favorite so far: "ritual (nous sommes du soleil)," esp. for its opening.
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Saturday, 25 December 2004 19:50 (nineteen years ago) link
― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Saturday, 25 December 2004 20:13 (nineteen years ago) link
― Pashmina (Pashmina), Saturday, 25 December 2004 21:29 (nineteen years ago) link
― Joe (Joe), Saturday, 25 December 2004 22:01 (nineteen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro, Saturday, 25 December 2004 22:03 (nineteen years ago) link
― chaki in charge (chaki), Saturday, 25 December 2004 22:09 (nineteen years ago) link
(I do have the latest reissues of The Yes Album and Going For The One.)
My morning commute is 70 minutes if I take the early train, 80 minutes if I take the late train. So sometimes I'll take the late train just so I can listen to TFTO in its entirety on my iPod.
― pdf (Phil Freeman), Saturday, 25 December 2004 22:38 (nineteen years ago) link
And 'Gates of Delirium' is better than anything on _TFTO_ anyway.
― Jeff Wright (JeffW1858), Sunday, 26 December 2004 02:37 (nineteen years ago) link
Amen.
And I do appreciate TfTO very much, especially the acoustic bit on "the Ancient" and the 'relayer' section on "the Remembering".
― JP Almeida (JP Almeida), Sunday, 26 December 2004 13:56 (nineteen years ago) link
― shookout (shookout), Sunday, 26 December 2004 14:07 (nineteen years ago) link
― Joe (Joe), Sunday, 26 December 2004 14:57 (nineteen years ago) link
It's also not as good as Close To The Edge or Fragile or The Yes Album. In fact, I probably listen to it least of all the Yes I own. But I still wouldn't trade it for an ole' brown mare.
― Ian John50n (orion), Sunday, 26 December 2004 21:18 (nineteen years ago) link
― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, 27 December 2004 19:38 (nineteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 27 December 2004 19:40 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 27 December 2004 19:54 (nineteen years ago) link
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Monday, 27 December 2004 20:43 (nineteen years ago) link
i'm also pleasantly surprised that there are no bashers yet. surely there MUST be some here?!?
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Thursday, 30 December 2004 07:01 (nineteen years ago) link
i have only ever heard one cocteau twins song!
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 30 December 2004 14:17 (nineteen years ago) link
― martin hilliard, Thursday, 30 December 2004 16:41 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ganbare Goemon (ex machina), Thursday, 30 December 2004 16:48 (nineteen years ago) link
― martin hilliard, Thursday, 30 December 2004 16:58 (nineteen years ago) link
when I was a big Yes fan in Jr High, TFTO was the only one of their albums I couldn't get through. Now it's the only one I still occasionally listen to (probably because I haven't played it to death like the others). But after reading this thread, I listened to it again to try to remember what I used to find so difficult about it. I think it was because compared to something like The Gates of Delirium, TFTO doesn't progress though movements in a way that seems logical. On the contrary, it meanders around seemingly changing direction at random. In that way it's a much better match for my current tastes. The other difference I noticed is that The Gates of Delirium gives you occasional doses of fist pumping payoff (er, well as close as it gets considering who we're talking about here) and there's almost none of that on TFTO. That was probably a lot of the problem. Too cerebral and not emo enough. Or something.
On the other side of the coin, I can't stand Close to the Edge anymore. A lot of sections on that album just seem to overstay their welcome.
― cheshy f cät, Thursday, 30 December 2004 17:53 (nineteen years ago) link
― Jay Vee (Manon_70), Thursday, 30 December 2004 19:54 (nineteen years ago) link
― chaki in charge (chaki), Thursday, 30 December 2004 20:16 (nineteen years ago) link
― Pashmina (Pashmina), Thursday, 27 April 2006 08:23 (seventeen years ago) link
Ha ha, that reminds me of a friend of mine who was listening to a vinyl copy of this and it got going into this repetitive sort of riff in a funny time signature and he was like, "Wow, that's quite cool". And it kept going on and on and on. Then he fell asleep and when he woke up it was still going and he was like, "I knew this was record was long but Jesus!" Then he realised the record had been stuck for 45 minutes.
― Kids Will Eat Them Till the Cows Come Home (Dada), Thursday, 27 April 2006 08:33 (seventeen years ago) link
― Lotta Continua (Damian), Thursday, 27 April 2006 09:15 (seventeen years ago) link
― Pashmina (Pashmina), Thursday, 27 April 2006 09:30 (seventeen years ago) link
far out.
