TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS

Tales" is usually referred to as a "love-it-or-hate-it" album. I wish it were that simple. My reaction to it is much more complicated and I'm still not sure exactly how I feel about this album, 20+ years after the first time I ever heard it. I read in the magnificent "Yesstories" book that Rick Wakeman compared the album to a woman's padded bra, in that it looks good on the outside but once you go in to investigate further there's not really too much there. Or, as he put it, it's like wading through a cesspool to get to a waterlily. I don't know if I would exactly use the term "cesspool," but I agree completely with his assessment that it's an unnecessarily overlong, very padded album. All of the songs have their moments --- sometimes even great moments --- but none of them retain my interest all the way through. "The Revealing Science of God," for example, ranks up there with some of Yes' best work of the 1970's until it hits the 8 minute mark, at which point I get the feeling that the band is simply running out the clock until that side of the album is over. The same can be said for the other songs as well. Even my personal favorite track, "Ritual," can't justify its existence past the 14-minute mark. Had the band decided to make a single album (four 10- minute songs would have been great) this might rank right up there with "Close to the Edge," my all-time favorite Yes album, and I think it would still have retained the depth and majesty for which Yes is known. Unfortunately, it was not to be, and instead we have an album of some high points that taken as a whole can be a bit physically torturous to sit through.

By the way, I took the advice of another reviewer and listened to this while high. My impressions were the same.