Never has an album in the Progressive Rock canon divided listeners as much as this release. In fact, prior to the release of Oasis’s 1997 album Be Here Now, this is likely the most divisive album in Rock music history. Even keyboardist maestro Rick Wakeman decided to leave around the recording of this album, citing creative differences with the rest of the band, obviously not enjoying what was going on. Drummer Bill Bruford was also replaced by drummer Alan White, which showed that Yes were beginning to unravel internally. Nonetheless, this album must be written about here for various reasons and historical purposes. Prior to this release, Yes’s output was steady and consistent, forging new paths in the genre of Progressive Rock. Therefore, this album is a bit of a leftfield project, being a double-disc concept album based on Hindu mythology. Singer Jon Anderson, in particular, was informed by Eastern religion, namely the book Autobiography Of A Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda. That says a lot about the influences of this gigantic album. Let’s launch into this double disc album with four tracks that are around the 20 minute mark each, and one can hope that this will be a pleasant, rather than a torturous listening experience.

The Revealing Science Of God (Dance Of The Dawn) is the first part of the album, being over 22 minutes long. It begins with some wind instrument based sounds from a keyboard, sounds of rushing water and some violining guitar from guitarist Steve Howe. This continues on as an elongated intro for some time and sounds quite interesting and majestic. This is an interesting listen already here, although to be fair, it is quite lengthy as well. Jon Anderson sings beautifully here, in a chanting sort of way, which sounds really excellent. He sure is an excellent and tuneful singer, and much like Oasis’s Be Here Now effort, some of the group’s best singing is here. Eventually, this tune builds up wonderfully and other keyboards and excellent musicianship get this moving along nicely. Nonetheless, the mixture of keyboards, rolling drums and melodic beauty will take you elsewhere. A really awesome and great listening experience here, this eventually has some quirky electric guitar leads throughout and does sound excellent and awesome. So far, not so dull. The keyboard playing keeps this tune going along very well, and soon afterwards, there is a guitar based breakdown. The lyrics are very similar to the sort of songs written in the classic book series The Lord Of The Rings, such as: “Called out a tune but I never saw the face, heard but not replaced, I ventured to talk, but I never lost my place”. These lyrics are a bit odd for the most part, but then again, Jon Anderson did likely enjoy his weed a lot. Regardless, this is a great set of tunes that the Hippies could easily get into, and sounds ridiculously awesome. There is a great bunch of harmony based singing present as the track progresses. If you are still following along by this point, we are not even halfway through this song. Regardless of what other critics have said about this album release, this is excellent music to listen to and enjoy. The playing and musicianship here is splendid, and the climax where the group chants, “We have waited all our lives for this moment” is excellent, perhaps pointing to the power of music at hand. It soon follows with a section that many EDM DJs have ripped off to date in a way, but the song keeps going onwards. Eventually, this moves into another more subtle section without singing and just drums, bass guitar and electric guitar violining to dazzle your ears and mind too. This is still really good music, many years after its release. Soon enough, the main keyboard melody returns, and this is a joyous listen when it does reoccur. This midsection is gorgeous and amazing and has a touch of King Crimson guitar leads about it. Soon enough, Jon Anderson gets singing again, and there is some amazing and gorgeous guitar playing on this tune, which uses harmonics and sound effects. Quickly enough, this gradually gets building up in the second half and launches back into the proto-EDM section that was present earlier on in this song. No surprise that these guys were very much way ahead of their time musically, and the playing here by all members is really brilliant. The drumming by Alan White (no relation to the Oasis drummer of the same name, ironically) is really excellent, and although Punk musicians may point to this album as a musical crime, it is anything but. In fact, this is far better than most Punk records today. After some time is a guitar solo section with Steve Howe playing by himself, before bass guitar and some gong styled sounds make this more lively as well. Some organ enters after this and this continues the beautiful music present. A really great listening experience, which has Jon Anderson’s gorgeous singing present is here, and he sings about religious concepts, which isn’t a very Rock and Roll thing to do, really. But those concepts are present. Eventually, the dramatic music begins to build up nicely on this song, and Yes come alive here. Contrary to popular opinion, this is very, very good music. Eventually, some harmony based singing enters and this tune builds up with a frenzy of melodic beauty. Soon enough, the keyboard takes the lead afterwards and Chris Squire’s clanging basslines and the drums propel this tune along. An excellent listen, even if those who prefer more minimal music would not like this song. It breaks down into a mellotron heavy section with Jon Anderson singing along with loose basslines, as we approach the end of this super long piece. Fantastic for what it is, this does sound joyful and wonderful for many Progressive Rock fans out there to enjoy. Beautiful, lovely and majestic, Jon Anderson reflects on memories in the lyrics here, and this becomes a frenzy of musical madness here, just right before the chanted lyrics and guitar violining at the end finish off this tune. A very great listen.