― jinx hijinks (sanskrit), Thursday, 27 April 2006 11:41 (seventeen years ago) link
I used to crank itwhile I lifted weights, which meantit all cancelled out
― Haikunym (Haikunym), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:38 (seventeen years ago) link
― someone let this mitya out! (mitya), Sunday, 30 April 2006 15:41 (seventeen years ago) link
― Lotta Continua (Damian), Sunday, 30 April 2006 18:14 (seventeen years ago) link
― city of gyros (chaki), Sunday, 30 April 2006 18:16 (seventeen years ago) link
Ironically enough, considering Pashima's
It's so...uplifting! It just goes up and up and up and up. So rich & warm-sounding.
it segued into "Going for the One" and I thought, "Now THIS is uplifting." Something about the high synth sounds in the background, literally pulling you up throughout the song.
― someone let this mitya out! (mitya), Monday, 1 May 2006 06:14 (seventeen years ago) link
― city of gyros (chaki), Monday, 1 May 2006 08:26 (seventeen years ago) link
I should actually get some of this again, since I only ever listened to my dad's albums.
― Wear High Heels, Get A Record Deal (kate), Monday, 1 May 2006 11:42 (seventeen years ago) link
Side 1 and 4 are the most consistent.
― Joe (Joe), Monday, 1 May 2006 22:18 (seventeen years ago) link
OK, Good night.
― Jay Vee's Return (Manon_69), Saturday, 10 February 2007 11:40 (seventeen years ago) link
― Jay Vee's Return (Manon_69), Saturday, 10 February 2007 11:43 (seventeen years ago) link
― chaki (chaki), Saturday, 10 February 2007 12:32 (seventeen years ago) link
i am listening to this motherfucking album all the way through for the first time EVER right now
― taddletail (country matters), Monday, 13 April 2009 14:54 (fifteen years ago) link
side 2 is where it's at. feel safe now!
― kamerad, Monday, 13 April 2009 15:18 (fifteen years ago) link
ok
this is gonna take a few listens to sink in
― yes threads (country matters), Monday, 13 April 2009 22:24 (fifteen years ago) link
like, i enjoyed it pretty much throughout, but uh
― yes threads (country matters), Monday, 13 April 2009 22:25 (fifteen years ago) link
it's 7 hours long?
― fucken cumlord (omar little), Monday, 13 April 2009 22:28 (fifteen years ago) link
yep
― yes threads (country matters), Monday, 13 April 2009 22:29 (fifteen years ago) link
jesus
― fucken cumlord (omar little), Monday, 13 April 2009 22:30 (fifteen years ago) link
defend the indefensible: TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHICAL OCEANS, by YEP
― yes threads (country matters), Monday, 13 April 2009 22:30 (fifteen years ago) link
i mean...i normally enjoy a record more and more when i'm familiarised to its narrative...this is gonna take a bit more work than usual, but it's work i'm prepared to put in
― yes threads (country matters), Monday, 13 April 2009 22:32 (fifteen years ago) link
Louis has never heard any Black Sabbath albums yet he will listen to tales from topographic oceans?
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Monday, 13 April 2009 22:37 (fifteen years ago) link
"Anyone else think Tormato is seriously underrated"
I HATED this album when I first heard it. Hated it so much I threw it away and didn't listen to it again for years. And then when I did I thought it really wasn't that bad; the worst thing about it is the cover and Jon Anderson's kid talking about clowns. It's a terrible sounding record though (so is Going for the One).
― akm, Thursday, 18 July 2013 14:41 (ten years ago) link
never been able to get into "awaken" either or most of going for the one. tormato is still lost on me. but then comes drama and holy shit, god bless the buggles
a nice defense of tales if you are at all into michael chabon ~
I actually write, frequently, while listening to Yes records: Close to the Edge, Relayer, and Tales from Topographic Oceans. The dynamics are pretty steady, the bass and drums are propulsive, and the lyrics make no sense (to me, at least) and thus do not intrude on my own word-flow. They are just pretty sounds. I listen to vinyl records, unless I'm working on a plane.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/09/10/michael_chabon_interview_why_the_telegraph_avenue_author_still_loves_prog_rock_.html
― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, 18 July 2013 14:49 (ten years ago) link
It's a terrible sounding record though (so is Going for the One).
