I'd go with Tales followed by Relayer, Yessongs, and Drama.
I'd go with Tales followed by Relayer, Yessongs, and Drama.
Relayer, without a doubt.
Fragile
no tunes, no dynamics, no nosebone
The one with the least shitty drum sound, so probably Drama.
The music was hot, but my baby was not.
Joe's Garage
Drama, Tormato, Relayer.
About Talk: Isn't it true that someone else played a lot of the drums on that album? Maybe Henry can clarify?
Relayer is one of the all time great Yes albums from a drum perspective. I believe it was equal to anything Bruford ever played with the band.s
Bill
She'll be standing on the bar soon
With a fish head and a harpoon
and a fake beard plastered on her brow.
Relayer without a doubt.
"The world will soon be right again,
Innocence and undying love will reign." - Transatlantic
Big Generator for me (seriously, HUGE sound). Awful songs, ace drums!
Relayer. White's most inventive drumming.
I didn't really "get" his drumming on the earlier stuff. It always sounded like he was playing the beats backwards somehow. I'm a bass player, and I can totally groove on Brufords stuff, but early Alan - ??? His snare sounded terrible on TFTO. I'm not that familiar with Relayer, though I know I really dislike Sound Chaser (Yes goes fusion?). Gates of Delirium on Yesshows is a favorite, so I guess I like half the album... Anyway, to answer the question - DRAMA. It seemed to all come together for him and the band on this one. Maybe because it's a more focused, "rock" sounding album than anything that came before it. From that point on, I dig his playing, and some of his tom sounds are great.
It's all personal taste, but I think Broof's works on his last three Yes albums far outstrip White's. Yes, to me, is at its best when the sound is tight and light. I love Alan's drumming on Relayer, but his style makes Yes sould a LOT heavier to my ears, as he tends to stick to the rock beat, rather than wander around. Yes is a much more rocking, heavier band with Alan White at drums. I could say that it similar with ELP and Carl Palmer pre versus post BSS, or even Love Beach. Listen to Palmer's work after 1980 and it is FAR heavier than his musical style of ELP's heyday, as though he really liked what Cozy Powell did and chose to adopt that style as his own.
Alan White could have easily stepped into Bonham's shoes with Squire and Plant/Page and not even miss a beat (indeed, improve on Bonzo, IMO). Bruford probably couldn't do that; hard-driving rock is simply not Bruford's style. But given the choice, I'd take anything Bruford did on his last three albums over anything White did in his career with Yes, even the tremendous Sound Chaser. For me, the Bruford Era yes is the definitive Yes sound of Alan White, as highly as I regard Alan as a hard rock drummer.
As always, your mileage may vary.
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