TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS

I usually agree with Hugues' reviews and this is no exception! It must be said finally loud and clear that many of our beloved prog bands occasionally produced crap albums and totaly uninspired works. YES is no exception and as one of previous reviews noted well, this album is perhaps a good example why some music lovers hate progressive rock. Double LP of boring, quasi-philosophical "space" trips with lots of pompose and over- grandiose music solos, lacking basic emotions needed to intrigue the listener. I already stated in "CTTE" review that if it was a peak of their career it also announced a downfall to the arena of showmanship of "rock dinosurus", which created some of the most empty and self-indulgent music in the world and invoked the coming of the "punk saviours"! Granted, YES produced even worse albums than "Topographic" (see "Tormato"), but here it all started. I could personnaly listen only to some parts of "Ritual" without the urge to approach the turntable , lift up the cartridge, take the record, place it back into the sleeve, put it on the shelf and forget about it forever. If you are a newbie into prog, avoid this. Listen to the first five albums and if you get yourself addicted to YES then you may wish to complete your collection with this one. 1,5-2 stars.