Tales From Topographic Oceans
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Recommendations/Featured albums
Forum Description: Make or seek recommendations and discuss specific prog albums
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=97180
Printed Date: November 23 2024 at 05:03
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Tales From Topographic Oceans
Posted By: pkos76
Subject: Tales From Topographic Oceans
Date Posted: February 17 2014 at 16:03
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i think this album of Yes is very underrated. it is better than any other album of bands like Spock's beard, flower kings,Edison children Neal morse.the stange thing is that these band albums are rated higher from the album of Yes.i want your opinion. |
Replies:
Posted By: bhikkhu
Date Posted: February 17 2014 at 16:15
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This is a volatile subject. People tend to have a love / hate relationship with TfTO. I love it personally but agree that it exemplifies the excesses that draw criticism to prog. ------------- a.k.a. H.T. http://riekels.wordpress.com" rel="nofollow - http://riekels.wordpress.com |
Posted By: dwill123
Date Posted: February 17 2014 at 17:11
| Four album sides of noise. Bill Bruford got out while the getting was good. |
Posted By: bhikkhu
Date Posted: February 17 2014 at 17:20
See what I mean?  ------------- a.k.a. H.T. http://riekels.wordpress.com" rel="nofollow - http://riekels.wordpress.com |
dwill123 wrote:Posted By: dennismoore
Date Posted: February 17 2014 at 18:16
"I see. Well, of course, this is just the sort of blinkered philistine pig-ignorance I've come to expect from you non-creative garbage. You sit there on your loathsome spotty behinds squeezing blackheads, not caring a tinker's cuss for the struggling artist. You excrement, you whining hypocritical toadies with your colour TV sets and your Tony Jacklin golf clubs and your bleeding masonic secret handshakes." ------------- "Yeah, people are unhappy about that - but you know what, it's still Yes." - Chris Squire |
Posted By: smartpatrol
Date Posted: February 17 2014 at 18:23
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I love Tales. It might've been better of the songs were more to the point, sure, but they were still at the top their game. I'd say about 75% of it is really amazing, and the rest, tho filler, is still pretty nice ------------- http://bit.ly/1kqTR8y" rel="nofollow">  The greatest record label of all time! |
Posted By: The T
Date Posted: February 17 2014 at 18:40
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The cover of the album is nice. ------------- 
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Posted By: Horizons
Date Posted: February 17 2014 at 19:08
------------- Crushed like a rose in the riverflow. |
Posted By: Finnforest
Date Posted: February 17 2014 at 19:36
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I've went on at length about this in all the previous Tales threads so I'll keep it short. My favorite prog album, bar none. |
Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: February 17 2014 at 20:20
 good one...... ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: February 17 2014 at 20:26
If anything ...it's overrated, but I do think it has some nice parts here and there.
 ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: siLLy puPPy
Date Posted: February 17 2014 at 20:40
| I agree. I reviewed it and gave it 5 stars. One of my favorite prog albums ever. As i stated. I takes a long time for it to sink in. Most listeners don't want to dedicate a lot of time to find deeper meaning in music. |
Posted By: Triceratopsoil
Date Posted: February 18 2014 at 00:27
| It's an awful lot less terrible than Close To The Edge |
Posted By: Catcher10
Date Posted: February 18 2014 at 01:10
I don't think it is underrated at all, it has been around for eons and pretty much everyone within the progressive rock community knows this album well. There are strong opinions of the album and its four compositions, its pretty impressive regardless if you like it or not. I do struggle with your comparing it to Spock's Beard, TFK, Edisons Children and Neal Morse, seems strange to me. There are many albums from the same Tales era that are rated higher......my opinion is that a rating is just an opinion. But I do believe based on the age of the album it is probably rated where it should be, whereas a project band like Edisons Children, will not stand the test of time as Tales has and will. I like the album very much. -------------   
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Posted By: chopper
Date Posted: February 18 2014 at 05:56
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http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=89745&PN=11" rel="nofollow - http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=89745&PN=11 |
Posted By: Moogtron III
Date Posted: February 18 2014 at 08:38
Probably, yes, but I prefer Tales to Close To The Edge because the music had more room to breath. It wasn't as perfected as CttE but that did help the music. The music has time to evolve. It wasn't meant to be as it was, maybe, but the funny thing is: I like it the way it came out. In fact, I like it a lot.
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Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: February 18 2014 at 08:59
It's what happens when someone doesn't know the difference between "music" and "rock hit" and "favorite song". A pop/rock song can be music, but not all music is a pop/rock song ... except to people that are not listening!
It is, by very far, one of the greatest things every written in rock music, were it not for a member or two that wouldn't know the difference between his music knowledge, history, and what they actually did, which is almost the same as any composer in the history of music!
Sadly, the perspective is not always something that is appreciated in a populist board where so many people only post about their favorite band and song! There are many people that do not consider electric music "classical" in any way, and still call it pop music. There is no future for the "orchestra" design that we know well, and the electric version is the future in music, and things will change sooner or later.
