----------------------------------------------------- JANUARY 1996 ----------------------------------------------------- Source: Better World Music Review http://www.betterworld.com/BWZ/9602/musicrev.htm Toltec Review by Barry Harrington Can music make a better world? The answer is a resounding Yes, for music can both literally slow the heart and calm the nerves, as well as convey ideas. BWZ brings you reviews of music with both calming sound and stirring content, and so we are proud to share the news of the arrival of the latest Jon Anderson album. Anderson is known to many for working on various different musical canvases. As the co-founder of the phenomenally successful progressive rock band, YES, he built upon the Beatles' melody lines, use of classical structure, and originality to take the concept album--and popular music--to entirely new heights. Continuing to be a musical globetrotter, Anderson has recently released a prolific string of albums: the classical-influenced Change We Must (Angel Records); Windham Hill's Latin-based Deseo (with its offspring, The Deseo Remixes, in which Deseo was reinterpreted by masters of world beat and ambient music); Angels Embrace (Higher Octave); and now, Toltec, Anderson's second major release for Windham Hill. This flurry of musical output is taking place even as Anderson is reforming the classic YES--Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman, and Alan White--for a new YES album to be released on the Castle label. (Castle, the largest indie record company in Europe, recently purchased the distributor Alliance, so U.S. fans will be able to buy this historic regrouping as a domestic album at a domestic price). Anderson is clearly speaking from the heart in his recent releases, and he is visible not only in record stores and concert halls, but on the Internet as well. Toltec is a visitation to the ancient Native American culture. It is a fitting follow-up to the world beat Deseo, blending a myriad of sources: his aborted Geffen album, The Power of Silence, his love for the writings of Carlos Castaneda, the philosophy of the ancient Toltecs, and his own spiritual journeys. Toltec has its roots in an incident that took place a decade ago, when Anderson was flying into Los Angeles to work on the YES album Big Generator. He read a Newsweek article concerning the U.S. Government's efforts to relocate Navajo and Hopi people from their sacred ground at Big Mountain (near Four Corners). This news was disturbing to Anderson, who then made a personal vow to learn more about the Native American culture. It wasn't a simple task. "As a white man," Anderson says, "it's very hard because it's the white people who have been telling everybody else what went on in the history of the world." He was to discover the history of the Toltec, who, in Native American history, were the most knowledgeable people of the tribes who lived three thousand years ago. Toltec is a concept album, the likes of which has not been seen in popular music for two decades. Anderson's suggestion that the Toltec moved from Asia Minor to the Americas via the Bering Straits to settle into Central America and finally disappear into a higher dimension is open to one's own interpretation. (In this manner, Anderson is much like Richard Bach, who continues to puzzle book sellers as whether to categorize his works as fiction or religion). Anderson's suggestion that the Toltec are--present tense--masters of interdimensional reality, and that the human race can follow their lead into Higher Conciousness where harmony exists, can be see as literal, metaphorical,or science fictional. For weaved into this musical tapestry is the voice and wisdom of Longwalker, the Native American friend who accompanied Anderson on a trip into the Copper Canyon mountains outside Chihuahua, Mexico. On one track, "Longwalker Speaks" (which is recitation of the wisdom of the ancestral medicine man spoken atop the fading pitch of a tuning bell), Longwalker says, "Laugh if you want, but listen...while you are making fun, open one ear to Reality." The album is a feast of sound, from electronics and computer-generated aural imagery, to Anderson's distinctive vocals and lyrics, with choruses of Mexican children and acoustic and orchestral music. "Doing this music was a way of reconnecting with the ancient people in the hope that we all become aware of our heritage as tribal people", Anderson explains. "We must take care of this planet in order to take care of our souls, our ancient ones, and our future children. When people listen to Toltec, I would hope they would close their eyes and let the music take them on a musical adventure, wherever they want to go." As ever, Jon Anderson is the ultimate spiritual guide. Close Window YesInThePress.com For site comments, problems, corrections, or additions, contact YesinthePress@aol.com