tormato was my reference record when i went through headphone hell a few years ago, mainly because the bass is mixed in fairly solidly right the way through
― Autumn Almanac, Thursday, 18 July 2013 15:25 (ten years ago) link
GftO sounds awesome in my car
― frogbs, Thursday, 18 July 2013 15:28 (ten years ago) link
MOVE YOURSELF! *orchestral hit*
― I wanna live like C'MOWN! people (Turrican), Thursday, 18 July 2013 15:29 (ten years ago) link
OK GUYS I actually knocked up an edited version of this album, decide for yourself whether or not it's an improvement :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2IIeDJYjOU
― Addison Doug (Matt #2), Friday, 9 August 2013 13:54 (ten years ago) link
Sorry
― Addison Doug (Matt #2), Friday, 9 August 2013 13:57 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l49P4F-gpm4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iHKFBlx0t8
― Addison Doug (Matt #2), Friday, 9 August 2013 13:58 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SnvkS11K0s
― Addison Doug (Matt #2), Friday, 9 August 2013 13:59 (ten years ago) link
That's very well done. I love those ambient parts in the second track.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 10 August 2013 15:33 (ten years ago) link
I think it was an interesting time for the band, that period. There was a lot of FM radio who would play long-form pieces of music without any advertising. We felt we were on the cutting edge of rock music —- progressive rock —- totally different from the norm. And the FM radio in America —- especially university radio —- was very excited to play “Close to the Edge,” “And You and I,” “Starship Trooper,” and longer pieces. So we felt, well, the door seems to be open. Let’s make some music. And of course, when people get together to make music, you don’t really time it and say, “We should just make four-minute pieces of music.” Or five-minute pieces of music. We were just interested in expanding the music that we dreamed of. It wasn’t like, “Let’s sit down and write twenty-minute pieces of music.” We just started writing. We were actually on tour in Japan and Australia, and we started composing ideas, and before you know it, you’re dreaming of new progressions and ideas that are just different. Like having everyone in the band drumming at once. Or having everybody singing and playing different instruments. Challenging yourself, really.
http://www.examiner.com/article/jon-anderson-of-yes-raids-rock-vault-talks-topographic-oceans-40-years-on
― reggie (qualmsley), Sunday, 15 September 2013 00:52 (ten years ago) link
That's a great article!
― Naive Teen Idol, Sunday, 15 September 2013 05:43 (ten years ago) link
yeah, that's great. i like this album a whole lot. a lot of people are still stuck in some version of the punk vs. prog false dilemma, even if they don't know it.
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Sunday, 15 September 2013 23:15 (ten years ago) link
That article talks about a prog cruise Jon is participating in, to which a friend replied in an email:
Let me get this straight...Are you telling me that I have the opportunity to experience the best and worst of prog while enjoying the close-quarters company of some of the most socially awkward old people in all of fandom, and top it all off with the rapid spread of virulent rocket diarrhea? SIGN ME THE FUCK UP.
Are you telling me that I have the opportunity to experience the best and worst of prog while enjoying the close-quarters company of some of the most socially awkward old people in all of fandom, and top it all off with the rapid spread of virulent rocket diarrhea? SIGN ME THE FUCK UP.
...at which point another friend pointed out that Jon and Yes have dueling cruises, prompting him to say:
I just realized that the Yes cruise will have Eddie Jobson, Patrick Moraz, and whoever the current Yes keyboard player is (assuming it's not one of them) all in the same boat, and if it sinks, the keyboard world will be devastated. That's after they get intentionally rammed by the Punk Cruise featuring The Ramones (Legacy), Jello Biafra, and two guys from Stiff Little Fingers.
Prog!
― Naive Teen Idol, Monday, 16 September 2013 00:48 (ten years ago) link
I still listen to that Matt#2 edit of this album, it's deepened my appreciation of the album
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 1 June 2014 16:13 (nine years ago) link
Is that to be found elsewhere on this thread? I remember wanting to hear it.
― lauded at conferences of deluded psychopaths (Sparkle Motion), Monday, 2 June 2014 17:58 (nine years ago) link
― reggie (qualmsley), Monday, 2 June 2014 18:34 (nine years ago) link
cool, thanks
― lauded at conferences of deluded psychopaths (Sparkle Motion), Monday, 2 June 2014 18:52 (nine years ago) link
pass amongst your memories told returning ways
― reggie (qualmsley), Friday, 13 April 2018 00:24 (six years ago) link
Revive! Am listening to this as I lie in bed getting over virulent diarrhea I contracted on an intercontinental flight. And I must say: this record hits the spot. I think its poor rep has more to do with the four songs/four sides thing than anything else. It’s no more overwrought or indulgent than anything else in their 70s catalogue — and the lyrics are as equally abstract (“And rearrange your liver to the solid mental grace,” anyone?).
