[Music] Yes - Tales From Topographic Oceans

[Seventh Son]

Artist: Yes
Album: Tales From Topographic Oceans
Genre: Progressive Rock
Year of Release: 1973

Wow. What an album for my first review, eh? Well, let's get going and not waste any time, shall we?

For today's subject, is the rather infamous album, Tales From Topographic Oceans by Yes. Now, I would probably go as far as to say that this is Yes' most divisive album ever. There are those who dismiss it as completely pretentious, wank-filled prog that serves no purpose other than self-gratification. And there are those who hail it as Yes' crowning achievement, even more so than Close to the Edge or any of their other albums. I find myself somewhere around the middle, although I enjoy this record quite a bit, despite its daunting length. That is, that this is Yes' only double album, comprised of merely four songs, each averaging around twenty minutes a piece. Now, that's quite a bit out there, I'd like to think. Something of that caliber is obviously going to gather attention, although maybe perhaps not the right reasons. And that's indeed what happened with Yes here. The critics were definitely not fond of this record, but I think there is a lot of good despite the scathing reviews it gets from the mainstream.

Now, with me, I like to review each song individually and sum up the album at the end (Since I believe an album is the sum of its songs), so I hope no one minds that particular style. Moving onward:

The Revealing Science of God (Dance of the Dawn): The album starts off with what is probably my favorite Yes song not named Close to the Edge. I know this album is hated very viciously by many people, but I think because of that, this song is often ignored. I'm not sure on the specifics, but I think this just might be Yes' longest song at 22:22 (According to my media player). The intro has just a sense of majesty that I really haven't heard in any other Yes song, and that includes Close to the Edge. The word "Epic" is often overused, but I think it fits very well here. The atmosphere introduced in the introduction is simply unreal and blows my mind every time I hear it. One thing that might detract one from this song though, are Jon Anderson's cryptic lyrics which apparently are etched in some ancient documents that I am not familiar with at all. So I have no way of interpreting nor making sense of anything Jon talks about in the album. However, I don't really listen to Yes for their lyrics (I don't really put much emphasis on lyrics when it comes to my listening habits). However, strange lyricism aside, I really do think this might be one of Yes' best songs ever. Jon's gleeful vocals accompanied with Wakeman's majestic keyboard work is something to be fascinated with. Even at a length exceeding twenty minutes, I am never bored with this song for a second, thanks in due part to the dreamy aura the song presents. One more thing of note, Wakeman's insane synth solo right at the end are probably some of my favorite moments by him ever. Ever.

10/10

The Remembering (High the Memory): After the perfection that was The Revealing Science of God, we get to.... this. This song is probably more deserving of the "boring, pretentious" criticism than anything else on this record, and without a doubt the weakest song on the album. That's not to say it doesn't have any cool moments (Wakeman has some awesome keyboard moments here. Actually, this is, in my opinion, one of Wakeman's better performances album-wise despite the fact that he hated the album), but they are spread too far between to be any good. This song simply doesn't have the same kind of atmosphere that Revealing had going for it. It feels like Yes tried to do something a bit... folkier I guess you can say. Its cool in small bits and pieces, but there isn't any cohesion between those moments at all. Its just under 21 minutes long, which is FAR too long for it. I can't help but feel that Yes forced it to its length in order to fit with the theme of the album. Cut it down to about 10 minutes and it would be so much better.

5/10

The Ancient (Giants Under the Sun): After the disappointment that is The Remembering, the album quickly redeems itself here. Alan White may not be as good as his predecessor, Bill Bruford, but I love his percussion here. Although it isn't like Revealing, Ancient Giants is just special in a way that's hard to describe. Both Steve Howe and Alan White shine so brightly here. I really hate that this album is overlooked due to its daunting length, because a gem and a beauty like this one gets overlooked as a result, in my opinion. Not to mention Steve REALLY shines at the end with his beautiful acoustic work. Great way to recover from The Remembering, and makes use of its time a lot better than that song does, in my opinion.

9.5/10

Ritual (Nous Sommes Du Soleil): And finally we hit the finishing number for the album. This one has some awesome vocal parts from Jon Anderson, where he chants the title of the song. Even though he gets criticized for his strange lyrical banter, I happen to love it, in some, strange way. Who knows why, maybe I'm just weird. But anyway, there's some strange about this song to me. It does drag a bit, but not nearly as much as The Remembering does. So even though it loses some points for dragging on, it isn't a huge offender of that, plus its worth it to hear Jon's vocals in here. Steve Howe's quicker and slightly heavier guitar sections are well worth your listen as well.

7.5/10

So, there you have it. The album that caused Rick Wakeman to leave (And come back... and leave again.... and come back again. Rinse and repeat x100000 times), everyone in the media to hate Yes and to give them the stereotype of being the most pretentious out of all the pretentious bands out there. This isn't my favorite Yes record, that would be Close to the Edge, but this is in my top 5. It has two of Yes' best compositions ever, one that is pretty good, and one that just meagres around forever and never does anything. So take that as you well. Its definitely one of the most controversial albums in Yes' discography with the exception of 90125 (And for good reason, even though I actually like that album). And despite the fact its definitely a challenge to listen to, I think if you like Yes you should give it just one shot at least, to listen the whole way through. I wouldn't recommend the album to Yes newbie though, or a newbie of progressive rock in general. But for someone who has listened to Yes a bit, give it a shot and I'm sure you'll find something in here that you'll like, even if its only in bits and pieces.

Album Rating: 8/10

Hope this was good for a first review!