The Remembering (High The Memory) begins with a lot of very Hippie styled sounds, with some heavily reverberated guitars, electronic sounds and a great mixture of melodies and production. This is still quite good at this point. Soon enough, vocals enter from Jon Anderson and we are underway on a magical and imaginative trip of musical dimensions. This is very awesome listening and sounds magnificent. Despite the fact others may dismiss this as overblown (and pretentious, for whatever reason why), this is a really melodic, gorgeous and amazing tune to listen to. This 20-minute-long piece is amazing from the start, obviously, although perhaps a little lengthy in its own way. Despite that slight flaw, this is perfect for those who need a break from the world and want something to smoke along to, alone in their room. Soon enough, after the three minute mark, this gradually builds up to a gorgeous piece of melodic beauty that sounds really excellent and brilliant musically. Great music to hear, the singing and instrumentation are nicely intertwined here. No drums yet at this point, but hi-hats rushes enter into the mix all the same. A truly intelligent, dynamic and awesome listening experience, although this does require a little patience to get through, however. Eventually, a combination of vocal, guitar and bass guitar melody enters. The section following after it is really brilliant as well, and rolling drums finally enter this tune. A beautiful, pleasant and enjoyable listen, this tune is not unlike some other interesting Classic Rock records out there. Jon Anderson’s vocals are perfectly done with a little dash of reverb here, and he sounds like a real Rock God. Towards the middle are some catchy melodic lyrics vocalised with drums, followed by a strange section that sounds dark, eerie and spacey. In any case, this does work well, although this is much closer to Classical Music than Rock music, to be fair. Unsurprisingly, this is not going to be everyone’s musical choice as a result, but Yes were exploring new musical territory by this point. Much closer towards the middle of the track, 12-string acoustic guitars enter by Steve Howe and Jon Anderson sings in a lovely way over the top of it all. This is highly experimental in its progression. It has more violining guitar parts here, with nimble bass guitar playing from Chris Squire. This eventually leads back into an excellent song section with drums, at last. Although Yes was perhaps biting off a bit more than they could chew in terms of song length, this is still amazing sounding today. There is a keyboard solo, followed by some singing and ukelele here, just for a wacky listen present. Excellent and deeply melodic music, this continues to follow some interesting melodic progressions that, although are time consuming, are not outright bad. In the second half, we finally launch into a more traditional Rock track that is enjoyable and repeats the word Relayer, just in case you want to know where Yes was heading at the time. Keyboards, bass guitar and drums mesh nicely, and this tune propels itself to an amazing listening experience throughout. The lyrics present are intelligent, poetic and imaginative, which makes the listener wonder why people enjoy some forms of postmodern music today where such lyrical prowess isn’t taken at all seriously. Yet another breakdown occurs, and there are high-pitched and spacey in orientation. Beautiful sounds, including violining guitars and some other great guitar work, are here. Some interesting organ sounds and some horn sounds (likely played on keyboard) are here. This sounds very unusual, and it works well nonetheless. Towards the end, this reverts back to a basic Rock groove, which progresses well towards a conclusion. To be fair, this is quite long, but one can hear the effort in these songs. Steve Howe plays some neat shred guitar licks, which are really amazing to hear to this day. Right towards the end, this reaches a grand conclusion and sounds super interesting. Great music, this concludes after 20 minutes with some neat keyboard sections and a relaxing outro with awesome guitars as well. Nice piece of music, although, it is fairly lengthy.

The Ancient / Giants Under The Sun is 18 minutes long. It begins with some unusual percussion including gong, hi-hats and sleigh bells. This is quite suspenseful, and Alan White does his thing. At a drop of a hat, some awesome stereo-panned sounds that are excellent tape recordings are here, followed by some weird electric guitar sounds from Steve Howe. This is unusual sounding, and it is not the best section of guitar playing out there. The other instrumentation fits nicely here, although the guitar work does not. This is where the quality of the album begins to wear thin a little. The guitar soloing is awful, and the keyboards to match it in sync aren’t the best either, to be frank. Really weird music, this could have been easily edited, rethought or had sections of it scrapped. After a while, the guitars finish up and a loud mellotron section is here. The guitars and bass guitar power this along, although to be fair, Yes were making some filler music at this point of the album. This is difficult to get through here, although Jon Anderson’s vocals present give us some reassurance that all is okay. In any case, this tune eventually becomes something like a 1970s Classical Music piece that is really Progressive Rock, and rather weird. All the same, this works very well. It has some suspenseful stop/start sections, followed by an interesting and pounding section of instrumentation. A really unusual piece of music, with some robotic vocals from Jon Anderson, this continues to go on, although much of this could have been edited. The melodies and guitar parts, in particular, do not sound as good as they could be. A very pretty, enjoyable and gorgeous listening experience, if you can overlook the naff guitar work. Towards the middle are more sweeping mellotron sounds that sound really diverse and excellent, along with some strange percussion. Quite catchy, in its own way, the midsection is quite awesome. Some really awesome drum rolls enter, and the guitar playing continues in the background, sounding a bit better by this point. This gets better as it goes on, and the shred nature of Steve Howe’s playing is decent. Soon enough, a breakdown with some more rather cringe worthy guitar melodies occur, and the rest of the band doesn’t sound very connected here. Ordinary and awful, to say the least. Regardless, this continues on and is followed by some more intricate keyboard sections and more terrible guitar parts. Obviously, this album needs some editing that never occurred. In any case, the band carry on and play, not necessarily in unison, however. A very strange listening experience, the music here is not as amazing as it could be. A pleasant change enters with vocals and a pretty acoustic guitar section that sounds really amazing, and Steve Howe finally plays some decent melodies in this section. It eventually leads into a reoccurring musical motif that sounds incredibly suspenseful. The acoustic guitar is well worth waiting for, and the playing and guitar harmonics are just amazing and gorgeous. Really cool to listen to and hear, Steve Howe’s soloing is really majestic. After some time, Jon Anderson sings nicely about the wintertime and has others singing along in unison with him, and this piece continues to display beauty and majesty. All the same, this definitely sounds better at this point. The music and playing present on this album will take you elsewhere. A beautiful conclusion to a song that did not begin very well, this does sound extraordinarily awesome and pleasant. Vocal harmonies are repeated throughout here. Steve Howe then goes into the acoustic guitar motif section, just right towards the end of this piece. The song then finishes off with a joyous village style jig, followed by pounding and overdriven guitars and drums. This then wraps up with keyboards, guitar swells and wind chimes. Decent.

