defend the indefensible: TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS, by YES

Relayer still remains my go-to disc whenever I want a Yes fix.

have come fully around to the Noodle Vague worldview re: Awaken being their finest hour

NONETHELESS, The Yes Album is their best album (by far) and Gates Of Delirium is also wonderful. And You And I is much, much better than Close To The Edge, is that album's problem

i have no problem with any moment on that album. it is all one long wondrous khatru

i think CTTE is quite ponderous myself. the first 2 minutes and the bit immediately after the quiet organ passage with the insane videogame bass are superlative but i find myself loving the rest less and less. but there's a lot of YES and everyone's bound to have their favourites

i have no problem with any moment on that album. it is all one long wondrous khatru

― reggie (qualmsley), Tuesday, July 16, 2013 10:22 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

God yeah, Close To The Edge is devoid of filler IMO.

favorite passage in CTTE -- after wakeman's church organ solo and then it goes all math into the fourth movement. the sound between the notes relates the color to the scenes! holy shit!

well yeah that bit is a masterpiece, just amazing music. whole song shudda been like it really. kinda explains why i'm shifting more towards magma in my old age

Now that it's all over and done
Now that you find, now that you're whole

*sexy bass groove*

seasons will pass you by
now that you're fine, now that you're whole

Does anyone truly believe that Jon Anderson "gets down", though?

Anyone else think Tormato is seriously underrated? I watched the Classic Artists Yes documentary (about 4 hours long) and heard parts of it, wondering why the members barely said much about it (Relayer is also not talked about much at all)because the clips sounded so catchy.
I bought the version with the bonus tracks and I think it is tremendous fun, and although I wouldnt call it their 3rd best album, it is the one I'm 3rd most likely to play (but I only have Yes Album, Fragile, CLose To The Edge, TotTO, Relayer, Going For The One, Tormato and Magnification, so I've got a lot to catch up on, hope it will be worth it). I might be wrong but I feel as if the cover and the title have made people have a certain attitude to it (the cover actually doesnt bother me much)but it's so much fun!

Yeah, I've noticed the band members seldom talk about Relayer. I'm really unsure as to why. I mean, sure it's the only Yes studio album to feature Patrick Moraz, but from what I've read he was brought into the recording long after the material for the record has been written, and just fitted his parts around what was already there? I dunno, I just can't think of a reason why they wouldn't go into much detail over an album which is very much a fan favourite.

depends which incarnation of the band is being interviewed i guess, their inter-relationships seem more fractious and subject to politics than most

It was the the entire history of band members apart from Rabin interviewed individually, only 4 or 5 years ago. I've heard the some members say it is a crowning achievement, or at least "Gates Of Delirium" (which really dominates most peoples thoughts of the album). It is a pretty good documentary, there is some brutal honesty, Bruford says the present version of the band may as well be a tribute band, Tony Kaye has an unpleasant story to tell about the live Yes Union gigs (which includes meeting Billy Connoly) which other members insist didnt happen the way Kaye remembers and a sound tech guy mocks their 80s pop era.

That legendary quote from Rick Wakeman about how Union should have been called Onion springs to mind... "because it made (him) cry"... heh heh heh...

Sorry I meant Peter Banks, not Tony Kaye.

I was that at LA show on the Union tour where the Peter Banks story took place. Weird gig, but all eight playing on "Awaken" was pretty transcendent.

Anyone else think Tormato is seriously underrated? I watched the Classic Artists Yes documentary (about 4 hours long) and heard parts of it, wondering why the members barely said much about it (Relayer is also not talked about much at all)because the clips sounded so catchy.

it's really an odd duck. it's their first album since Time and a Word that keeps things relatively short (or - nothing over 8 minutes!) and it definitely feels like an attempt to modernize their sound in some really weird and clueless ways. there are a lot of chirpy melodies, a straight good times rock n' roll song ("Release, Release"), and "Arriving UFO", which is one of the most unintentionally hilarious songs ever. plus "Circus of Heaven", equally bizarre. Oooh, and they attempt disco too, and it's every bit as terrible as you can imagine. it really is the sound of a band that either tried to reach a new audience and fell on its face, or just one that wanted to just toss something off that was different from the sidelongs they'd been doing for their last four albums. It actually is quite catchy in spots - the first and last tracks are classic Yes, and the more "off" tunes are at least mighty entertaining. I like it!

