Maybe I'm finally starting to "get" Yes' TFTO.

I could never get through all of The Revealing Science of God. Still can't. Love skipping to Wakeman's kickass synth solo though.

It's not a chops album.  If you are looking for just that, go somewhere else.  This is a feel album, and a great one.  It's trying to connect visual images and metaphysical concepts through sound and music.  The lyrics are critical to the listening and also the way they are articulated.  There are just so many aspects to this album and I think it is one of the greatest constructions of music from any genre.  If it's not moving you emotionally, you probably need to read or study more philosophy, history and anthropology.  This isn't just a music album.  For some it's more like a religious experience or portal to a more enlightened state of consciousness.  It doesn't just come to you, you have to come to it equally.

Skullhead wrote: It's not a chops album.  If you are looking for just that, go somewhere else.  This is a feel album, and a great one.  It's trying to connect visual images and metaphysical concepts through sound and music.  The lyrics are critical to the listening and also the way they are articulated.  There are just so many aspects to this album and I think it is one of the greatest constructions of music from any genre.  If it's not moving you emotionally, you probably need to read or study more philosophy, history and anthropology.  This isn't just a music album.  For some it's more like a religious experience or portal to a more enlightened state of consciousness.  It doesn't just come to you, you have to come to it equally.

Another thing you should note about Tool is that it's easy to get a headache listening to them. Not because they're a bad band, but because of how many ideas their music is riddled with and how complex they are. Soon enough your head will fill to the brim and the rest will just sound like noise to you. Just turn it off and give it a listen the next day.

If you don't like the music, you'll definitely at least enjoy reading through the lyrics, and picking apart the song itself and all of the artistic values that go into making it the complexity that it is."

I have liked it all from the first time. I can't get into Relayer, instead.

ProgSword wrote: I could never get through all of The Revealing Science of God. Still can't. Love skipping to Wakeman's kickass synth solo though. And The Remembering totally alienates me too. Those two songs have pretty much been my experience with the album. But finally giving the second-half of the album a chance, and wow. The Ancient and Ritual sound amazing! Can't believe I've put them off for so long. Maybe it's only a matter of time before the other two songs begin to click. Anyone else still give TFTO a crack from time to time hoping that it will finally be appealing? The decent rating this album has on PA always makes me feel guilty about not liking it...

it will...  if you cracked The Ancient.. the rest is a piece of cake.  That is almost universally considered the make or break movement (side) of the album. Those that miss the album often point to it, those that ADORE the album point to it.  Brilliant IMO but yes, it took years before I finally 'got' that one piece of music. It isn't easy listening.. the way a really good prog rock should be, it challenging a listener.  Because it does, and is the highest expression ever made of prog rock, it was bound to lose some listeners.  It was a risk to make, it was progressive rock. So progressive it even lost some 'fans' of it.

Keep listening to what you haven't caught yet... it eventually will.. and your life will be better for it.


Edited by micky - January 17 2015 at 08:42

octopus-4 wrote: I can't get into Relayer, instead.

Me too, except from 'Sound Chaser', I really like that track

I also agree with the OP, the second half is the best one IMO, especially 'The Ancient'


Edited by Meltdowner - January 17 2015 at 08:56

Atavachron wrote: Congratulations, it's a treasure chest that takes awhile to unpack.

Finnforest wrote: Atavachron wrote: Congratulations, it's a treasure chest that takes awhile to unpack. Nice line David!

As I've said many times before, Tales from Topographic Oceans is my all time favorite album.

From the first enchanting syllables, I knew there was something special about this one.  "The Revealing Science of God" introduces us to several themes, and each passage moves into the next with an imperceptible fluidity.  In its grittier moments, it pays tribute to the coda of "Siberian Khatru," while the Mellotron offers a refreshing sense of beauty.

The Remembering" shows Yes at their most bucolic and redolent.  Although the title of the piece speaks of remembering, the work gives us glimpses into the future ("Remember the Future?"); for example, triumphantly proclaiming the title of their next album, "Relayer!"

During "The Ancient," you will hear Howe wink at earlier phrases, such as how he sneaks in the main guitar motif from "Siberian Khatru" or how, during his classical guitar excursion, he includes the opening guitar riff from "Close to the Edge."

"Ritual" is a bright and uplifting contrast to the murky mystery of the third movement.  As the tension mounts in the middle, you will hear a reprise of the main melody from "The Remembering," and at the finale, there's the main theme from "The Revealing Science of God," only transformed into a minor key.

I noticed something on my most current listening that is perhaps just silly, but I have no problem embarrassing myself

This time through it, I paid even less attention to lyrics than I normally do, just focusing on the music.  I'm not saying this was intentional by the band, but, the album sort of "feels" like it is mirroring the life cycle. 

RSoG has these beautiful somewhat nostalgic melodies that evoke the feelings of childhood to me, wonder, naivety, innocence, mystery.  The Remembering would be young adulthood, adventure, falling in love.  In the Ancient the first half sounds like the stresses of midlife, sometimes jagged and painful while the lovely acoustic in the second half balances it out with what we love about our life.  And in Ritual we begin with that warmth that suggests an elder in a life well lived.  In the middle there is a break and then suddenly the harsh dissonance (by Yes standards anyway) of the percussion/breath sounds which could be representation of suffering and death.  Then breaking from that and closing melodically into the beyond/afterlife.  Again, not saying this was a theme of the bands, just saying that for me as a listener it works as a subplot.  And whenever artists are asked what their albums "mean", many dodge the question by saying variations of "it means whatever it means to our fans."  So I guess we're entitled to wonder about subplots. 

Anyway, sorry for that.  Ducking the tomatoes now