Btw, there already is a thread on this, and it probably should be closed down. ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: February 18 2014 at 09:18
Here on Prog Archives:
CTTE -2930 votes.. 4.65 stars
Relayer- 1935 votes.. 4.35 stars
Fragile- 2215 votes...4.42
Yes Album- 1781 votes ..4.28
TFTO-1571 votes.. 3.88 stars
'Nuff said..?
 ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: TODDLER
Date Posted: February 18 2014 at 10:01
| Topographic Oceans was an idea forming mostly from Jon Anderson and Steve Howe...while Wakeman...decided the project was not good for his soul. Just read what's out there on the subject in more than 10 articles/interviews and observe what that really meant. He acted bored and complained about "bleeding". Constant bleeding...as he put it many times. His keyboard parts and settings are beautiful and help to create that particular atmospheric sound everyone appreciates in Topographic. It's a little double standard |
Posted By: Barbu
Date Posted: February 18 2014 at 10:14
Not as good as Thick as a Brick but very close.  ------------- |
Posted By: M27Barney
Date Posted: February 18 2014 at 10:18
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TFTO should register more than 3.88 stars...IT IS an essential addition to a SYMPHONIC prog collection - that is immutable fact. Yes were the first of the prog giants to progress the genre into where it should be - Long, complicated SYMPHONIC movements....I love it - and as far as I'm concerned - TOO Short !!!
I am still waiting for the FOUR CD (320 minute) symphonic opus to complete the journey that yes started in 1973 - which band would be capable of such? well that is open to great debate, so with TFTO as the basis for the discussion, let battle commence!!! ------------- Play me my song.....Here it comes again....... |
Posted By: Horizons
Date Posted: February 18 2014 at 11:30
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^ Swans. ------------- Crushed like a rose in the riverflow. |
Posted By: Gerinski
Date Posted: February 18 2014 at 12:03
I think that's Neal Morse's next project in line. Too bad he, as much as I appreciate him, is no classic Yes. I love TFTO and there's no doubt that it's essential in any prog collection.
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Posted By: M27Barney
Date Posted: February 18 2014 at 12:12
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Nope, he's too predictable to produce the differential to keep the mega-epic interesting - Take a BOW - Steven Wilson..... ------------- Play me my song.....Here it comes again....... |
Posted By: Dayvenkirq
Date Posted: February 18 2014 at 12:15
Not another TFTO thread. 
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Posted By: M27Barney
Date Posted: February 18 2014 at 12:56
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All music is noise or you wouldn't hear it! Not a valid opinion me thinks! ------------- Play me my song.....Here it comes again....... |
Posted By: The T
Date Posted: February 18 2014 at 13:08
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The one thing that can be said about the album is that it certainly feels like navigating on topographic oceans... -------------
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Posted By: Blacksword
Date Posted: February 18 2014 at 13:28
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The revealing science of god is among the best they ever produced, imo. The rest of the album is a bit of a let down after the frst part. ------------- Ultimately bored by endless ecstasy! |
Posted By: Metalmarsh89
Date Posted: February 18 2014 at 13:33
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I don't mind over-the-top or excessiveness in prog, so maybe that's another reason I love this album. It's not my favorite Yes album, but it's in my top 3, and I do enjoy it more than Relayer. ------------- Want to play mafia? Visit http://www.mafiathesyndicate.com" rel="nofollow - here . |
Posted By: UMUR
Date Posted: February 18 2014 at 13:38
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I appreciate parts of it, but I can seldom sit through it in one listen and there are parts on it, that I find pretty damn annoying. Still I wouldn´t consider my prog Collection complete without it ------------- http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/" rel="nofollow - Metal Music Archives https://rateyourmusic.com/~UMUR" rel="nofollow - UMUR on RYM |
Posted By: Anaon
Date Posted: February 18 2014 at 15:02
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I love it! Not my favourite Yes album, but in my Top 5 for sure! There are some of my favourite Chris Squire moments in this album. ------------- My music: http://spleenarcana.bandcamp.com/" rel="nofollow - http://spleenarcana.bandcamp.com/ My blog: http://groovesandmemories.com/" rel="nofollow - http://groovesandmemories.com/ |
Posted By: Triceratopsoil
Date Posted: February 18 2014 at 15:28
If you actually believe that the majority of any group of people will have good taste, I guess it explains a lot about what you like to listen to.
Too bad that would be completely unlistenable, an hour of Neal Morse is more than most people can handle |
Posted By: dwill123
Date Posted: February 18 2014 at 16:04
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Posted By: Dayvenkirq
Date Posted: February 18 2014 at 16:16
2) Who are the others? |
Posted By: dwill123
Date Posted: February 19 2014 at 06:44
Well here are the results from a currently running poll:
 |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: February 19 2014 at 08:52
Yeah ... might makes right, and we go back to the commercialization of tastes and ideas! And you will also incarcerate the next Jesus that comes up, because he is WRONG!
It becomes a case of bad loser and a case of I'm hipper if I vote for the number one.
CTTE is very nice, no doubt about it, and I took many a hit of acid and listened to it (along with Atom Heart Mother!) and enjoyed it tremendously, but it does not compare with TFTO, which is far superior musically, although it has taken Rick Wakeman 30 years to stop saying stupid things about it.
