TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS

TFTO is the sixth album by YES, with Alan White joining the band replacing Bill Bruford. The band started to be more experimental, exploring Anderson ideas on making concept album with themes based on the Hindu text shastras comprises of four parts, where each of them becoming the theme of each track in the album. With more than 18- minute length, each of the track has its own musical exploration and beauty, but for me, some parts of this album is a bit too much elaborated.

First track 'The Revealing Science of God - Dance of the Dawn' is opened with around 2 minutes of ambient music before Anderson mystical chant begins and then the rest of the band emerges, playing the glorious theme of the track. Great composition, with a lot of wonderful moments in vocal, keyboards and guitar solos. There are several mood changes, but the one around 08:50 is a nice surprise.

Second track 'The Remembering - High the Memory' has beautiful tranquil moment in its first 8 minutes, where Anderson's vocal is accompanied by great guitar and bass works. The mood changes drastically after, with more steadily faster pace and more aggressive baseline and drumming. There are wonderful Anderson ? Howe moments , and great instrumental phrases in this track. The last 6 minutes beautifully bring us to a great ending.

Third track 'The Ancient - Giants Under the Sun' is a guitar-dominant track with complex drums and percussion works. The second half of the track has another beautiful Anderson - Howe duet , in between acoustic solo (one of Steve Howe's signature acoustic work).

'Ritual - Nous sommes du Soleil' is the last part of the album with great and melodious opening theme. In the transition part between opening and vocal section, Steve Howe plays a nice solo with modulated volume and surprisingly a few notes resemble the theme of 'Close to the Edge' before returning to TFTO themes. The vocal section has many catchy moments. The percussion section is great (a bit mystical ? well suited to the title) and as a part of it - I am not sure ? has a sound that is very similar to gamelan (a traditional ensemble musical instrument from Indonesia). The end part is a bit anticlimactic.

Steve Howe guitar work in this album gives profound role in creating the soul of the album. He made several solo performances by excerpting his work in TFTO. My favourite version is in his 1994 live album 'Not Necessarily Acoustics'.

Alan White made a great debut in this album, with complex drum works but quite a different style to Bill Brufford. Rick Wakeman seems to have a little space for expressing his music in this album as he was not excited about the concept of this album. Chris Squire makes a great rhythm section, particularly in the last track. I personally feel the previous album CTTE has more intensity and beauty in its shorter duration but overall, TFTO is indeed a great progressive album, and should be considered among YES's finest works.