Yes - Tales from Topographic Oceans

Full title - Tales From The Topographic Oceans. 2003 remastered, reissue of 1973 album with redesigned booklet (digipak/slipcase), restored LP art, archival photos and new liner notes. Includes 2 bonus tracks 'Dance Of The Dawn' (studio run through) & 'Giants Under The Sun' (studio run through). Elektra. Album Description

Audacious but flawed

4 sides of music at 20 minutes plus apiece, with no singles. The record executives must have had a coronary. There is a lot of beauty in this album,but it could have been distilled down a little(or more than a little)
Side one opens with a great vocal chant and has some fine soft moments with Rick Wakeman's keyboards to go with his lead pyrotechnics. Chris Squire and Alan White do some great things on side 4. Throughout there are beautiful sonic images, but it never quite comes together in my opinion. It's not like they weren't trying, it just didn't completely work. Still a great listening treat, but you have to really be in the mood to listen. This isn't top 40 rock by any stretch. July 5, 2008

Best Album of All Time

I am a professional musician, now 49 years old, and play nearly every genre of music, but focus on Rock, Prog Rock, Blues, and Jazz improv.

Tales from Topographic Oceans changed the entire course of my musical career (and thus my life) when it first came out. I was stunned then, and still stunned to this day.

To all of you who think you don't like this recording, give it several listens. I didn't like it the first three or four times I heard it, because I was stuck on concepts of what music should should sound like (you should be able to tap your feet, sing along, anticipate the changes, etc). But by the time I listened for the 4th or 5th time, I remember sitting there in a state of absolute awe and epistemological breakdown, in tears.

TFTO is one of the most creative, beautiful masterpieces of music the world has ever been gifted with. If any of you Yes band members read this, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for doing to me what you did with this release.

May 19, 2008

ones who hear...

Hi all,
The easiest way to say this is... Some people hear music, and some people listen to music. Yes has always been a "Thinking mans Band" (along w/others). I saw Tales At the garden in NYC.It was great to see the pure genius of this special evening.(Tales is so intricate and difficult to reproduce live)
Tales is really several songs put together by yes. I can't speak for anyone but I can say if you LISTEN to music you will find this album wonderful. What a great follow up to close to the edge! April 18, 2008

A "progressive rock" work of art, from the masters...

Long before the progressive rock band "Yes" began to deteriorate into a more pop/hits band with various original members coming and going, in other words, in Yes's most creative era, came perhaps their greatest overall work. In the spirit of "Close to the Edge" and "Fragile" and "Relayer" and "Going for the One," "Tales" is a double album made up of four main "pieces/songs," each approximately 20 minutes long. While Yes had previously tackled non-FM radio friendly, long and intricate, powerful musical ideas, "Tales" is without a doubt their most significant contribution to this whole genre of great, lengthy progressive art-rock attempts. As would be Genesis's "Lamb Lies Down on Broadway," Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon," and The Who's "Quadrophenia," but to name a few.

This is really just about the only real progressive rock "symphony" ever created however, in the way it is presented. There are four "movements" here, each complete in their own way, but when the four are put together, this work remains to this day, the closest any mere "rock" band ever came to matching the greatest purely classical music composers (and their own symphonies) in the history of music itself. High praise, Yes! And so well deserved.

"Tales" is not for everyone, whether a casual or devoted "Yes" fan. It takes musical ideas and lyrical compositions beyond anything the mostly original lineup had ever offered before or since. Misunderstood and under-appreciated after its release and for many years afterwards, this is, when all is said and done, probably the band's greatest work. Each of the four parts take many twists and turns, and hold within a life of their own, constantly switching from long lyrical adventures to strictly instrumental, to intricate vocal harmonies, and almost all of it is done in brilliant counterpoints and tempo changes, none of it ever predictable. Utilizing early synth sounds and techniques, it is such a complex and historically important work that it may fly way over the heads of first time Yeslisteners, and may even eventually become tiresome to a lot of ex-Yes fans who have come to see it over time as overly pretentious and Yes at their most self-indulgent. If there were any one effort of progressive rock in general (like Genesis's "Lamb" especially) which demands repeated listenings to fully appreciate its true genius however, this is it.

Aside from the extra tracks in this version of Tales, the four, original parts of this four part Yes symphony remain the essence of it all, and they are:

The Revealing Science Of God Dance Of The Dawn

Starting rather slow but speeding up fast with obscure lyrics from the get-go, and a slowly building harmonic, music and effects background, which turns into all instrumental and then more voice and combinations of musical styles typically Yes, from past and future works. There is no "rush" here to fit into any pre-conceived time frames, so both the music and voice parts take their sweet time, and while demanding patience upon first time listeners, there are riches yet to be had in this, only the first quarter of the work. The music speeds up as do the lyrics, only to swell back into slow, rather minimal joys, of the type only Yes ever really did well among most progressive rock attempts. The early synthesizer sounds and traditional instruments blend wonderfully, and Jon Anderson brings it all about in many beautiful new age parts interrupted by faster, but just as compelling and involving instrumental only sections. A great start and introduction to what may just be Yes's greatest work ever.

The Remembering High The Memory

Continuing from alternating slower, more reflective parts to lead into more instrumental dominated diversions, while again taking its time to develop themes and ideas more deeply than previous and later efforts, echoes of Yes's best efforts won't disappoint fans, especially those of such classics as Fragile and Close to the Edge. All of it must be taken in stride, but there are rewards musically throughout, and a lot of the latter parts will predict future Yes classics such as can be found in Relayer, and especially in the epic "Awaken" from the Going For The One album.

The Ancient Giants Under The Sun

Without a doubt the strangest quarter of Tales is this, with an emphasis on instrumental, there are new sound effects being constantly introduced, and while this part may demand the most patience to develop from the other parts to fully enjoy, like the other parts, it continually flows in a glorious whole. And various themes here again refer back to earlier parts. The classical guitar parts here shine especially.

Ritual Nous Sommes Du Soleil

Again, beginning with an emphasis on the instrumental, soon, vocals and lyrics slowly take charge, and lead later to incredible and faster combinations of so many sounds, all featuring great keyboards, effects, and plaintiff yearning and attempts to wrap it all up with Anderson's vocals. Jon sings, "We Love When We Play..." and it becomes obvious that this whole work is just all about that. An album made by Yes, basically for Yes, and anyone else who finds value in it all, much the better.

Not for everyone, "Tales" will always remain Yes's finest contribution to the very idea of "progressive rock," in all of its, at times, seemingly pretentious, but ultimately satisfyingly wonderous overall achievement. This is surely a masterpiece which demands repeated listenings to fully appreciate its unique, simple and complex, musical beauty. I can't recommend it enough, and it will always be on my short list of CD's to be stranded on a desert island with. Every listening consistently brings something new to the mix, and this is a piece of music art, without doubt. April 7, 2008

Tales from Topographic Oceans

I am just filling out my CD library with titles I used to have in album format and through the years have lost or they have gotten unplayable. Great album though. April 5, 2008

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