defend the indefensible: TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS, by YES

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

Sorry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2IIeDJYjOU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l49P4F-gpm4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iHKFBlx0t8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SnvkS11K0s

That's very well done. I love those ambient parts in the second track.

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

That's a great article!

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.

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.

...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!

I still listen to that Matt#2 edit of this album, it's deepened my appreciation of the album

Is that to be found elsewhere on this thread? I remember wanting to hear it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2IIeDJYjOU

cool, thanks

pass amongst your memories told returning ways

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 ...

weird, this record actually gave me diarrhea

it has a cool album cover

"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

This record is at the root of the lingering beef?

i have no idea. imagination is a beefitul thing

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.

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

this is my favorite yes album

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.

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.

That two minutes is CRUCIAL!

(not joking)