What they did say in the doc was that the concept was to do an album with no unified thread, and that was the reason for the back cover with all band members looking in a different direction. I think they had mixed feelings about that in retrospect but I would have liked a few more albums like that.

tormato is great (but still quite silly)

Silly is a great quality, my ideal prog records should have some absurdity in them. Whenever I go looking for prog I always think "I want something really fucking bonkers", but to be honest, I dont think there is much that consistently does that.

I use "stupid" or "dumb" to mean bad.

yep

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4Yn6XEbV7g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2_qOJP2peo

it is no lie i see deeply into the future. steve howe's roadie will play lead guitar on the best music johnny rotten will ever be involved with

fuck the haters

the final word on Tormato is here:

The 120 Days of Shameless Bids for Publicity!

yeah that thread describes it pretty well, if you were curious

Silly is a great quality, my ideal prog records should have some absurdity in them. Whenever I go looking for prog I always think "I want something really fucking bonkers", but to be honest, I dont think there is much that consistently does that.

It's better when there's sort of a knowing absurdity (for example on a Cardiacs record) - musically, I think Relayer is a little more absurd for how incredibly loud and boisterous the whole thing is, just so balls-out and stupid in certain places, and "Sound Chaser" is probably their single craziest composition ever. Tormato is a little more akin to Love Beach(another album that isn't quite as bad as you've heard)

Ever since I really got into Yes a few years ago, Tales has always been my favorite. Pretty much everything they did up to and including that album was more or less amazing, though.

...and then Relayer came after it and pissed all over it completely!

I will concede that the 'Soon' portion of 'Gates of Delerium' is my favorite song by the band, by quite a bit.

Stormy Davis says "the final word on Tormato is here:

The 120 Days of Shameless Bids for Publicity!"

I just read that thread and no offense meant to Dave Q but a lot of the desciptions dont really click for me and I cant fully trust anyone who thinks "Gates Of Delirium" is yucky.

I can definitely understand it to a degree; a lot of Yesmusic is calculated and has an awesome groove to it, while 3/4ths of Relayer is all-out crazy fusion prog punctuated by some prettier moments. I mean there are people in this thread who are lukewarm on Close to the Edge which is just crazy talk. I really wish that "To Be Over" was better (i've always found it pretty but I never remember a thing about it!) because then it would be a top 3 Yes album (hell, it might be anyway).

don't doubt your part - be ready to be loved!

The problem with TFTO is that they didn't seem to have integrated Alan White very well, so far too much of it just plods along in mid-paced 4/4 time. Occasionally they'll hit some crazy prog groove, but there's just no dynamic to it. It's like an 80 minute version of "South Side Of The Sky", the Yes epic no-one talks about because no-one can remember how it goes.

i only play this occasionally but never regret it.

as touched on upthread, i think if you heighten the importance/worth of this record you're setting yourself up for a fall. it's good, some people like it, the end.

but i also really like 'release release' so whatever

I think Squire getting kinda buried in the mix is a bigger problem. And do people really not remember "South Side of the Sky"? That's always been a favorite of mine..

yeah what? south side is catchy as

I thought it had more of a reputation as the epic that didn't get played live, it's the only big track from the TYA/Fragile/CTTE era that isn't on Yessongs, it's not on Yesshows or either of the Keys to Ascension releases either. I dunno why they shunned that one but all the fans seem to love it.

move forward, was my friend's only cry

and yeah bruford on tales instead of larks' tongues would have been interesting. white's found his groove by relayer though

I thought it had more of a reputation as the epic that didn't get played live, it's the only big track from the TYA/Fragile/CTTE era that isn't on Yessongs, it's not on Yesshows or either of the Keys to Ascension releases either. I dunno why they shunned that one but all the fans seem to love it.

But they did; they did an entire tour in 1974 where they played the whole thing. There's a bootleg of it floating around, called Topographic.

I really wish that "To Be Over" was better

I want everybody to know that in an effort to be a better person i restrained myself from clicking FP here

god i really need to not read people with mixed opinions about Yes

I really like "South Side Of The Sky", I heard that they were playing it more in the last tours with Anderson. "Awaken" is the one that really doesnt do much for me but a lot of people seem to love it.

"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).

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

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

GftO sounds awesome in my car

MOVE YOURSELF! *orchestral hit*

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