TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS

1. The Revealing Science of God - Dance of the Dawn ... for the white, the spleen guitar, pleasant, plaintive, for Jon and his enchanting voice which takes his musicians to the prog lands of yesteryear when time took the time to be lived; an elegiac choir yes, the organ in the background, the pastoral echo, Chris's lively bass, 9mn and the evolution of a sudden, the timeless drift, why put words to it, everyone has in mind the contraction of this time which we all lack; 15mn and the break which takes you to the lands of GENESIS with the bucolic flute, a musical clearing, astounding, and Jon makes us return to the YES sound suddenly, in case we want to compare; Rick's keyboard always majestic, flirting with the solemn, the elegiac and the Olympian; To finish, Steve gives us a blast of jazzy, fruity, and tonic notes by launching the final jam with Rick; Jon returns to the basics, the cosmic slap. 2. The Remembering - High the Memory with its rustic, pre-Oldfieldian opening; for the warm chorus and its catchy refrain, quite remarkable for prog; for the atmosphere established by Rick's various organs, flirting with Tony's or vice versa; for its captivating 8-minute break, for the reprise of the warm chorus, complemented by the pervasive, sticky bass, and the keyboards that add to it; a moment that passes like a modern email and leaves you speechless; for this endless spatial finale, taking you sailing beyond the seas, beyond the skies, into the Yessian universe; for the finale after the finale, this grandiloquent moment where we say to ourselves that this is truly above all else, we have arrived safely.

3. The Ancient - Giants Under the Sun ... as much as I spoke of GENESIS for certain connections as much I thought directly of the psychedelic sound of PINK FLOYD and KING CRIMSON for this convoluted title; the pads surely on one side, the tortured guitar on the other side; the most difficult piece to access, the most improvisation a priori; 3 minutes of wandering which already announce the tempo of the last title; 10 minutes and the improv is at its peak, the orchestral moment putting Alan on his pedestal; a little is fine but not too much otherwise we would get bored then Steve's acoustic arpeggio arrives, between flamenco and Andalusian, between Colorado river and torrent throwing itself into the topographic ocean, an intimate moment where Jon comes to throw his voice on the front speaker, making believe that he is there near you; all this with delicacy, kindness and the arpeggio closes the page of this 3rd title around 20 minutes, the last notes like crystal clear drops of water and spleen, take the one you want 4. Ritual - We are of the Sun or if there were only one left it would be this one; a 5 minute wandering and suddenly the chorus that makes you believe that you know how to speak English... suddenly. The piece that floods with its clarity, that puts you in a trance; the sound that you have listened to 1000 times but which enters your brain as if to add another layer! Halfway through already and I am invaded by my memories of the different years of listening, and I forget to mention this brutal, archaic sound that parades before me; 14 minutes and I am awakened from my lethargy with Alan who launches like Nick into a furious solo, when I said that there was a similarity; The accompanying organ is icy, sinister, and hair-raising. Jon suddenly returns and sings, making me check that I really understand English... He says, "We are from the sun," and I recognize him! Steve doesn't bother with this striking fact and delivers a tortured, convoluted, final solo that makes me wish it were longer; but it's already the outro, and I get up to put on the replay, a slap in the face from days gone by.

One of the albums that can't be reviewed, but it's almost perfect.

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