TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS

Tales From Topographic Oceans is the sixth album from Yes and it had the ungrateful task of following up on one of the masterpieces of symphonic prog Close to the Edge. There are very different opinions regarding Tales From Topographic Oceans. Some people think this is another masterpiece from Yes while the majority of the fans are disappointed with the album. I´m sorry to say that I belong to the latter catagory.

The album was originally a double LP with four sidelong tracks. A very ambitious project. The music is symphonic and melodic and the songs have complex structures. It should have been every Yes fans wet dream but turned out to be a nightmare for most.

The Revealing Science Of God - Dance Of The Dawn is the first side long track on Tales From Topographic Oceans and it´s the most energetic song on the album and my favorite here.

The Remembering - High The Memory is the second track on the album and it´s generally a more atmospheric ambient song. Beautiful but not as exciting as The Revealing Science Of God - Dance Of The Dawn.

The Ancient - Giants Under The Sun is my least favorite on Tales From Topographic Oceans. The song is too fragmented and even though I have listened to this song many times through the years it never really stuck.

Ritual - Nous Sommes Du Soleil is a better song than The Ancient - Giants Under The Sun, but it´s not better than the two first tracks. I find it a bit weak really.

The musicianship is as usual excellent and new drummer Alan White is a good replacement for the legendary Bill Bruford.

The production is allright but a bit muddy and easily the weakest production on all the classic Yes albums ( From The Yes Album to Relayer).

Tales From Topographic Oceans is not a bad album but it is a great disappointment after the essential Close to the Edge and I can´t get myself to give it more than a 3 star rating. The first two songs are pretty good while the last two overstays their welcome by several minutes and they both make for a boring listen IMO.