Yes - Tales from Topographic Oceans
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Free Music Notes for Tales from Topographic Oceans
Free Music Review: I like it BECAUSE it's sprawling!
Hit: 5 Stars
This is one of those "difficult" albums about which no two people are ever going to agree, so I'll just say that the reason I like it is that it's the closest Yes ever got to loosening up in the studio. They had up until this point (and subsequently) been so intent on being SO precise, SO specific with every note they wrote and played, that to hear them meander a little bit is, at least for me, somewhat refreshing!
Yes, okay, Jon Anderson was in cloud-cuckooland when he wrote most of the lyrics here (like there was anything coherent about "Close To The Edge" or "Roundabout?"), but his main thing at the time was the way words SOUNDED when sung, not the meaning, and, on that level, much of his singing works just fine. Alan White was making his studio debut with the group and brought a more muscular approach to the drumming that was in stark contrast to his predecessor Bill Bruford's almost military-clean topkit drumming. I like both Bruford and White, but one of things that stands out on TOPOGRAPHIC is it's almost savage sound, especially on the third piece, "The Ancient," and White was a great contributor to that aspect of it. Steve Howe also dared to let his guitar get a bit ugly-sounding here, and it works! For all that Rick Wakeman had nothing good to say about TOPOGRAPHIC at the time he worked on it, his playing and use of the mellotron and synths throughout is probably the most lyrical and emotionally uplifting part of all four pieces. By contrast to the others, and to his previous work on other Yes albums, bassist Chris Squire seems more subdued here, but even that works well on pieces like "The Remembering," and when he lets loose on the final moments of "Ritual," the wait for him to do so is worth it.
I would rate Yes' albums from THE YES ALBUM through GOING FOR THE ONE as some of the most played in my music collection, but TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS is the first among equals....sprawl and all!
Free Music Review: YES - Always looking over the horizon
Hit: 4 Stars
THE BAND: Jon Anderson (vocals), Steve Howe (guitars), Chris Squire (bass), Rick Wakeman (keyboards), Alan White (drums & percussion).
THE DISC: (1973) Originally released on Atlantic's label, this newly remastered 2-disc (2003) edition is put out by Elektra/Rhino. Both disc-1 and disc-2 run between 62-63 minutes long. Disc-2 contains 2 bonus tracks - "Dance Of The Dawn" (23+ minutes) and Giant's Under The Sun" (17+ minutes) - both studio "run-through" segments from songs on disc-1. Included with the disc is an 18-page booklet containing song titles/credits, song lyrics, band pictures, and a 12-page intro to the band and the goings-on at the time. Recorded at Morgan Studio, London. The case it self is 3-fold cardboard with all original Roger Dean album artwork - very nicely done.
COMMENTS" "Tales From Topographic Oceans" is a difficult listen. A large scale project - ultimately intricate, dense, brave, controversial, ambitious, exhilarating, poetic, epic, and exhausting (based loosely on a section of the book "Autobiography Of A Yogi"). In a sense, "Tales" was the album that separated the casual fan from the true believer in Yes. Some felt the artistic journey on "Tales" was ultimately rewarding. Those who didn't abandoned Yes (temporarily or altogether... including Rick Wakeman). This is one of Steve Howe's favorites and he himself has stated that some of his best guitar work is on "Tales". Alan White shines with intricate drumming on his 1st album with the band (replacing Bill Bruford). The album reached #1 in the UK and #6 in the US... after earlier releases (1971-72) "The Yes Album", "Fragile" and "Close To The Edge", Yes was on top of the rock/progressive world. Yes had the choice of putting another album out of similar material, or take a bold step artistically... and Anderson/Howe chose to write some very bold material. Yes has several (if not many) compilations, and you won't find much from "Tales" on any of them outside of excerpts ("Topography - The Yes Anthology" from 2004 contains excerpts from "The Revealing Science")... the songs are simply to long and too complex... not to mention a clear radio 'hit' nowhere to be found. The 2 bonus tracks are interesting to hear, but after a few listens these "studio run-throughs" simply can't compare to the finished product found on disc-1 (and I find myself skipping them all together). For me, I've always liked the ups and downs of the 18 minute "Ritual". The melodies here are for the most part indescribable - simply put, the songs need to be listened to, but you have to be in the mood. Best off absorbed through head phones. A trademark Yes journey indeed (4 stars).
