He's in a [prog] hole! I enjoyed Fragile, and sorta enjoyed Tales from Topographic Oceans, but never hit this one before now.
Pure prog's a funny beast. I love it when I love it, but its reputation for being intentionally difficult, inaccessible, overblown and indulgent is not wholly undeserved. As much as I like complex music, and good rocking lines that you can barely get your head around, I also believe you need something to grasp onto. It might be a vocal line, a melodic lead, a recurring riff - you need some kind of spine to ride through all the latticed veins and throbbing organs. This is where Genesis classics like Watcher of the Skies, The Musical Box and (post-Gabriel) Dance on a Volcano excelled.
This album's the side-long title track epic is another good example. For all its ferocity and meandering, it works because of that plaintive "I get up / I get down" vocal line, perfectly conceived, acting as an all-too-human lifeline through the angular solos and impossible swerves. The other two epic length tracks that make up the other side are not as successful, though the organ-driven jam that ends the album's pretty incredible.
The album ends up reminding me of most other Yes: its just not quite human enough. Complex and interesting and all sure, but it all still sounds like a band doing complex things, never truly ascending the way Genesis does. That one vocal line is perhaps the closest they've come though, and like all complex music, I am obligated to acknowledge the possibility this will be a grower. Lets call it 4/5
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