The Gates of Delirium

Song_infobox
Name = The Gates of Delirium


SorA = album
Artist = Yes
Album = Relayer
Released = 1974
track_no = 1
Recorded = 1974
Genre = Progressive rock
Length = 21:56
Writer =
Composer =
Label = Atlantic Records
Producer = Yes and Eddie Offord
Chart position =
prev =
prev_no =
next = "Sound Chaser"
next_no = 2

The Gates of Delirium is the first track on Yes’s 1974 album, "Relayer". At almost 22 minutes, it takes up the entire first side of the LP. Before the re-issue of "Tales from Topographic Oceans" or ', this was the longest officially released studio recording by the band. A 22min 40sec live version of the track recorded at Cobo Hall, Detroit on 17 July, 1976 appears on the live album Yesshows. Loosely based on Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace", the song begins with a prelude, which leads into a lengthy instrumental section (beginning at about the 8 minute mark) representing the battle. The final section (entitled Soon"') represents the aftermath of the battle, and was released as a single in 1975.

Performance of the song

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."

ingle issues

Infobox Single
Name = Soon


Artist = Yes
from Album = Relayer
B-side = "Sound Chaser" "Roundabout"
Released = January 8, 1975
Format =
Recorded = 1974
Genre = Progressive rock
Length = 4:18
Label = Atlantic Records
Writer =
Producer = Yes and Eddie Offord
Certification =
Chart position =
Last single =
This single =
Next single = The last part of the song, entitled Soon, was issued as Atlantic single #3242 on January 8, 1975. ["Relayer" remaster liner notes, issued 2003.] 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. [ [http://yesworld.com/gallery/Singles/soon.html Yesworld] Yes official site, retrieved January 26, 2007]

Live performances

The song 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 and 2001 "Magnification" tours. [ [http://forgottenyesterdays.com/search.asp?mType=7&q=3&sType=2&stime=0&searchq=Gates%20Of%20Delirium&alltime=00/00/0000&tname=1&SortBy=tDate&so=asc&memid=0&ssub=0&graphictype=0 Forgotten Yesterdays] Yes tour log, retrieved January 26, 2007.]

Otherwise, only the "Soon" fragment was performed. [ [http://forgottenyesterdays.com/search.asp?mType=7&q=3&sType=2&stime=0&searchq=Soon&alltime=00/00/0000&tname=1&SortBy=tDate&so=asc&memid=0&ssub=0&graphictype=0 Forgotten Yesterdays] Yes tour log, retrieved January 26, 2007.]
* It was found in the "Big Medley" of the "Tormato" tour. A version of this can be found on "The Word is Live".
* It also appeared on the 9012Live tour in 1984-'85.
* The song was not regularly played live again until the "Open Your Eyes" tour. However, it did appear on April 4, 1988, and October 28 and 29, 1989 on the "Big Generator" tour, and on April 9, 1991 on the "Union" tour.
* More recently, the song was performed on Yes's 35th Anniversary tour; before this (but after the "Open Your Eyes" tour), the song only appeared on September 6, 1999 on the "The Ladder" tour.

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, hauling in at 21:16. (Compare to 21:56 on this CD issue.) However, no date is given for this recording.

Other versions

A much different edit of "Soon," this one 5:44 in length, was released on "".

References