I don't think that I have heard Bill Bruford say bad things about it. Specially when he went on to do so much more of the same experimental and off the charts material with King Crimson and on his own. If anything, he did not think, originally, that the music piece would stand up, and in the end, IT DID! But Bill is not one for looking back and feel sorry for himself ... he has had a magnificent career in a place where 99 out of a 100 folks fail, and he knows it. And is thankful for it. ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: Metalmarsh89
Date Posted: February 19 2014 at 09:42
Tales from Topographic Oceans is to the prog community what Close to the Edge is to the rest of the world. Just a bit misunderstood. 
------------- Want to play mafia? Visit http://www.mafiathesyndicate.com" rel="nofollow - here . |
Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: February 19 2014 at 09:50
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double post ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: Ivan_Melgar_M
Date Posted: February 19 2014 at 09:50
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I agree with Rick Wakeman: They had 45 - 50 great minutes, but Jon was obsessed with a double conceptual album and added a lot of filler. They ruined it when decided to go for a double album. Seems to last for ever. An average 2.5 IMO. Iván ------------- 
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Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: February 19 2014 at 09:54
------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: Padraic
Date Posted: February 19 2014 at 09:59
How is this in any way relevant?
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Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: February 19 2014 at 10:11
Might makes right..? Seriously?
My only point was to show that plenty of prog fans including the majority here who post regularly think it's probably not as good as Edge; the fact you like it better only means that you like it better not that it's actually better by any other criteria. But then being the expert you are we should just ignore what everyone else thinks since the ratings are meaningless anyway.
 ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: February 19 2014 at 10:16
The easy answer is that after all this time listening to prog and being a Yes fan (up to a point ) one has a better perspective on the merit of any album compared to others in that bands repertoire....imo. ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: Padraic
Date Posted: February 19 2014 at 10:18
Different, maybe. Not better. IMO.
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Posted By: M27Barney
Date Posted: February 19 2014 at 10:20
I think this has become a very silly argument, somebody even mentioned the second coming of some fictitious character for some strange reason 
TFTO was a significant symphonic prog release in 1973, and at the time I think that it took a bit of a pounding - A lot of people slated the release and slated Yes when they performed it live. Mr Wakeman didn't like it, that's very true and he apparently ordered a curry whilst performing in Manchester's Free Trade Hall and ate it whilst the performance of Tales...
However, since then TFTO has significantly got better with Age and I would seriously say that it would have to be in the top ten symphonic releases of all time - no questions asked! In the past 12 months I have played Yes twice - and both of those times it was the full TFTO experience. I think that Close to the edge is brilliant also, but it is let down by the last track which is very weak when compared to the other two tracks! (IMO). It's all about opinion folks! Opinions are like ARSEHOLES, everybody has one! ------------- Play me my song.....Here it comes again....... |
Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: February 19 2014 at 10:24
If you have a better way to rate or judge the quality of an album when it comes to where it stands overall with progsters, I'm all ears. ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: M27Barney
Date Posted: February 19 2014 at 10:29
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The ratings system is intrinsically flawed. But, like you said it is one metric we have to compare two releases! I think that TFTO is such an acquired taste it would always score a whole star point below where it should be. ------------- Play me my song.....Here it comes again....... |
Posted By: Ivan_Melgar_M
Date Posted: February 19 2014 at 10:41
Sorry, but I strongly dissagree. No musical composition gets better unless re-released with new arrangements, it may age better than other albums, but never ger better. IMO is an average album, several thousand meters bellow CTTE and Relayer. It's still an album with good moments and alm most the same amount of filler that ruins it.
I bought my first Tales in 1979, and have listened it a maximum of ten times and each one sounds worst, I bought the CD in 1995 and listened it twice.
-------------
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Posted By: M27Barney
Date Posted: February 19 2014 at 11:04
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I bought a vinyl version in the late 70's can say for sure, I was into Genesis before Yes, somebody played me Going for the One and I wasn't impressed at first - but Yes grew on me and when I went to college in 1981 - they were my favourite Band! I found the Yes releases a lot harder to get into than the Genesis/Camel albums I bought!
I must have played TFTO - hundreds of times, and it has grown on me as I got older - thus that's why I think it's like a fine wine !! (although I drink Beer not wine!) You don't Like it and I do - I can live with that ! ------------- Play me my song.....Here it comes again....... |
Posted By: Dayvenkirq
Date Posted: February 19 2014 at 11:23
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Posted By: TODDLER
Date Posted: February 20 2014 at 10:29
| If you play C.T.T.E. in a band..you will immediately discover that each individual section was timed out and constructed to end quickly. The segment which runs into the melodic "I Get Up, I Get Down" is a pre-planned sequence with Bill Bruford tapping on the rim of his snare with open and close high hat, Wakeman playing church organ, and Squire producing a counterpoint line on bass. There is a huge difference between C.T.T.E. and T.F.T.O. when considering this detail on the insight of the composition. All the individual sections of C.T.T.E. are quickly performed and no bleeding or desire to hang on a atmospheric section is evident ...except for the slow atmospheric prog type ballad..."I Get Up, I Get Down". Topographic was not written or pieced together in that way and it is a completely diverse type of album and only reveals traces of ideas once used on C.T.T.E. |
Posted By: chopper
Date Posted: February 20 2014 at 14:27
What actually happened was that Rick shouted to his roadie during a bit he wasn't playing on "we must go for a curry after the gig" (him being the only non-veggie in the band I believe). The roadie misheard him and went out and got a curry straight away. Rick didn't want to waste it so... Apparently Jon Anderson wasn't too impressed when Rick offered him a poppadum though.
