The Gates of Delirium

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"The Gates of Delirium"
The Gates of Delirium.png
UK album A-side label
Song by Yes
from the album Relayer
Released29 November 1974
Recorded1974
Genre
Length21:50
Label Atlantic
Songwriter(s) Yes
Producer(s)

"The Gates of Delirium" is a song by the English progressive rock band Yes, recorded for their seventh studio album, Relayer . At almost 22 minutes in length, the song is loosely based on the 1869 novel War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy which originated from a musical idea that frontman Jon Anderson had that depicted a battle. It was then developed and arranged into a complete track by Anderson and the rest of the band, namely bassist Chris Squire, guitarist Steve Howe, drummer Alan White, and keyboardist Patrick Moraz. [2] Musically, the song represents an introductory vocal section followed by an instrumental that represents the battle. The final section, entitled "Soon", is a gentle, soothing prayer for peace and hope.

Contents

The song was originally released in November 1974 as side one of Relayer. A shortened version of "Soon" was released as a single in the United Kingdom in January 1975, which did not chart. Yes performed "The Gates of Delirium" live between 1974 and 1976; it was not played live again until 2000, a gap of 24 years. The piece was performed live with an orchestra on stage with the band in 2001, and it was reinstated into the band's live set in 2019.

Recording

A loud crashing sound heard in the middle of the song is caused by a set of old automobile parts mounted on a rack being pushed over. The band decided to keep it in instead of doing another take. Alan White explains in the liner notes of the 2003 remaster of the album.

"The percussion on that song is pretty unusual," he says. "Jon and I used to travel together to Chris' home studio, where we recorded the album. We would stop at a junkyard along the way and pick up parts of cars. We'd just go there and bang on things. There were springs and pieces of metal, brake, and clutch plates. We'd buy them and bring them back to the studio. We built a rack and hung all these things off it, and we'd bang on them. During the recording I pushed the whole thing over. That crash is what you hear on the album."

Live

The song "The Gates of Delirium" was performed in its entirety during the lengthy set of tours between the releases of Relayer and Going for the One . It was revived for the 2000 Masterworks tour based on a fan survey [3] in which it came out as the top choice for songs fans wanted to hear Yes play live. Yes continued to play the song in the 2001 Magnification tour. [4]

Otherwise, only the "Soon" fragment was performed. [5]

Single

"Soon"
Soonchaser.jpg
Single by Yes
from the album Relayer
B-side
Released8 January 1975 (US) [6]
Recorded1974
Genre Progressive rock
Length4:18
Label Atlantic
Songwriter(s) Yes [lower-alpha 1]
Producer(s)
  • Yes
  • Eddie Offord
Yes singles chronology
"And You and I"
(1972)
"Soon"
(1975)
"Wonderous Stories"
(1977)

Entitled "Soon", the last part of the song "The Gates of Delirium" was issued as Atlantic single #3242 in January 1975. [8] Its B-side was typically a single edit of "Sound Chaser" (3:13), though copies exist of the release with both "Sound Chaser" – probably in the same single edit – and "Roundabout" or a mono version of the song (without "Sound Chaser" in any form) as the B-side. [9] Cash Box described it as "the distinctive sound of Yes is here presented in an eerie, mysterious setting with vocalist Jon Anderson floating amidst the spacey sounds of the rest of the band." [10]

A very different edit of "Soon," this one 5:44 in length, was released on The Ultimate Yes: 35th Anniversary Collection .

Remaster

The 2003 remastered version of the Relayer album included a studio run-through of this song in its entirety. It is somewhat shorter than the original version, with a run time of 21:16 compared to the 21:56 running time on this reissue. However, no date is given for this recording.

See also

Notes

  1. "Soon" is credited solely to Jon Anderson per BMI records. However, the track is credited to Yes as a whole on both the original single and the 2003 remaster of the album. [7]

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References

  1. "All 183 Yes Songs Ranked Worst to Best". 4 December 2018.
  2. Charles Snider (April 2008). The Strawberry Bricks Guide to Progressive Rock. Strawberry Bricks. p. 188. ISBN   978-0-615-17566-9.
  3. "Masterworks Tour: The Forgotten Side of Yes". Forgotten Yesterdays. 18 July 2000. Archived from the original on 15 July 2003.
  4. "Yes tour log: "Gates Of Delirium"". Forgotten Yesterdays. Archived from the original on 12 October 2004. Retrieved 26 January 2007.
  5. "Yes tour log: "Soon"". Forgotten Yesterdays. Archived from the original on 30 November 2003. Retrieved 26 January 2007.
  6. "Yes singles".
  7. "BMI Work #1386284". BMI records.
  8. Relayer remaster liner notes, issued 2003.
  9. Yesworld Yes official site, retrieved 26 January 2007
  10. "CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. 18 January 1975. p. 22. Retrieved 11 December 2021.