Drama (Yes album)

"Machine Messiah" redirects here. For the Sepultura album, see Machine Messiah (album).

Drama
Studio album by
Yes
Released22 August 1980
RecordedApril–June 1980
StudioTownhouse and Sarm East Studios, London (album)
Roundhouse and RAK Studios, London (guitars)
Genre
Length36:54
LabelAtlantic
Producer
Yes chronology
Tormato
(1978) 		Drama
(1980) 		Yesshows
(1980)
Singles from Drama
  1. "Into the Lens"
    Released: September 1980
  2. "Run Through the Light"
    Released: January 1981 (US)[2]

Drama is the tenth studio album by the English progressive rock band Yes, released on 22 August 1980 by Atlantic Records.[3] It was their only album to feature Trevor Horn on lead vocals[a] and the first with Geoff Downes on keyboards. This followed the departures of Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman after attempts to record a new album in Paris and London had failed. Drama was recorded hurriedly with Horn and Downes, as a tour had already been booked before the change in personnel. The album marked a development in Yes' musical direction, combining the band's progressive signature with Horn and Downes' new wave sensibilities.

Drama was released to a mostly positive critical reception, with most welcoming the band's new sound. It peaked at No. 2 in the UK and No. 18 in the US, though it became their first album since 1971 not to reach gold certification by the RIAA, and their first to miss the top ten there since The Yes Album. "Into the Lens" was released as the album's sole single. Yes toured the album with a 1980 tour of North America and the UK, and were met with some negative reactions from British audiences over the line-up change. The group disbanded at its conclusion; Horn would collaborate with Yes as a producer, while Downes would rejoin the band as a full-time member in 2011. Drama was remastered in 2004 with previously unreleased bonus tracks, and it was performed live in its entirety for the first time in 2016. The Drama lineup would subsequently be featured on the 2018 re-recording of Fly from Here (2011).

  1. ^ Welch 2008, p. 118.
  2. ^ Welch, Chris (2003). Close to the Edge: The Story of Yes (2 ed.). Omnibus Press. p. 294. ISBN 0-7119-9509-5.
  3. ^ "BPI".


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