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Posted By: cstack3
Date Posted: February 20 2014 at 20:50
Sir Richard speaks all about it in this interview....it was chicken vindaloo, actually! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1045969/Yes-original-Spinal-Tap-says-Rick-Wakeman-Seventies-prog-rock-supergroup.html#ixzz1Ss5rspNu" rel="nofollow - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1045969/Yes-original-Spinal-Tap-says-Rick-Wakeman-Seventies-prog-rock-supergroup.html#ixzz1Ss5rspNu
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Posted By: Epignosis
Date Posted: February 20 2014 at 21:31
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I don't care what you people say. Tales from Topographic Oceans is still the greatest album ever made.  ------------- https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays" rel="nofollow - https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays |
Posted By: chopper
Date Posted: February 21 2014 at 06:29
'Take a left here, Rick, climb over that giant mushroom, past the spaceship and just behind, beyond that cloud, are your keyboards.'
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Posted By: M27Barney
Date Posted: February 21 2014 at 16:21
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I wonder which curry house it was - there weren't that many in Manchester in 1973....Listened to the whole she-bang tonight - fantastic four movements, enjoyed all 82 minutes of it!!!
And it doesn't make me fell like eating chicken vindaloo strangely. ------------- Play me my song.....Here it comes again....... |
Posted By: lazland
Date Posted: February 21 2014 at 17:11
Hey Barney. Without wishing to start another interminable atheist v believer debate, I do find it strange that you enjoy Tales, with its extremely long, and impenetrable (to all accounts, including Jon) spiritual lyrics, based as they were on that Yogi chappy whose name escapes me this late. I know Morse is rather "in your face" as regards his spirituality, or Christianity, but at least it is possible to glean what he goes on about. It is a matter of record that all in Yes and crew, barring Howe, did not have a bloody clue what Jon was Wittering on about, and I say that as a huge fan. ------------- Enhance your life. Get down to www.lazland.org Now also broadcasting on www.progzilla.com Every Saturday, 4.00 p.m. UK time! |
Posted By: chopper
Date Posted: February 22 2014 at 06:12
I don't think even Jon Anderson knows what a "khatru" is!
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Posted By: M27Barney
Date Posted: February 23 2014 at 06:43
Well it's based on the "Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramahansa Yogananda) (and no I haven't read it!) a bit of eastern spiritual writing - and surprisingly - I'm not against human spirituality - where you use your mind/breathing to control all kinds of real conscious experiences - clearly the mind is capable of some very strange things. I know that Anderson was also a Christian - and even mentions Young Christians in the lyrics! However, the lyrics are typically esoteric and basically he plays with the words to make them fit the music - I have always liked Yes's lyrics. I also think that Anderson is more into thinking of his personal god as more of a spirit-of-the-cosmos type of power. Now I don't happen to believe that any consciousness is controlling the vastness of space and think that we are here as a very fortunate consequence of the rules of physics - and that we all should realise how precious and unlikely each of our lives is and not hanker for some nonsense preached to us by (usually) men with ulterior motives (usually personal power and avarice)! Anderson's lyrics are refreshingly life-affirming and his total abhorrence of war is a most commendable theme for any right thinking humanist! Religious people perpetrate child torture every day both mentally (telling children that they will burn in hell) and literally (circumcision), So I don't want any arguments from religious nuts or even worse - liberal apologists! ------------- Play me my song.....Here it comes again....... |
Posted By: lazland
Date Posted: February 23 2014 at 07:38
I am neither a religious nut, nor a liberal apologist. In fact, I tend to loathe the latter more than the former. Thanks for the explanation, though. Personally, I see little difference between Jon's spiritual view and the Morse God view being placed on record. Both are expressions of belief, even if barely anyone knows precisely what the Anderson view means Therefore, if one is considered acceptable, I fail to see how the other can be so objectionable.------------- Enhance your life. Get down to www.lazland.org Now also broadcasting on www.progzilla.com Every Saturday, 4.00 p.m. UK time! |
Posted By: siLLy puPPy
Date Posted: February 23 2014 at 10:30
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ORIGINAL QUOTE FROM IVAN M Sorry, but I strongly dissagree. No musical composition gets better unless re-released with new arrangements, it may age better than other albums, but never ger better. IMO is an average album, several thousand meters bellow CTTE and Relayer. It's still an album with good moments and alm most the same amount of filler that ruins it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I think you hit the nail on the head with why many don't like this album in its entirety. It's because of the parts that are repetitive. It is very difficult for some proggers to swallow these parts. I used to feel the same way. TALES used to be an ok album but one that always took a backseat to the other YES albums. Something happened though after a gazillion listens. It's like the secrets magically unveiled themselves. I'm not making this up. There is something about this album that you either feel or not. After coming to this album from a different mentality i realize that the repetitive parts are meant to be meditative in nature. The album is based on Hindu scripture and makes sense based upon that. An easy listen? Absolutely not. Will it ever be universally loved? I doubt it. I'm only speaking for myself and my experience with this album. There is no way in hell i would have declared this a masterpiece even 10 years ago, but like i said one day it took on a new feel to the whole thing. Once that happened i listened to it again and again and saw it in a completely new light. I first got the album in the 90s so it has taken a good 20 years for this album to come to me in this way. I'm not looking to convince anyone one way or the other. Everyone's opinion on this album or any other is completely legit, but i do want to share my evolution of understanding this album and to state that what you may think about something today does not necessarily mean that it will remain that way forever. |
