VIDEO | Yes – Into the Lens

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BAND | Yes

"Into the Lens"

Last updated 📅 2025-03-30

Focus on Yes's intricate 1980 progressive rock track, "Into the Lens." Featured on the Drama album, this song showcased a unique lineup featuring members of The Buggles. Its complex structure and dynamic shifts highlight Yes's enduring musical ambition during a period of transition.

TITLE: Into the Lens
BAND: Yes
GENRE: Progressive Rock
RELEASEDAY: August 18
YEAR: 1980

Appearing on the 1980 album Drama, "Into the Lens" represented a different era for Yes, with Trevor Horn on vocals and Geoff Downes on keyboards joining Steve Howe, Chris Squire, and Alan White. Despite the lineup change, the track retained progressive rock complexity, blending intricate instrumentation with new wave synthesizer textures.

This 1980 progressive rock piece (parts later reworked by Horn/Downes as "I Am a Camera") features dynamic interplay between guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards. "Into the Lens" stands as a key example of Yes navigating personnel changes while continuing to produce ambitious and complex rock music.

SONG MEANING: The song explores themes of observation, perspective, and possibly emotional detachment, using the metaphor of photography ("I am a camera," "Into the lens"). It suggests viewing life or memories through a detached lens, capturing moments ("Watch me clinging to the screen") rather than fully experiencing them, or analyzing events with a cool, observational distance.

Band

"Yes"

Yes stands as legendary architects of progressive rock, celebrated worldwide for their virtuosic musicianship, complex song structures, and mystical lyrics. Featuring soaring vocals, intricate guitar, distinctive bass, and elaborate keyboards, they pushed rock's boundaries, creating ambitious and enduring sonic landscapes.

TITLE: Yes
ACTIVE: 1968–1981 (1968), 1983–2004 (1983), 2009–present (2009)
BAND: Yes

Their influential catalog spans groundbreaking early epics establishing the genre, to ambitious, multi-part conceptual works like their complex progressive rock album released November 28, 1974, and further intricate explorations demonstrating their instrumental prowess and evolving sound through various lineups over the years...

Go to "Yes" Page

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