Free Music Review: "Stand on Hills of Long Forgotten Yesterday"
Hit: 4 Stars
In 1973 two very iconic progressive rock albums would be realeased. One would be Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon", the other "Tales From Topographic Oceans" by Yes. "Dark Side", a concept album about man's destructive qualities: (his wasting of time, his mental ills, his greed, etc). would be praised by critics, while "Tales From Topographic Oceans", a concept album about man's more positive qualities (his reverence of God, his respect for creation, and his wonderous ancient civilzations) would be spoken of rather harshly by the presses. I think that response says more about human nature than it does about the quality of the music on each of the records.
"Tales" isn't a perfect album, no, and it is a little stretched out at times, but when it's good (which is most of the time) it is a deeply evocative, beautiful piece of music, and a very special record, made all the more special by this re-release.
"Tales From Topographic Oceans" was a two record release, made up of four 20 minute songs. For this album we have Jon Anderson is on vocals, Chris Squire on bass, Rick Wakeman on keyboards, Steve Howe on guitar and Alan White (formerly a session man for John Lennon & George Harrison) on drums. It's a concept album inspired by what Jon Anderson calls a "lengthy footnote" on page 83 of Paramhansa Yoganada's "Autobiography of a Yogi". The lyrics deal with origins and memories, the wonders of nature, possibilities, places long ago, places far away and rituals. Whether the concept is full and complete, I'm not really sure, but I do enjoy the ride.
It took me a few listens to get into this album. Actually, the first time I played I fell asleep on my desk halfway through "The Revealing Science of God". It's not that it's a boring, far from it. It's just that some parts are atmospherically sparse, and the tracks all go for a while, and for a first listen (or even a second or a third) it's a lot to take in. There's not as many of the intense moments as you'll find on other 20 minute tracks like "Close to the Edge" or "The Gates of Delirium" (for Relayer). It's not exactly low tempo, but it doesn't get too high too often either. There are weird moments (especially in "The Ancient") but for the most part, it all sounds pretty normal. "It's typical Yes, just longer" as one of my friends puts it. There is a little repetition, but it doesn't get too over top. Well, I don't think so anyway.
For me, this record is really special. I don't know what it is exactly, but something in the chords or the lyrics, or both, evokes something ancient. Like when you see archaeological relics in a mueseum, or when you look at a rugged cliff face, or pass a gnarled tree, or watch clouds billow out in the sky. Those moments that suggest something beyond, profound and distant. I'm sure Yes felt this about the songs too, if not intended it to evoke such things, judging from their choice of cover (a Roger Dean painting with rugged rocks and ancient monuments), and the photographs of various natural beauties underneath where the CDs sit (various skylines and cloudscapes, rushing water, etc).
Speaking of packaging, Rhino have done a great job with this repackaging. It's done like a mini-LP sleeve, which folds out revealing the discs. In one of the folds is a picture of a young Steve Howe, standing in front of a "Tales From Topographic Oceans" billboard. The booklet, which you can find within between the fold with Steve & the billboard picture, has all the lyrics, a couple of pictures of the band, new liner notes by Mike Tiano describing the making of and controversy around the album, plus the original liner notes by Jon Anderson, describing the origins of the concept and a rough outline of the concept itself. The only problem I have with the packaging is that it doesn't fit on a standard CD rack. Agh! Ah well.
There's forty minutes of bonus tracks in the repackage too. That is, an alternate take each for two of the twenty minute tracks, "The Revealing Science of God" and "The Ancient". They are both early run throughs. A couple of the lyrics are different, but turn away from the stereo for a moment and you'll miss them. As they're run throughs, the productions a little more organic too (especially "The Ancient"), and there aren't as many harmonies, and a lot of the familiar overdub parts aren't there. Jon Anderson's vocals are a little rough, and it used to put me off listening to these outtakes, but listening to them now, it's interesting hearing him striving, working things out. He's really passionate about the material, you can tell. There's a couple of extended parts in the songs too. The most notable part of these run throughs, I would say, is the version of "Leaves of Green" at the end of "The Ancient". Rather than having a Spanish guitar as backing, Steve Howe plays an electric guitar, and Alan White provides a jerky beat, in addition to hitting/shaking a really wobbly piece of percussion, sounding kind of comical against Jon's sincere lyrics.