Posted By: menawati
Date Posted: February 23 2014 at 14:03
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Good album but always feels to me like the ideas are spread too thin over the four LPs. ------------- They flutter behind you your possible pasts, Some bright-eyed and crazy, some frightened and lost. |
Posted By: M27Barney
Date Posted: February 23 2014 at 15:25
Well I suppose we should all read the book it's based on - then maybe Anderson's probably abridged representation can be properly cross-examined ! I just sort of like the way that the chanting starts and Anderson reinforces my evolutionary view of the world with the "and we danced from the oceans" - as everybody knows life first began in the oceans before finally branching out and conquering the land and air... Morse probably believes (what his pastoral father will have assured him) that the world is about six thousand years old and god made all the living things in seven days! If he doesn't believe that then he should realise that if genesis (book 1) of the Old testament is indeed false - then all the rest is as well! I think that Anderson's eastern spirituality sort of bows down to the god of nature - and who can argue with the one true life-giver being a giant ball of mostly hydrogen and helium, if that explodes we are indeed extinct along with every other living thing on the planet. TFTO lyrics abound with the awesome nature of this world we live in - the forests - and Nous Sommes du Soleil - we are of the sun! (and that track is AWESOME!) ------------- Play me my song.....Here it comes again....... |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: February 24 2014 at 01:25
| ^ I think I agree with that last comment. Anderson was more into spirituality and nature than banging any religious drum. You can hear that more clearly in Jon and Vangelis where his lyrics are a bit more understandable and simpler. btw I like Neal Morse so I don't have an issue with religious lyrics as long as the music is good. |
Posted By: Blacksword
Date Posted: February 24 2014 at 03:09
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^^^ He and Howe were into new age bunkum.. ------------- Ultimately bored by endless ecstasy! |
Posted By: M27Barney
Date Posted: February 24 2014 at 06:12
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Aye, Howe n Anderson were suddenly immersed into eastern spiritualistic philosophies and a good deal of that was indeed bunkum. Just like Neil Peart reading the Ayn Rand stuff that influenced his lyrical direction. I think that prog musicians would be sometimes influenced by what they're currently reading! I also think that Room V by Shadow Gallery has a reading list of Carl Cadden-James - which includes
The Holy Bible 
Feudalism alias American Capitalism (Internet source) ? The Demon in the Freezer (True Story about smallpox) 
The DaVinci Code
Digital Fortress
By way of deception - the making and unmaking of a Mossad Officer ? River out of Eden
Interesting list, The last by Dawkins is great - the Dan Brown, entertaining in parts I suppose but far too formulaic and obvious for my taste! ------------- Play me my song.....Here it comes again....... |
Posted By: cstack3
Date Posted: February 24 2014 at 10:25
The music is good.....I'll see if I can find a better video when it is posted. |
Posted By: M27Barney
Date Posted: February 24 2014 at 12:00
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Did they play the full 82 minutes? ------------- Play me my song.....Here it comes again....... |
Posted By: Finnforest
Date Posted: February 24 2014 at 19:23
Totally understand Silly Puppy. I feel the spirituality of the album and it is really the only one that hasn't lost something over 32 years since I've first heard it. It is the one that gets better, thank God Anderson pushed so hard. New discoveries come out of the woodwork. It has a depth and mystery to it, and it is not easily assimilated which is why it never gets boring. It also feels like a "winter" album to me...every time I walk out into a cold winter night and look at the moon, i hear strains of Revealing Science in my head. Crazy maybe, but it is a pure joy in my life. None of their other albums comes close imo. |
Posted By: The T
Date Posted: February 24 2014 at 19:29
Your comment about the album "getting better" isn't totally understandable and probable, contrary to what Ivan says, in my opinion. I'm not sure if that applies to TFTO (which hasn't gotten much better for me really) and in an absolutely literal way it can't apply to any album since it can't literally get better with time (it's the same work after all). But music is a memory-based activity. The more you listen to any piece of music, especially long and apparently incoherent ones, the more your memory not only starts to finally "record" what you are hearing but it is more able to anticipate what is coming next, and filling the voids for you, so that the music actually starts making sense. Some will say that good music should be so from the beginning, but any complex work of music demands memory and our cognitive abilities to do their work. Music that demands little of your brain and gets stuck from the start is usually not the most advanced. Again, I'm not sure this applied to TFTO which hasn't really improved with me, but to others, I see how this could work. -------------
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Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: February 25 2014 at 01:30
