TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS

I'm afraid that if this album were released today, I would not discover its delights. While I love the fact that I have almost the entirety of recorded music available at a click, I sincerely miss the years when we would wait for the next album by our heroes, and spend weeks headphone-listening with the grand gatefold and lyric sheet spread out. This one took MANY weeks to process, approximately 20 or so listens all the way through. Perhaps it's overblown, self indulgent crap, as many believe. I understand that opinion, and I thought it WAS so during my first 5 listens or so. SUPER boring, was my take at the time. But, things changed as the music worked its way into my brain.

Revealing Science Of God: as a non-religious person, I had a bit of resistance to this "track", but not for long. I was open to spirituality, just not the strict dogma I associated with the fundamentalist Christians I encountered daily in high school. So, I began to understand "talk to the sunlight caller" from a spiritual/philosophical place that opened me up to the fact that spirituality could be warm and accepting rather than judgmental. As to the music, the opening Steve Howe "riff" (seems weird to refer to his leads as "riffs", but whatever) seems installed in my brain as a musical metaphor for the "divine spark of existence". Alan White's first appearance on a Yes studio album shows him to be a technically brilliant and nuanced player, and his (slightly) heavier approach is probably better than Burford would have done here. Though I technically "like" Bill's drumming better, Alan is the right person for this album. The beginning chant comes back at the end to provide a beautiful return to the original theme. It's simply wonderful. (9/10)

Remembering: the "boring" one for me (I'm speaking of how I felt about it during the first 20 or so listens). Now, I see the (very) slow pacing as reflective of the material. We all contain a collective memory of humanity/nature/animalistic concerns/pain/pleasure/beauty/ugliness, and it takes a lot of time to reconcile it all, albeit incompletely. Anyway, that's my overall take, ha! I used to hate Steve's sound here, but I adore it now. Weird. The "faster" parts (with "force the bit between the mouth of freedom" and the "relayer" parts) are, well, glorious. I will admit this is the one "song" that certainly could have been shorter. My least favorite track on the album, but not by much. (7/10)

The Ancient: OH MY. This one was the "problem child" track for me. It took WAY longer than 20 listens for me to enjoy it, and only in recent years (as my tastes expanded to include more avant-garde expressions) did I finally come around to adore it. The chaotic weirdness that is the first 12+ minutes sets up the beauty to follow perfectly. My favorite Howe acoustic material finishes the song, along with some surprising (nearly) heavy metal chords at the very end. It's simply an insane song and I love it now. (9.9/10)

Ritual: it's pretty freaking weird to think that this may be my favorite "song" of all time, but it might be. All that is what I love about complex music is here. Jon's lyrics strike a perfect balance between "sounds for the sake of sounds" and deeply meaningful content. The cacophonous "struggle" portion is, appropriately, ugly sounding, and is followed by the final portion of stupendous beauty. This is the only song on Topographic that, in my opinion, can stand completely on its own. It's my favorite on the album. As a nerdy 14 year-old who thought he would probably never find anyone to love him completely, the lyrics "Hold me my love, hold me today, call me round/Travel we say, wander we choose, love tune/Lay upon me, hold me around lasting hours/We love when we play" represented the pinnacle of what I hoped I would someday achieve with a life partner. It spoke louder to me than any other vapid love songs, and still does. The fact that I've been connected to my wife of 25 years and these words describe our feelings for each other is something I have the upmost gratitude for. Thanks for helping me find the path, Jon. (10/10)