backed up by Rick Wakeman's patent trademarked biotron ( a precurssor to MIDI technology of linking two synthesizers to communicate with each other) units, witness Anderson attempting to sing like an alien on “Arriving UFO,” yet only comically coming across like Charlie Brown’s teacher, is utterly embarrassing at times.

Anderson also penned lyrics to a storybook idea once presented to his young son, Damion called “Circus of Heaven” (although the way the story is told in the lyric sounds unmistakenly like something out of Ray Bradbury's Something this Wicked Way Comes) where unicorns, Centaurs, elves, and other mythical creatures fight in a civil war that killed their brothership in a civil war of hate under the auspices of Zeus that took place in a circus tent was simply too much for hardcore Yes fans to absorb - even subjecting themselves to Anderson’s young son to the gaudy vocal mix of seeing no tigers, no bears, or no candy-floss was an untended irony that just comes off trite in the face of that song’s inane depictions of folklore creatures. But yet, Anderson rapidly reciting these complex but chessy incantions on vinyl is still a feat unmatched by other vocalists today.

Although fractured as much the material may be - the album's main valueable asset is none other than Chris Squire's manical bass playing. Chris does a fabulous job of bringing his sharp sounding highs in the treble bass playing to the foreground of many of the songs- there's no chance that it ever gets lost in the mix- it's always present to pay attention to and when it takes the lead spotlight on the intro to On the Silent Wings of Freedom, the near eight minute finale accompanied by a hard driving Alan White's drum beat - all bets are off! This piece of work with the traditional heady celestial lyrics provided by Anderson further cemented Squire's position amongst the echelons of all time superb bass playing. With a strong opener of Future Times, On the Silent Wings of Freedom is positively hands downs, the PP Guru's favorite Yes song of all time to end an album.

The Rhino remastered editions goes beyond this band's troubled times to even worse times when the band in between two world tours behind this album, went to Paris to lay down demos for some new tracks to be produced by Roy Thomas Baker, (the vinyl glossy producer genius behind the best selling albums by the Cars and Foreigner ) - most of the demos proved to be unproduceable and have only been available through bootlegging channels. Rhino has officially relinquished them here to make the average Yes fan to ponder- 'geez, have I really been waiting twenty years to hear this?' The worst of them are available on this remaster of Tormato - the best of them show up on the band's next remastered version of Drama. Bits and pieces have also appeared throughout the years on the box set collections of Yesyears and In a Word...Yes. Two b-sides songs , Abilene and Money are also included on the reissued Tormato.

The bonus songs made commerical available here have made their way on various solo projects. Steve Howe's composed High was later used as part of his solo spots on future Asia concerts and was retitled as Sketches in the Sun as well as another track of Steve's called Countyside found new life on his 1991 solo album Turbulence. Jon Anderson's Some are Born was recorded under better circumstances to be used as the single from his second 1980 solo album, Song of Seven - which is not really a PP Guru crowd pleaser. This demo version is strictly unlistenable - with Maestro Jon A simply having a 'bad hair in my throat day' - with cracks in his voice and unreachable wrong notes galore, the PP Guru now has cracked the Di Vinci Code of how a dog whistle really sounds like when it's blown.

However, all jibes and jabs aside, the PP Guru is eternally grateful for this album's release because it was the first one he bought on it's offical release date of September 20, 1978, just a few weeks into his freshman year in high school. The PP Guru wanted to stay in Westminister and go to high school in the state of California, rather than piss in your mouth Parsippany, New Jersey. The PP Guru just wasn't digging the east coast - it just wasn't his bag- he wanted a blonde girlfriend who wasn't a dye job Italian or a Puerto Rican who had to pencil out her mustache every morning with a Crayola Peach crayon. The PP Guru wanted a real buxom blonde of either English or German descent (and he's still looking to this very day) to help carry him over to the threshold and the PP Guru felt that breed only resided on the shores of Orange County. He would find a good substitute over the next two years but that will be discussed in the next entry. For now, Yes provided the perfect outlet for the PP Guru's increasingly ego-tripping personality, even though he did not feel he fitted amongst his peers, the PP Guru felt the band go only be appreciated in such arena venues as Madison Square Garden or Philadelphia's the Spectrum- there were no die-hard Yes fans that he knew to reside in Parsippany. All the goons that he got into fistfights or verbal exchanges with all were into either AC/DC or Ozzy Osbourne. Led Zeppelin was fine- releasing their farewell album, In Through the Out Door, the following year- their loyal legion of fucktards was not a crowd the PP Guru wanted to associate himself with anymore. The PP Guru was looking for a cult to find his own and that cult was Yes.

When the PP Guru had to face the cold hard fact that PP Guru was not going to stay in California to attend high school and had to face going back piss in mouth Parsippany to endure the tyranny of his stepfather, in sorely need of a REALITY CHECK ROGER once again (your days of smoking giggle weed with your aunts are now over, YOUNG PP GURU), the PP Guru came up with a plan: once upon arrival back home from a gruelling five day Greyhound road trip from Anaheim (and picked up at New York's Port Authority by his stepfather you know who) the PP Guru was going to pick up YES concert tickets from Ticketron first thing in the morning when sneaking over to Willowbrook Mall in Wayne, NJ. (where he still has an older aunt and uncle living to this very day. His 75 year old aunt just got arrested for assault & battery on his 81 year old uncle a few weeks ago after getting into a very heated argument. Way to go Aunt Babs!!) . He read the tour itinernary in Circus Magazine and knew they would be blowing into town within a matter of weeks The PP Guru didn't want to take anyone with him - but wanted to use one of the tickets as a ruse to upset and defy the in sorely need of a Reality Check Roger's authority or at least the uncontrollable lack of it.