Ritual (Nous Sommes Du Soleil) is the final track on this rather long and ambitious album. It begins with some reversed piano, percussion crashes and some interesting guitar work. This gradually moves along nicely, and the bass guitar and drum parts mesh together very well. This sounds quite a lot better than what has been on the previous track. For a double disc concept album, this is fairly good music regardless. The keyboards, as usual, go really crazy in this section. Some harmonies in the background are present, and the whole thing sounds quite wacky and unique, in its own way. Bongo drums enter and this piece continues to be enjoyable and uplifting. The music and melodies intertwine very nicely on this song, and there are some funky Fender Stratocaster guitar parts on this about a quarter of the way into this tune. This is followed by some really great and quirky keyboard based melodies, before entering a breakdown with more violining and gorgeous melodies from Steve Howe. A beautiful and tremendous effort overall, he does impress with some killer playing here. Sure, this may add to the somewhat overblown nature of this album, but this is, indeed, pretty for what it is. Without any warning, the main section of this song enters and we are on our way to a happy destination. This music has not aged as poorly as many critics out there have mentioned this album in their own way said, and perhaps Rick Wakeman was foolish to leave Yes (although he made future successes elsewhere). A breakdown with electric sitar then occurs, and this tune sounds very pretty and majestic to enjoy. This is one of the most defining listens from 1973, even though this is not Yes’s finest moment on an album that they recorded. Still, this tune sounds really gloriously amazing, cool and just excellent with Jon Anderson’s vocals on fine form here. Repeated melodies from earlier on in this album re-occur, and Jon Anderson’s strange lyricism and gorgeous vocal delivery sound really fantastic. A very enjoyable and great tune to hear, this is great music to meditate to. Sure, it sounds more like a musical project of conceptual art rather than just a bunch of good tunes, but it still is impressive listening to this very day. The band play along as a unit in the midsection, rather than soloing all over the place as they did before. This quickly breaks down into a solo instrumental section with swirling mellotron melodies, interesting percussion sounds and some odd bass guitar. It also keeps in line with the rest of this double disc concept album overall. It is followed by drum and bongo solos, which are nice and awesome for what they are, with a bass guitar gurgling away underneath it all. Other sounds are layered into this listening experience as well. A great album that, although was a step back for Yes at the time, is still fresh and solid sounding today. The instrumental playing present is unique, and Steve Howe in particular shines bright on this tune. The second half of this album has some great instrumentation. Soon enough, it goes into a proto-Disco sounding section, where Alan White has a drum solo. Neat, and unexpected listening. This drum solo, nonetheless is excellent. Alan White does play very well in this section, and some keyboard melodies join along. After a while, this track gets a little messy sounding, although the drumming is front and centre in this section. This still sounds good for what it is, mind you. A thoroughly tremendous effort here, this is followed by some guitar parts by Steve Howe alone. A piano part enters, and this pleasant and pretty listen continues along nicely. The music present is very moving, in its own way. The piano and guitars sound really fantastic here, and the music is quite timeless, and a joy to listen to. Great sounds abound here, and this good album gradually reaches its ending. The piano and guitar playing perfectly match Jon Anderson’s vocals. Before long, this gradually moves back into song territory, sounding as good as an album of this kind should be. This song wraps up with a load of drum rolls, frenetic playing and instrumentation galore. This piece ends with some dramatic synth strings and a bass guitar part as a call-and-response. The album ends here.

This album gets a lot of flak for what it is. Truth be told, this still is an incredible and amazing listening experience, even to this day. It’s not perfect and some of the sections present do wear out their welcome. Still, any intellectually minded Progressive Rock and music fan should hear this, even if they are conscientious about the overly long songs here. Double disc concept albums are often very much misunderstood products of genius. So is this album in retrospect. Should you listen to this album? Yes, but only if you dig these guys and have an hour of patience to go through this album. There are expanded versions of this album out there if you are interested as well. Yes learned quickly from this album’s flaws, and were back in form by 1974, and they learned their lessons from the mistakes of this album fairly quickly.

Underrated Progressive Rock from 1973.

7/10