In June 1979, the Yes line-up of Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman, and Alan White completed their
Anderson … See more

Drama was recorded in approximately three months at Townhouse with each band member credited for its production and Hugh Padgham, Gary Langan, and Julian Mendelsohn as recording engineers. The sessions b… See more

According to Horn, "Machine Messiah" was written in one day. Music reporter and critic Chris Welch described Howe's opening guitar riff as "unexpectedly heavy metal". White called the song his "baby", putting together m… See more

The album's sleeve was designed by Roger Dean, his first design for a Yes album since Relayer in 1974. When Dean was commissioned to work on the project, he knew of the album's title before working on it and adop… See more

Drama was released in August 1980. It reached No. 2 in the UK and No. 18 in the US, the band's lowest charting studio release in the US since The Yes Album (1971), which peaked at No. 40. "Into the Lens" was r… See more

The Guardian reporter Robin Denselow wrote that the album's lyrics are tougher than Anderson's "distinctive ramblings on the mystic fringe", and named "Machine Messiah" and "Into the Lens" as tracks that made Dra… See more

Yes toured Drama with a concert tour of North America and the UK from August to December 1980. Horn and Downes had never performed live on such a large scale before, and learned the Yes repertoire with Downes pl… See more