Tales from Topographic Oceans

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Tales From Topographic Oceans
Tales From Topographic Oceans cover
Studio album by Yes
Released December 14, 1973 (UK)
January 9, 1974 (U.S.)
Recorded August–October 1973
Genre Progressive rock
Length 83:42
Label Atlantic Records
Producer(s) Yes and Eddie Offord
Professional reviews
Yes chronology
Yessongs
(1973)		 Tales from Topographic Oceans
(1973)		 Relayer
(1974)


Tales From Topographic Oceans is the sixth studio album by British progressive rock band Yes. It is a double album, released on Atlantic Records in December 1973 worldwide and early January 1974 in North America.

Contents

[edit] Concept and history

The album is the most controversial album in Yes's discography, and possibly in the entire history of progressive rock. The album's concept, a four-piece work of symphonic length and scope (incidentally based on the Shastric scriptures, as found in a footnote within Paramahansa Yogananda's book Autobiography of a Yogi), was their most ambitious to date.

The album, released when "prog" was at the height of its popularity – with bands such as Genesis, King Crimson, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, and the earlier albums of Yes – was arguably a key to the genre's swift decline in popularity. It perhaps played a significant role in paving the way for the punk rock bands of the mid 1970s, epitomized by The Ramones and The Sex Pistols, by forfeiting a large chunk of the momentum that had been built up by the group's previous three studio albums.

Further, the record supposedly highlighted everything that was considered wrong with progressive rock music at that time. When released, the popular music magazine Melody Maker summed the album up in one word; "No", with similar reaction by Rolling Stone upon the album's re-review. The abstruse concept and extended execution were the main targets of the album's critics, who argued that too much musical padding had been employed with little in the way of a proper concept or lyrics to back it up.

Conversely, certain critics and fans were enthralled by the album's sheer ambition and depth, lending Tales from Topographic Oceans an equal measure of critical approval that has stretched to this day.

[edit] Discord

There was also dissatisfaction with the album from one of the band members, Rick Wakeman, who showed his distaste for the album by eating curry on stage while songs from the album were performed. This infamous incident was a spur to Wakeman leaving the group, to be replaced by Patrick Moraz, who appeared for the album Relayer.

Part of Wakeman's unfavorable attitude towards the album stems from the fact that vocalist Jon Anderson and guitarist Steve Howe constructed the bulk of the album entirely on their own (as the liner notes suggest), leaving the remaining three members with relatively little to contribute (which the liner notes refute).

This complaint was not uncommon (drummer Bill Bruford had left the band a year earlier for similar reasons), and stories abound of Anderson and Howe putting tiles in the studio to simulate the acoustics of a bathroom, while Wakeman, in frustration, spent much of the time playing darts.

The album reached #1 in the UK album chart and also went into the U.S. Top 10, even going gold in both countries from advance orders, before any fans had ever heard the content. Despite this, many Yes fans and casual listeners remain divided over whether or not this was one of the group's stronger works.

Despite Rick Wakeman's reservations about the album, this was an opinion not shared by the other members, Steve Howe in particular stated that some of his best guitar work was to be found on Tales for Topographic Oceans. Even Wakeman, in interviews, mentioned that he enjoyed some of the musical content of "The Ancient".

[edit] Analysis

For prog rock's detractors, Tales is the genre's nadir. For admirers it is an artistic pinnacle. Regardless, it is difficult to deny the determination necessary to undertake this sprawling epic. Although broken up into four sections (the time limit of one side of a vinyl LP being about twenty minutes) Tales is a single composition. Although Jethro Tull had released Thick as a Brick, a single-song single album one year earlier, the unitary composition double-album was unprecedented in the world of mainstream rock. For the band, it was the closest they would ever come to a true fusion of classical structures and themes with rock-oriented instrumentation and sensibilities.

The lyrics are, for Yes, typically elliptical and spiritually oriented, and difficult to interpret. Musically the album features elaborately textured, harmonically sophisticated interaction between Wakeman, Howe, and bassist Squire.

It is a quintessential example of the progressive rock movement, and despite having its detractors, many Yes fans state that the album is not the pariah of the progressive rock movement it is claimed to be.

[edit] Track listing

Concept and lyrics by Jon Anderson and Steve Howe. Music credited to Anderson, Howe, Chris Squire, Rick Wakeman and Alan White.

  1. "The Revealing Science of God (Dance of the Dawn)" – 20:25 (original album) (22:22 on 2003 remaster)
  2. "The Remembering (High the Memory)" – 20:38
  3. "The Ancient (Giants Under the Sun)" – 18:35
  4. "Ritual (Nous Sommes Du Soleil)" – 21:37

Tales From Topographic Oceans (Atlantic 80001) reached #1 in the UK. It also reached #6 in the U.S. during a chart stay of 27 weeks.

A special promotional "banded for airplay" version of the 2 LP set was sent to US radio stations by Atlantic Records in 1974. This was done to try to increase radio exposure as most radio stations did not want to air such long songs. This promo version divided the long tracks into 3 to 5 minute sections which were clearly marked on the record to assist disc jockeys. This promo version is now quite collectible.

The album was remastered and reissued on Rhino Records in 2003 with two bonus tracks:

  • Dance Of The Dawn (studio run-through)
  • Giants Under The Sun (studio run-through)

In addition, the remaster includes a two minute intro to "The Revealing Science of God" that was edited from the original 1973 release.

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Charts

Album

Year Chart Position
1973 UK Albums Chart 1
1974 Billboard Pop Albums 6

[edit] Certifications

Organization Level Date
RIAA – U.S. Gold February 8, 1974
BPI – UK Gold March 1, 1974


[edit] Reissues

1988 - Atlantic - CD
1994 - Atlantic - CD (Remastered)
2003 - Rhino - CD (Remastered with Bonus Tracks)


[edit] External links and sources

Yes
Jon Anderson | Chris Squire | Steve Howe | Rick Wakeman | Alan White
Peter Banks | Tony Kaye | Bill Bruford | Patrick Moraz | Geoff Downes | Trevor Horn | Trevor Rabin | Billy Sherwood | Igor Khoroshev
Discography
Studio albums: Yes | Time and a Word | The Yes Album | Fragile | Close to the Edge | Tales from Topographic Oceans | Relayer | Going for the One | Tormato | Drama | 90125 | Big Generator | Union | Talk | Open Your Eyes | The Ladder | Magnification
Live albums: Yessongs | Yesshows | 9012Live: The Solos | Keys to Ascension | Keys to Ascension 2 | House of Yes: Live from House of Blues
Compilations: Yesterdays | Classic Yes | Yesstory | The Ultimate Yes: 35th Anniversary Collection
Remix albums: Yes Remixes
Box sets: Yesyears | In a Word: Yes (1969 - ) | The Word is Live | Essentially Yes
Related Articles
Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe
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