Yes (band) rearranged covers of rock, pop, blues and jazz songs, as evident on their first two albums. A change of direction in 1970 led to a series of successful progressive rock albums until their disbanding in 1981, their most successful being "The Yes Album" (1971), "Fragile" (1971) and "Close to the Edge" (1972). Yes toured as a major rock act that earned the band a reputation for their elaborate stage sets, light displays, and album covers designed by Roger Dean. The success of "Roundabout", the single from "Fragile", cemented their popularity across the decade and beyond. In 1983, Yes reformed with
1984 (Rick Wakeman album) album, and was able to get his first choice each time. The album was recorded between 23 February–14 April 1981 at Morgan Studios in London, with Wakeman as the sole producer. It was then cut at Townhouse Studios. Upon completion, the album cost under £100,000 to make. At the time of recording Wakeman knew what keyboards he wanted to use and ordered some models from Korg, but they failed to arrive in time. Instead, he used a mix of his own instruments with rented or borrowed equipment. Wakeman said the finished product contains just one tape edit which occurs towards