| I remember when I first saw Yes live (quite late in theday it was 1996) and what was interesting was how much I enjoyed the track they played off the album. I thought it would sound very unfamilar but it didn't. It all slotted into place and made sense. |
Posted By: CosmicVibration
Date Posted: February 26 2014 at 16:04
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I’ve listened to an interview with Mr. Wakeman and still have the VHS tape somewhere. Putting the entire interview in perspective makes sense as to his distance about the whole thing. At that point in time it was not just the music but a lifestyle for Yes. They wanted to eat vegetarian food and smoke weed. He wanted steak and a beer. In the studio the ideas along with the music seemed to drag on and on; constant bleeding. Yea, no sh*t, because everyone was high except for Mr. Wakeman. If he partook in the ganja he would have undoubtedly slowed down as well. Personally, I think Tales from Topographic Oceans is another masterpiece by Yes. |
Posted By: geekfreak
Date Posted: February 27 2014 at 09:55
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have you ever wished for 80+ mins free everyday to listen to this amazing album ------------- Friedrich Nietzsche: "Without music, life would be a mistake." Music Is Live Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. Keep Calm And Listen To The Music… < |
Posted By: cstack3
Date Posted: February 27 2014 at 10:46
Here's a longer clip. Check YouTube for updates on Jon Anderson & Transatlantic. Gawd, I wish they would tour "Tales," much like the Who toured "Quadraphenia" years after its release! I saw the latter show, it was drop-dead amazing with some excellent side musicians added. |
Posted By: Polymorphia
Date Posted: February 27 2014 at 11:08
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Posted By: Finnforest
Date Posted: February 27 2014 at 11:44
Very well said...it is more focused as a work like you say, despite the irony of many who think it an unfocused mess.
Their other albums are rock albums. Tales is like a High Mass or some ritual experience. A complete event. It's quite like the Ghost "live nippon" album although that one is more sounds than melodies.
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Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: February 28 2014 at 03:33
| I suspect there was less 'intellectual forcing' going on. The point of meditation is to detach yourself from your 'useless' worldly thoughts and connect with a higher spiritual something or other (God??!). Music is primarily an intellectually driven process so at times you have the feeling of a band jamming with no direction , which is basically what the supposed padded parts sound like I guess. |
Posted By: M27Barney
Date Posted: February 28 2014 at 05:51
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The centrum of meditation is breathing! And as you try to concentrate on the breathing you are attempting to "switch off" those subroutines that your brain is running that maybe considered "Noise". I have been attempting meditation for several years - and I have not quite mastered anything more than good relaxation of my muscles!
However, I suspect that the adept is possibly able to access (those routines that for most of us are clearly private (OO term I know but hey!) - these routines control breathing, heart rate, orgasm , and body temperature! I also suspect that if the adept turns inwards he may be able to create multiple personality routines within his head (like people with malfunctioning brains do involuntary) - these routines would then appear to the consciousness as other people talking to them! And yes all this is local to the brain - in no way has science detected any signals to or from the brain during meditation - thus no possibility of communing with the dead, or a god or alien? Nut's will probably tell you that the signals are currently of an unknown and undetectable energy! - However the burden of proof is with them to tell us what that energy is - as the internal brain theory has already been proven by a lot of experimentation - so with Occams razor I will choose those hypothesis' for the time being! ------------- Play me my song.....Here it comes again....... |
Posted By: geekfreak
Date Posted: February 28 2014 at 09:28
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now now M27Barney just play TFTO. ------------- Friedrich Nietzsche: "Without music, life would be a mistake." Music Is Live Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. Keep Calm And Listen To The Music… < |
Posted By: geekfreak
Date Posted: March 25 2014 at 14:43
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I`ve just finished listening too!. TFTO on the remastered 2013 cd. but its great sound but I`m a vinyl gent. ------------- Friedrich Nietzsche: "Without music, life would be a mistake." Music Is Live Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. Keep Calm And Listen To The Music… < |
Posted By: siLLy puPPy
Date Posted: March 25 2014 at 18:49
Very well said indeed. This is the kind of album that strikes you on a higher level than most music. You really have to put your head in another musical world. I don't know why for me this got better over countless listens and for some they never like it. It is as mysterious as the Topographic Seas themselves. For me originally being mostly a metalhead this was one of those albums that forced me to view the world and music in a totally different way and i'm much better for having done so  |
Posted By: uduwudu
Date Posted: March 27 2014 at 00:56