Laguna Beach in California

The ruse was simple: at the dinner table, the PP Guru said since he is almost fifteen years old and has shown considerable talent of taking care of himself throughout most of his California sojourn and had blatantly lied about his increased cognitive awareness abilities after easing into a post psuedo blunt smoking lifestyle (the PP Guru may have smoked - but he didn't inhale) he made a firm decision to make the announcement to attend the Yes concert that Friday night and he would leave to there right after school (without coming back to bathe - which wasn't very hygeneic for YOUNG PP GURU). (in sorely need of a ) REALITY CHECK ROGER laughed, and mockingly assured the PP Guru that the only way that he would allow the PP Guru to go into New York City by himself was over his dead body. The PP Guru said he already bought the ticket and he can't refund it. (in sorely - oh fucking forget it already) REALITY CHECK ROGER said let's see it. The PP Guru whipped out A TICKET and showed it to him. REALITY CHECK ROGER swiped the ticket out of the PP Guru's hand, inspected it, and then just as the PP Guru anticipated, ripped the ticket in half. Just like he used to do to the PP Guru's comic books when he was younger.

The PP Guru took out his other ticket and kissed it.

So needless to say, the PP Guru made his first trip to Madison Square Garden, saw Yes perform In the Round - a circular stage set in the middle of the arena that was remote controlled to circulate the members of the band so that all the audience can get a close up and fair look at their fingering techniques. Even though the PP Guru was in the nosebleed area (for this tour and the 1979 summer tour -whereas the PP Guru got official 'parent' permission to attend ) he still can't get over the first feeling of seeing his music heroes in the flesh. He even saw Rick Wakeman get smacked in the head with a frisbee thrown on stage by some schmuck during the performance of Arriving UFO. The PP Guru left the show and still managed to beat (in sorely need of) a REALITY CHECK ROGER home from work (as a bartender he was probably drinking up all the profits and wrapping his Eldorado around a utility pole that night), but his mother got around to doing most of the smacking that night when she waited up that night after becoming to wise to the PP Guru's scheme.

Madison Square Garden

Album personel: Jon Anderson - vocals and acoustic guitars - Steve Howe - shitloads of guitars and shitty back up vocals, Chris Squire- bass guitars and vocals higher than Jon's - Alan White- drums, percussion, and drum synthesizer, and Rick Wakeman - quasi- tronic patented biotron space helmet and keyboards. Special guest star: Damion James Anderson for being "the chip off the old block" Favorite lyric: Power at first to the needs of each other's days/ Simple to lose in the void sounds of anarchy's calling ways / All unaccounted for in the craziness of power/ In the craziness - Release, Release (Anderson/White/Squire). ~ Coat
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Tormato

Tormato
Album by Yes
Release	September 17, 1978
Recorded	December 1977 - June 1978
Genre(s)	Progressive rock
Length	41 min 35 s
Label	Atlantic Records
Producer	Yes
Professional reviews
Allmusic.com link
Yes chronology
Going for the One (1977)	Tormato (1978)	Drama (1980)

Tormato is the eleventh album by British progressive rock group Yes. Issued as the follow-up to 1977's acclaimed Going For The One, Tormato received less than charitable reviews upon release and its virtues are still a matter of debate for Yes fans and critics.

Rick Wakeman himself has said that while Tormato indeed had potential, Yes never got the best out of some of the material, while Steve Howe admitted that Yes were unsure of themselves musically at the time.

Nonetheless, Tormato - which was the subject of another Hipgnosis cover design - still was a Top 10 hit worldwide, and birthed the minor hit single, "Don't Kill The Whale".

1. A. "Future Times" (Jon Anderson/Chris Squire/Steve Howe/Rick Wakeman/Alan White) B. "Rejoice" (Jon Anderson) - 6:46
2. "Don't Kill The Whale" (Jon Anderson/Chris Squire) - 3:56
3. "Madrigal" (Jon Anderson/Rick Wakeman) - 2:25
4. "Release, Release" (Jon Anderson/Alan White/Chris Squire) - 5:44
5. "Arriving UFO" (Jon Anderson/Steve Howe/Rick Wakeman) - 6:07
6. "Circus Of Heaven" (Jon Anderson) - 4:31
   • Featuring the voice of Jon Anderson's son, Damion
7. "Onward" (Chris Squire) - 4:05
8. "On The Silent Wings Of Freedom" (Jon Anderson/Chris Squire) - 7:47

Tormato (Atlantic K 50518) reached #8 in the UK. It also reached #10 in the US during a chart stay of 14 weeks.

Tormato was remastered and reissued in 2004 with several bonus tracks.

Personnel

• Jon Anderson: Vocals, percussion
• Chris Squire: Bass guitar, vocals
• Steve Howe: Electric and acoustic guitars, vachalia, vocal
• Rick Wakeman: Piano, organ, moog, synthesizers
• Alan White: Drums, percussion

Sources

• Tormato, CD booklet essay, Tim Jones, c.2003
• AllMusicGuide.com
• "Top Pop Albums 1955-2001", Joel Whitburn, c.2002

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Sparky's had a steady in the lovely Costa Rican Ingrid who somehow lost her virginity in Laguna Beach on the 4th of July that year in lovely Laguna Beach. Heh. It all links some how. Sparky still dug Yes along with the Sex Pistols, Ramones, and the Dictators. We even managed to get to 2nd base in front of the woman who would be “Dear Abby” — call us naughty I guess. Sparky was so over Sharon though no one would believe him. o&0