Yezda Urfa
Sacred Baboon

Release Date: 1989 | Tracklist

“Sacred Baboon” is the second studio album of Yezda Urfa that was released in 1989. The line up on the album is Rick Rodenbaugh, Mark Tippins, Phil Kimbrough, Marc Miller and Brad Christoff.


Yezda Urfa was an American progressive rock band that was founded in the fall of 1973. Yezda Urfa was an extremely competent and talented progressive rock band that played very good quality progressive rock. Their sound was mainly influenced by Gentle Giant and Yes, bands that were experiencing their best phases at the time. In 1975 they completed their debut studio album “Boris” with 300 copies in print that would serve as publicity material. The band sent those copies to several record labels. However, all the effort was in vain. Anyway, some of the local underground scene was willing to air the entire album. In the early 1976, the band began recording their second album, “Sacred Baboon”. Again Yezda Urfa had new problems to release the album. “Sacred Baboon” would only be released for the first time in 1989. The band broke up in 1981, but left behind a great legacy for rock that was happily rediscovered and can be enjoyed.

“Sacred Baboon” is an album that is best described as a very busy, intensely chaotic and very clever that is played by a bunch of five guys whose arsenal of instruments would have most people green with envy. “Sacred Baboon” consists of a total of seven tracks, some of which are re-arranged from their debut album “Boris”, which was produced and distributed in small quantities in 1975. Throughout the album, we can see an outstanding performance by all members of the band and a constantly changing of the complex composition of the tracks and the perfect harmony between the players of each instrument, just like Yes and Gentle Giant were able to do. And we have here also an excellent vocal harmony that is very similar to Gentle Giant and that can be heard by everywhere, and the performances of mandolin, cello, flute, marimba, glockenspiel, etc. Like happened with Gentle Giant, the members of Yezda Urfa are all multi-instrumentalists too. In the humour that occasionally appears in the childish melodies, you can feel some bitterness. “Sacred Baboon” is almost a perfect album in spite of the music passages emulating bands as Yes and Gentle Giant.

So, as I mentioned before, “Sacred Baboon” has seven tracks. “Give ’em Some Rawhide Chewies” is an up tempo number, a great energetic opening. It could be described quite aptly as a kind of a cross between a Gentle Giant’s track with the speed of “Roundabout”. The vocals are something between both bands. On “Cancer Of The Band” they go back into Gentle Giant’s realms with its opening for three recorder parts, a part with vocals and piano, an interlude for three acoustic guitars, until you get into the almost jazzy and complex part, including the four part vocal polyphony. “To-Ta In The Moya” and “Boris And His Three Verses”, on the other hand, have clearer Yes’ influences again, the former especially in the second part of it. Both are somehow comparable to calm Yes’ numbers like “And You And I”. But, both are very well supported by the bizarre Yezda Urfa’s style. So, the thoughts of cloning and stealing don’t even arise. Both are two re-arranged tracks from “Boris”. “Flow Guides Aren’t My Bag” is also a re-arranged track from “Boris”. It represents a return to Gentle Giant. It gets pretty strange and hectic again, also lyrically. It’s one of the most accessible and catchiest tracks on the album with its sweet harmonic melodies, a very fine listening. On “(My Doc Told Me I Had), Doggie Head” the band goes through a number of complex parts, each one stranger and crazier than the next with weird vocal lines and high speed prog riffling. Sometimes it seems we have two bands here. “3, Almost 4, 6 Yea” is a strong rock piece. It’s another reminiscent track re-arranged from “Boris”. This is almost an instrumental version with a beautiful medieval atmosphere supported by a great deal of mighty guitar riffs augmented by a guitar based classical interlude. This is an excellent version with complex but melodic arrangements that closes the album in a great style.


Conclusion: “Sacred Baboon” is an elaborate, chaotic and whimsical tour de force of the mid 70’s prog style. Their compositions match the complexity level of 72-73 Gentle Giant, and use that band’s knack for two and three part vocal harmony. However, the sound of the individual instruments reminds me of Yes, especially the lead vocals and rhythm section. It combines equal parts Gentle Giant and Yes. If you add some portions of humor, it sums up “Sacred Baboon” of Yezda Urfa. But there’s nothing humorous about the music. This is a great album, full of inventive instrumentation and interplay played by these five guys. These guys can play with the best of the classic progressive bands including fantastic Gentle Giant’s interplay with instruments and vocals. The lead singer is a reminiscent of Jon Anderson and there is a general Yes’ like quality to many of the songs. Mixing the styles of these two well known bands provides a fresh musical outlook on these musical paradigms. It’s one of the best bands from mid 70’s USA and well worth a listen.


Music was my first love.
John Miles (Rebel)

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