Bill Bruford got out because the thought of touring the world playing CTTE was too much for him. The group composition dynamic just about drove him CTTE of madness. Eddie Offord passing out / falling asleep over long 24/ 7 periods as tapes were wound, rewound, edited, spliced, re-edited... then they had to learn to play it! Thankfully the result was pretty good. Tales was a longer effort done more quickly as they had more experience plus Howe and Anderson knew what they wanted. Perhaps the writing / royalty side of things may offer a perspective. But Tales was so much of a challenge to an audience that was still a rock crowd (woo-ooh, yeah, right on) etc. I must admit I'd like to hear orchestral arrangements of the piece. The Remembering would work very well in this context. Now there are longer CD albums (I do think attention spans can be governed by format) how does it stand up in the context of the longer prog albums now? CTTE might be seen as more of an intro number to Tales' full development. Oh, and CTTE is really only regarded as side 1 or the four parts of the suite (20 mins) unlike the more full on Tales (80 mins). Then when Yes do their synth rock era in the 80s they were blasted for making accessible pop rock - after having done inaccessible prog rock. Can't win can they? Interlude ....Maybe one day we'll have cogent arguments as to the "better" Fly From Here - with Trevor Horn on vocals (The Word Is Live) or Benoit David (Fly From Here)... Frankly many things Yes do are challenging, but the trouble with being "progressive" is that it (should) say more more about the audience than it's performers. Tales is a great Yes album, a great prog album, highly challenging rock album (though me getting through say, an ACDC album is a real challenge for me). That classical version .. that could be interesting. The atmospheres for orchestral settings are there. |
Posted By: Ronnie Pilgrim
Date Posted: April 12 2014 at 15:56
| This album and Relayer are by far my favorites from Yes. They had really matured in their compositions and their musical diversity was on full display. We used to jokingly call Pink Floyd a "climax band" in the 70s because many of their songs built to a climax. But nothing they ever released compares to the climax of "The Remembering." Absolutely brilliant! |
Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: April 13 2014 at 20:25
I thought I had read that Bruford left Yes because he thought that what was done with "Close to the Edge" could not be improved, so there was nothing more to achieve with the band... though perhaps that was his polite way of saying it. As for a symphonic version of the songs on Topographic Oceans, well, at least there is Ritual on the Symphonic live album. |
Posted By: The Glide
Date Posted: April 14 2014 at 06:37
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The Yes Album 10/10
Fragile 10/10 Close To The Edge 10/10 Tales From Topographic Oceans 10/10 And the next two... hmmm maybe 10/10 ------------- I've created an atmosphere where I'm friend first, boss second. Probably entertainer third. |
Posted By: ebil0505
Date Posted: April 18 2014 at 16:57
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For me, Tales has always been the perfect escape. There are certainly moments that I consider more brilliant than others, such as the opening on the first track and the build up halfway through Ritual. This album is aptly named and I think should be approached as the vast sea of progressive rock music that it is. It's always fun to get lost in its depths and let the mind wander. ------------- "I like to think oysters transcend national barriers." - Roger Waters |
Posted By: auxfnx
Date Posted: June 03 2014 at 08:54
| I think of TFTO as one of Yes' masterpieces. I think Sides A, B & D are fairly flawless while C is good if I'm in the mood for it, otherwise I may just skip it! TfTO definitely has some of my favourite emotionally moving Yes pieces in it. |
Posted By: hobocamp
Date Posted: June 03 2014 at 09:19
| What's all the fuss? Four "Close to the Edges" on one album. One of my favorite albums ever, regardless of genre. No more "filler" or "noise" than the aforementioned darling of Progarchives either, to my ear. |
Posted By: Ivan_Melgar_M
Date Posted: June 03 2014 at 11:34
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Yesterday I had to drive several hours back from Peruvian mountains to Lima. By mistake recorded TFTO in the memory I took, so decided what the hell, let's give the album a chance. It was a marathon of boredom, for me sounds more dated than ever, pieces like The Remembering and The Ancient are a torture, long and boring as a Sunday afternoon with no soccer, football or baseball. Lots of filler repetition ad nauseam, and Jon sounding painfully acute.. When Ritual came, I was already bored, so couldn't really appreciate it. I stay with my original rating, 2 stars are perfect for a bellow the average album. Iván PS: I'm editing some reviews, and some will change, CTTE will go down to 4 stars and would give 6 stars if I could to Relayer. -------------
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Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: June 03 2014 at 11:47
| TFTO was one of the first prog vinyls that I owned as a little kid. TFTO was printed, under license, at one of former Yugoslavia's major labels - PGP RTB . I remember the day when I put it on my turntable; it was deep, instant acceptance. |
Posted By: infandous
Date Posted: June 03 2014 at 11:57
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TFTO took me about 4 listens, when I first got it back in the 90's, to get into. From there it just got better and better every time. Perhaps it was because I was just as stoned as the band had been when they made it, or perhaps it just reached me on an emotional and spiritual level (I spent hours reading the liner notes, trying to figure out what Anderson was trying to relate......still haven't figured it all out yet). Frankly, I think it's more musically and lyrically developed and mature than anything else they have ever done. It's a perfect album, quite simply. I really have never cared for CTTE, aside from the live versions of the songs on Yessongs, which I love (I heard those first, and the studio album just seems so patched together and inconsistent in comparison). So I guess I'm not as hip and cool and "savvy" as the majority of raters and reviewers here on the prog archives. Thank the gods for that It's the ONLY yes album, aside from Relayer, that has aged well for me and that still fills me with joy and wonder when I hear it. There is just so much going on in that album, to write it off as "boring" seems unbelievable to me. Yet, I also understand that people have very different tastes and perspectives, so I can easily accept that such a huge slab of ambitious, complex, and carefully constructed music will not appeal to everyone all the time (I've even had times over the years where I started to think that maybe it would have been better had it been 4 10 minute pieces.......then I'd put it on and come to my senses again). Anyway, Tales and Relayer are my favorites by Yes, almost equally depending on which one happens to be playing, and both are in my top 10 albums of all time, in any genre. So that's really all I need to know about Tales. |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: June 03 2014 at 12:00
