Roger Dean: Drama

Brian Hutton says:
After a Wakeman gig in Edinburgh, one of my friends asked him to sign his copy of "Drama" for a laugh. His reply was "Drama? More like f*cking Trauma... but at least it's got a great cover" and signed it. I personally always liked the organ-like plant structures, melted glaciers and it's directional draw. It is a very beautiful image. Wasn't a huge fan of the quicksilver Yes logo though.

Frank Johnson says:
A combination between old school & a new YES line-up, Roger never waivers from diversity bound to the canvas,as it's musically conveyed.

Chuckie says:
Roger's distinct artwork on Drama ranks among some of the other Dean artistry. The panthers, doves, and dark sky symbolize the album's hard rocking tracks.

Gary says:
Drama. The Struggle of Life. What a perfect match of musical vision to artistic vision ... LOVED IT !!!

PAULINA says:
i love yes!!!! so at seeing these art work, i can really feel complete in all sanses, with the lyrics, music, & covers...keep doin' this wonderful job!!!

Gabriel Rhodes says:
I think this painting really describes the YES album "Drama". The cat's chasing the birds, the sky filled with black and gray clouds. Even most of the music on the album sounds dark. Everything describes drama. But besides everything being like drama, I love this awesome painting. It kicks total ASS!!!!!!!!

stephane la madeleine says:
i love roger dean's artwork, drama is ¸my favorite picture disc. i love the the surealistic thing of this. i dream about im there inside the picture. its a majestic picture whit the big white glaciers. the image reflect excactely the music.i think roger dean recreate the beauty of the nature!!

Bill Langan says:
This painting marked the return of Roger Dean's artwork from Yes albums (Going for the One and Tormato could've used Dean's artistic touches on the sleeve). I hadn't really cross-referenced the cover with the status of the band during Drama.
Perhaps "Tempus Fugit", the closing track, could best articulate the artwork. It would probably make a great animated video. The white glaciers could be the 1st thing you see as Geoff Downes' organ introduces the song. Camera slowly pans out as you see the waterfront and the eery cloudy sky (as the beat gets faster). Then as you hear Steve Howe's guitar, you see what looks like a cross between prairie and dessert and Chris Squire's bass could pan to the 3 black cats almost chasing the 2 white birds (you see them as Downes' keyboards chant "Yes, yes"). You could see the birds at the end of the video almost chirping "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes...".
Ok, so my imagination got a little carried away with the song and the artwork. This piece is almost contradicting, but in an appealingly beautiful way.

Juan Ignacio says:
En realidad, un torrente de creatividad. Gracias por ser quien sois.

Cristian Hurtado says:
Solo pensar en la atmosfera de sintetizadores en Machine Messiah te transportan a este onirico paisaje de oscuros cielos y salvajes mezclas climaticas. La sensibilidad artistica de Dean se mezclan con el nuevo sonido que presento la banda. A mi juicio uno de los mejores albumes de Yes (que me perdonen los incondicionales de Anderson).Does it really happen?

Vincenz Lopez says:
Well I must to say, this is astonishing a picture. The bird they do swoop, the Ocelot they are skipping, past poisoning cactus over some hot sand on them alien dunes. It is a broken worlds whear mankind is so temporariy, with symbals of his his boat all bash up and sunk in a oilly toxiced sea, the ice age coming again. The animal they go to see the end of humans because they have destroy itself. Like the Drama LP iself, darker and more simple than other Yes music, it is a moderned efficient, and probably that best one he has done for Yes.

Jason Trubilla says:
I remember when I first saw this album cover in the record store. I was immediatly drawn to it...I had yet to heard any of the no-anderson Yes. I got the feeling from the art that it had a dark feeling all around...when I heard the first track Machine Messiah, It fit perfectly, frantic, unnerving, and frightful, but still with the majestic sounds of older Yes. The cover paints a perfect picture of the music on the album...I think maybe better than any other album...not saying its my favorite yes album, but it is my favorite Roger Dean painting...Thankyou Roger, for all your fantastic art and inspiration you have brought to me...

Michael X says:
I think the emotions that Dean's artwork evoke are spawned from and by the same way that the natural world with it's variety and colors make mankind feel "at home" emotionally, may it be conscious or unconsciously recognized. Roger dean has reinvented our scenic earth even going so far as to depolarize it's physical laws such as land masses floating in the sky with their own ecosystems and water ways.
The DRAMA cover is no exception. Coral like formations normally found in the under water sea are depicted in desert sand dunes ,an area normally devoid of water. Cyprus trees usually found in warmer climates such as the Mediterranean area as well as in northern California are now found growing along side a cold artic like region.
What seem to be black Panthers ( or what to me look more like cheetahs) are found in an enviroment very removed from their indigenous jungle areas of Asia or the savannas of Africa. The Cat in the forground appears to take a stance upright as if a kangaroo like marsupial with it's tail erect as if a counter balance which would seemingly hint at it's new Australio-desert like anti-world. The feline in the back ground makes due by praying on what ever is available ,in this case a gull like sea bird that got away.
The only philosophical view I have is the symbolic plight of man described by the wrecked vessel: The man who doesn't recognize the great impact the beauty of the natural world and the world of our right brain imagination has on our well being and psyche and does not learn to live with that reality is truly "shipwrecked".

Stephane Oillic says:
A return to the monumental yes covers... The sky is so dark, no blue sky this time... Are the panthers fleeing a disaster? The awaited disaster of J. Anderson and R. Wakeman's departures? Yet, what a great album... The cover was a good omen...

Steve says:
It's funny how everyone has their own interpretation of Yes' album covers. My take on this one, like in Tales, is sort of a bookmark of the status of the Group. The 3 felines, call them panthers, or whatever, are Messrs. Howe, Squire and White. The two birds flying away are Messrs. Anderson and Wakeman. Conversely, the two birds could be Messrs. Downes and Horn. I think it's the previous. The inside cover shows the birds flying off. The shipwreck? The status of the Group. Sorry. The Group was just not the same without Wakeman and Anderson and it really showed up in the music. This is the only LP I didn't wear out. Great artwork though.

john morrison says:
looks like a really quick change of landscape from desert, to grasslands, to rocky areas, to ocean and finally to antartic area with icebergs. really nice pic by roger dean!

Alan Carr says:
Roger Dean has being doing it for me my entire musical lifetime. Drama, like all his other images takes you there. A place you always hope exist, somewhere. we couldn't all be wrong.

Justin says:
The question for me has to be are the creatures running away or are they perhaps heading for something new & better?

Paul Rogers says:
Ahh...The Drama cover. Panthers of the world unite indeed. Several parts of this image stand out to me. The 3 cats chasing the bird, and the wreck of the ocean vessel in the background. The chase is obviously predation, the ship may be a metaphor for mans folly and his desire to transcend nature. There are no "higher" life forms present in this surreal landscape which itself evokes a sense of the future (the strange, almost alien plant forms in the left foreground). Man seems to heve 'left the building' and nature, contrastingly evidenced in the far background by the stormy skies and Icy mountains, is returning to claim its own. Lots of contrasts in this picture too and clever use of directional lines to draw/entice the reader in to the centre of the picture (which in this case seems to be the island/sanctuary).

ROBBY SIMANJUNTAK says:
The artwork of Mr. Roger Dean were great, and also the music behind those artwork.

Maurice Doubleday comments:
The DRAMA cover is like the UNION cover in that they both conceal a totally different Yes. I prefer DRAMA and its cover to UNION -- but I somehow link last months feature with this months. I like the desert leopards rushing to the oceanic mountains the best.

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