Even when I first discovered this record, I was really taken by the “We walk around the story/Out in the city running free” melody in “The Remembering.” But the melodies are quite strong throughout — “Nou Sommes Du Soileil” is up there w “I get up/I get down” “I feel lost in the city!” and “Soon” for great lyrical Jon moments. The rhapsodic “Relayer…”(!!) section in “The Remembering" is catchy as well. Only “The Ancient” is a bit anemic in the melody department, but even there there’s a great folk section with Howe and the textures are pretty attractive.
To that point, the textures and rhythms throughout are pretty amazing — the disco section in the first half of “The Revealing Science of God” is aces and should have been sampled by now. Wakeman, in particular, sounds great on most of this — his Mellotron is towering and his Minimoog bits have the least pomp of most of his recordings. And Howe, Squire and White sound great on “The Ancient” — almost certainly influenced by Crimson’s “Larks’ Tongues in Aspic Part I."
Their best record? No. But much further up there than I remembered ...
― Naive Teen Idol, Monday, 23 April 2018 17:50 (six years ago) link
weird, this record actually gave me diarrhea
― frogbs, Monday, 23 April 2018 17:52 (six years ago) link
it has a cool album cover
― don't make me wait (with Shaggy) (voodoo chili), Monday, 23 April 2018 17:55 (six years ago) link
"the remembering" is up there with "close to the edge" and "gates of delirium". tales as a double album is too much but the best of the other three sides/movements could be spliced into another singular epic jam to rank with YES highest on fire. sometimes i wonder if that's what's at the root of the lingering beef between anderson and howe
― reggie (qualmsley), Monday, 23 April 2018 18:16 (six years ago) link
This record is at the root of the lingering beef?
― Naive Teen Idol, Monday, 23 April 2018 18:22 (six years ago) link
i have no idea. imagination is a beefitul thing
― reggie (qualmsley), Monday, 23 April 2018 18:25 (six years ago) link
I listen to this one straight through all the time and love it. The Steven Wilson remix is the version for me. Honestly, I only listen to his Yes remixes of the albums he's done as my go-to versions these days. They're tremendous.
― Acid Hose (Capitaine Jay Vee), Monday, 23 April 2018 18:32 (six years ago) link
regular tales front to back is beyond my drug budget. a short-ish jam to break up the four 20-minute long songs would've been tight. pass within and soothe this endless night
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyzxoYivYII
― reggie (qualmsley), Monday, 23 April 2018 18:39 (six years ago) link
this is my favorite yes album
― kurt schwitterz, Monday, 23 April 2018 19:59 (six years ago) link
― Naive Teen Idol, Monday, 23 April 2018 21:55 (six years ago) link
I like the 2003 mix of this (with the two minutes or so of tweedling at the beginning, before the vocals come in). I don't like the Steven Wilson remix.
― grawlix (unperson), Monday, 23 April 2018 23:51 (six years ago) link
That two minutes is CRUCIAL!
― kurt schwitterz, Tuesday, 24 April 2018 00:22 (six years ago) link
(not joking)
I agree 100%.
― grawlix (unperson), Tuesday, 24 April 2018 00:45 (six years ago) link
NTI I found 320s of his stereo remixes on the t0rr3nts. No way in hell can I afford a Blu-Ray Yes discography!
― Acid Hose (Capitaine Jay Vee), Tuesday, 24 April 2018 01:03 (six years ago) link
alternate truth / alternate view / surely surely
― reggie (qualmsley), Tuesday, 1 May 2018 18:23 (five years ago) link
this album rules and everyone who hates it sucks
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 7 August 2019 12:32 (four years ago) link
This straddles the line between 'posts very much in character' and 'posts very much out of character'.