I've been saying all this for 30 years ... to the point where I just call the whole thing a symphony, which of course at least one person thinks is an insult to the word, and I don't believe it is. He just doesn't believe a symphony can be done electrically and created by our own generation! That is my opinion by the way ... but I think that folks of our generation are far better composers of music and "experience" than a lot of complete musical scenes in the history of music. I would almost say that it even rivals the romantic scene in the late 1700's and early 1800's ... !!! ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: M27Barney
Date Posted: June 03 2014 at 13:00
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It's quite simply, a breathtakingly beautiful example of Symphonic Progressive Rock, It stands astride across the Genre like those Giant Statues in Gondor...Guarding the Lands of Symphonia Progressiva against the ignorant musical philistines who, just like Orcs would pillage and despoil the lands of such musical fecundity that would lead to much later but equally magnificent soundscapes to titillate our ears..... ------------- Play me my song.....Here it comes again....... |
Posted By: Dayvenkirq
Date Posted: June 03 2014 at 13:03
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Posted By: Barbu
Date Posted: June 03 2014 at 13:17
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A trimming toenails favorite. ------------- |
Posted By: Michael678
Date Posted: June 03 2014 at 14:01
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i do love this album, though i used to have mixed opinions of it at first ------------- Progrockdude |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: June 03 2014 at 14:35
love it
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Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: June 03 2014 at 17:15
What rot. What absolute piffle. What utter tosh. If there was ever a pile of cods that were ever in need of a walloping, this is it. I for one fully believe that a symphony can be done electrically and created by our own generation! It's simply that no one has actually done it yet, not even Philip Glass, who is no stranger to contemporary music and modern "electrical" instrumentation and just about qualifies as being of "our own generation". He who has so far written 10 fully fledged symphonies (and 13 concerti) - but alas none of them "done electrically" and none of them in the genre of progressive rawk. So whoever this "one person" is, it ain't me sunshine. I just do not see that Tales From Topographic Oceans (or any other multi-part progressive rock album that I am aware of) qualifies as a symphony. You can call it symphonic rock or symphony-like if that appeases your delicate sensibilities but a symphony it is not. A symphony is a form, just as a rhapsody is a form and a concerto is a form (and before anyone climbs aboard some high faluting hobby-horse, Bohemian Rhapsody is neither a rhapsody nor a mini-opera, it is however, a sort-of cantata in three movements) - if the music does not fit the format then it cannot be called such, and Tales does not fit the format of a symphony just as you cannot call Sgt Peppers an opera or In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida a polka. You can call a teaspoon a charabanc if you like but you won't be able to load it up with luggage and drive it down to the beach for a summer vacation, it will however still be a mighty fine utensil for stirring tea and other sweetened beverages. Pedantry this may be, but at least it's consistent and accurate pedantry. Tales from Topographic Oceans is a marvellous album, my second favourite Yes album in fact (beaten only by the magnificent Relayer) and far better than the car-crash that is CTTE. It does incorporate some wondrous influences from the classical music world, including some lovely pastoral playing by Mr Wakeman but sadly being influenced by some feeling of a symphonic style is not enough. Four separate songs, however long they may be, doth not a symphony make.
possibly. Few (if any) have ever heard the entire catalogue of late 18th and early 19th century music to make a valid comparison since much of it is now lost, though I believe the actual romantic era is later than you state here and that time frame refers to the late classical era, but I may be wrong on that... ...  ..anyway. Music is not a competitive sport so you can play better/worse games if you like, I care not to. ------------- What? |
Posted By: RockHound
Date Posted: June 08 2014 at 10:19
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When Tales came out, it was considered dense, overblown, and pretentious. In other words, it had all the ingredients of a great piece of progressive rock. My friends and I would frequently base our album buying decisions on reviews that employed any of those words. And the more disparaging the review, the more we liked the album! I find TFTO to be the most atmospheric Yes album and thus an essential part of their great run from The Yes Album through Going for the One. To me, this is close as rock gets to sounding like a Bruckner symphony. Whenever the iPod in my car shuffles to one of the tracks from TFTO, a wide grin is an involuntary response. |
Posted By: toninhoironman
Date Posted: June 08 2014 at 11:57
| Come on, it is a f**king awesome album. How can one not like it? Insane parts together with beautiful ones. It is only Prog Rock and I like it. |