It's a great album, and one worth getting for Yes fans, but pick up three or four of their other classic era records (like "The Yes Album", "Fragile", "Close to the Edge", "Relayer", or "Going For the One") before getting this one, just to get into what Yes are all about. It will help with this one.
Free Music Review: Just as promised.
Hit: 5 Stars
The cd was sent just as promised. I'd order from this dealer again. Free Music Review: A Magnificent Failure
Hit: 5 Stars
The title of this review is a phrase once used to describe Wagner and his operas. Wagner aspired to something totally new in the history of music, a melding of literature, theatre, art, instrumentation and vocal wizardry that would leave the traditional concept of opera in the dust. It has been said that he failed at this task. All he managed was to leave behind a body of work that remains unparalleled in scope, grandeur, beauty and timeless artistry. Great opera. As for the rest... well, who cares?
The same could be said for this two disk set. With the title song of their third album, Close To The Edge, Yes had taken the process begun with Roundabout to its most extreme development. The "song" had been pushed to its structural limits and could go no further. How do you top Close to the Edge?
What they reached for exceeded their grasp, at least with this work. More than any piece up to this point, Tales aspires to push beyond songs into the realm of serious composition, where music becomes something of a narrative force taking one through a whole cycle of experience: beginning, development, climax and denoument. You know, the kind of thing Beethoven did in his sleep.
Unfortunately, they weren't up to it; not yet, at least. Instead, they ended up with a kind of "Side Two of Abbey Road" on steroids: bits and pieces that might have been songs, but which, instead, with the help of connecting tissue and instrumental interludes, appear to be more. In the end, however, the sides tend to feel like bits pasted together, rather than coherent pieces with a single direction, purpose and energy flow. (They learned fast, however: on their next two albums they produced "Gates of Delirium" and "Awaken," both of which capture that single-minded flow of energy, all parts focused on a single result, and thus remain their most sophisiticed creations).
All that said, this album works nothing less than pure magic on the listener. Because, you see, there are two versions of this production: the one contemplated in hindsight with the logical analysis of the critic, and the one you immerse yourself into as you listen. The second version blows the first out of the water. Forget all the negative terms you've heard about this work--bloated, too long, self-indulgent--as well as everything I've said thus far. Something happens when you shut the world out, put on the headphones and listen to the first sounds of the ocean blending into the guitar fade-ins, followed by the longest introductory passages ever written in Rock. The message is clear: this ain't your Top-40s rock, and don't go looking for any hits. This is "Sit down, shut up and listen!" music. Time takes on a different meaning and one ceases to appreciate the music; rather, one becomes part of the music. Yes has always been masterful at reaching for the big moment, and here, the big moments roll over you like waves in the ocean, one after the next, the music rising, falling, carrying you along for the ride with an inevitability that can't be described, only experienced.
Back in 1973, this was rock's absolute cutting edge. As the decade progressed, music took a different direction, and while many groups acknowledge the role YES played in setting a standard of musicianship and musical sophistication, few, if any, who tried to build on what they established found success in the market place. And so these pieces, and the ones that followed on Relayer and Going For The One, remain perfectly preserved creations, unsullied by greater achievements of descendents who might have built on the foundations they forged, examples of a time when Rock as a species of serious music was still in its infancy and amazing things were possible to contemplate and achieve.
Judge these four pieces not by what they don't accomplish, but what they do: beauty, virtuosity and breadth not to be seen again. This was when Rock, briefly, raised its head and began to awaken to its possibilities. Alas, this was not the dawn of an era but an all too brief flash of brilliance that no one, not even YES could sustain past the turn of the decade.