TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS

This album has been reviewed thoroughly on this site, but I would like to add a few thoughts. I will not give this album 5 stars. Tales certainly does not have the impact that other classic Yes albums have on the listener and there is too much of a controversy about this album. Tales is either great or crap depending of one's point of view. I think that by rock music standards it is indeed overblown, pretentious and self-indulgent. By classical music standards it is not. I always looked at this album from a classical music point of view. Then it makes sense (well, the lyrics are as crazy as any Yes album). Many people here say that nobody could listen to the whole album is one piece. Well, I always listened to the whole album, though not as often as other Yes albums. Then again, I listened to Wagner's Siegfried in one piece... Haters of this album dismiss it completely as crap. I suggest them to listen to a Black Eyed Peas album to find out what is really crap music. Then probably they'll be more appreciative of this album. This album will always be given as an example of why progressive rock was great or bad, but I think it will stand the test of time as an attempt of a rock band to transcend the too tight rock music realm.