― pomenitul, Wednesday, 7 August 2019 13:06 (four years ago) link
the wiki page for this is incredibly entertaining
When the band settled into Morgan Studios, Lane and Anderson proceeded to decorate the studio like a farmyard. Squire believed Lane did so as a joke on Anderson as he wished to record in the country. Anderson brought in flowers, pots of greenery, and cut out cows and sheep to make the studio resemble a garden as a typical studio did not "push the envelope about what you're trying to create musically".Wakeman recalled the addition of white picket fences and his keyboards and amplifiers placed on stacks of hay. At the time of recording, heavy metal group Black Sabbath were recording Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973) in the adjacent studio. Singer Ozzy Osbourne recalled the Yes studio also had a model cow with electronic udders fitted and a small barn to give the room an "earthy" feel. "About halfway through the album", said Offord, "The cows were covered in graffiti and all the plants had died. That just kind of sums up that whole album". At one point during the recording stage, Anderson wished for a "bathroom sound" effect on his vocals and asked the band's lighting engineer, Michael Tait, to build him a plywood box with tiles stuck onto it. After Tait explained to Anderson that the idea would not work, Tait "built it anyway". Sound engineer Nigel Luby recalled that tiles would fall off the box during recording takes. Wakeman felt increasingly disenchanted by the album during the recording stage, and spent much of his time drinking and playing darts in the studio bar. He also spent time with Black Sabbath, playing the Minimoog synthesiser on their track "Sabbra Cadabra". Wakeman would not accept money for his contribution, so the band paid him in beer. In one incident during the last few days of mixing, Anderson left the studio one morning with Offord carrying the tapes. Offord placed them on-top of his car in order to find his car keys, and proceeded to drive away, forgetting about the tapes. They stopped the car to find the tapes had slid off and fallen on the road, causing Anderson to rush back and stop an oncoming bus to save them.
Wakeman felt increasingly disenchanted by the album during the recording stage, and spent much of his time drinking and playing darts in the studio bar. He also spent time with Black Sabbath, playing the Minimoog synthesiser on their track "Sabbra Cadabra". Wakeman would not accept money for his contribution, so the band paid him in beer.
In one incident during the last few days of mixing, Anderson left the studio one morning with Offord carrying the tapes. Offord placed them on-top of his car in order to find his car keys, and proceeded to drive away, forgetting about the tapes. They stopped the car to find the tapes had slid off and fallen on the road, causing Anderson to rush back and stop an oncoming bus to save them.
― frogbs, Wednesday, 7 August 2019 13:32 (four years ago) link
Nous Sommes De Lager
― calstars, Wednesday, 7 August 2019 14:11 (four years ago) link
Was this album ever really critically panned? The only real slagging I can think of off the top of my head was a one-star review from... cdnow? sonicnet? one of those allmusic guide precursors whose archives are completely lost to the ages. Other than that I don’t really remember it being received any worse critically than, say, Drama or Tormato.
― Mr. Snrub, Wednesday, 7 August 2019 17:46 (four years ago) link
The Rolling Stone Album Guide of '92 gave it one star, IIRC, and it appears in the Guterman/O'Donnell Worst Rock 'n' Roll Records of All Time book (those guys particularly have it out for prog, saying of Genesis that they were better than most prog bands "i.e., they were boring only 90% of the time").
― eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Wednesday, 7 August 2019 21:11 (four years ago) link
yeah it was definitely the punching bag du jour of people who don't even like prog in the first place. I think it's fairly well liked these days though it's still seen as being totally ridiculous and the moment where Yes stopped being the Best Band in the World. the criticism for Tormato feels a bit different - nobody was really expecting a great record out of a prog band in 1978. in fact its Going For the One that was the outlier in that regard.
― frogbs, Wednesday, 7 August 2019 21:21 (four years ago) link
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, August 7, 2019 8:32 AM (four years ago) bookmarkflaglink
she's still right
― ivy., Saturday, 6 January 2024 16:06 (three months ago) link
This is easily a top 50 of all time for me and by far my favorite Yes album
― Slim is an Alien, Saturday, 6 January 2024 18:16 (three months ago) link
I like the 2003 mix of this (with the two minutes or so of tweedling at the beginning, before the vocals come in). That two minutes is CRUCIAL!
Originally omitted from the LP at Ahmet Ertegun's request, as if a little bit of atmospheric guitar and wind sounds would be the final straw for the Yes audience. With that intro intact, there is a mirror image of the last seconds of the album; though there's something to be said for the drama of the LP version, starting right with the vocal.
― Halfway there but for you, Monday, 8 January 2024 21:24 (three months ago) link
I heard the dramatic start-from-zero version first, but I still like the 2003 version better.
― Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Monday, 8 January 2024 22:55 (three months ago) link