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Slartibartfast 
Collaborator 
Honorary Collaborator / In Memoriam Joined: April 29 2006 Location: Atlantais Status: Offline Points: 29630 |
 Posted: June 13 2009 at 10:43 |
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How does this sound? The album was a magnificent experiment, no one had done anything like it before and no one will ever do anything like it again.
Edited by Slartibartfast - June 15 2009 at 18:02 |
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crimson87
Prog Reviewer
Joined: January 03 2008 Location: Argentina Status: Offline Points: 1818 |
Posted: June 13 2009 at 10:48 |
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Purest prog ever made alongside Brain Salad Surgery.
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jammun
Prog Reviewer
Joined: July 14 2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 3449 |
Posted: June 13 2009 at 13:59 |
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Let's hope this statement is true.
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Can you tell me where we're headin'?
Lincoln County Road or Armageddon. |
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mr.cub
Forum Senior Member 
Joined: March 06 2009 Location: Lexington, VA Status: Offline Points: 971 |
Posted: June 13 2009 at 15:20 |
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Personally, Tales has become my favorite Yes record. For starters, the album is a source of solace for me, especially when I have a lot on my mind and want to focus on something else. After listening to their previous and subsequent releases in the 70's, this album and Relayer have a definitive character in and of themselves. Fragile and Close to the Edge can be grouped together-similar sound and experimentation. But Tales is an entirely different animal. Its songwriting, while sometimes accused of excessiveness and an overabundance of filler, is richer and more prolifiic than anything else in their 70's canon. The melodies stand out to me more than anything; they are extravagant at timee, simple at others. Overall however, they never cease to amaze me. There is a world to explore throughout the entire album.
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micky
Special Collaborator 
Honorary Collaborator Joined: October 02 2005 Location: . Status: Offline Points: 46833 |
Posted: June 13 2009 at 15:29 |
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hell... I wish it wouldn't be... but Brian is right. Nothing like it before... or in the 35 years since. No band would dare attempt something like it... or .... could even attempt to me thinks. |
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The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
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progkidjoel
Prog Reviewer
Joined: March 02 2009 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 19643 |
Posted: June 14 2009 at 05:25 |
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I'd say this is the best played album ever produced by YES - and one of the best EVER.
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progkidjoel
Prog Reviewer
Joined: March 02 2009 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 19643 |
Posted: June 14 2009 at 05:29 |
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What about VOYAGE 34: THE COMPLETE TRIP by PORCUPINE TREE? Porcupine Tree - Voyage 34: THE COMPLETE TRIP Not completely emulated, but quite close... |
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Stool Man
Forum Senior Member
Joined: January 30 2007 Location: Anti-Cool (anag Status: Offline Points: 2689 |
Posted: June 14 2009 at 05:37 |
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I got it for £1 last year, and have listened to it a few times. It's the only Yes album I've heard, and it's ok
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rotten hound of the burnie crew
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Weston
Forum Senior Member
Joined: April 26 2008 Location: Tennessee Status: Offline Points: 188 |
Posted: June 14 2009 at 09:25 |
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I bought it when it was new. From the opening chant I was hooked. I remember thinking, "Close to the Edge was the greatest progressive masterpiece. Well, now we have four of them!"
As the years went by, my opinion hasn't changed. It is a bit of a white elephant in that it's unwieldy. You can't easily listen to it all at once, but so what? You can't listen to Wagner's Ring Cycle all at once either. I usually just listen to one movement and I'm happy. Highlights of the album for me include: The opening chant that gets progressively weirder and more alien sounding until it erupts into the main theme. The most blistering synth solo I have ever heard toward the end of Revealing Science - and that is in 6/8 time. Yet it rocks like mad. Beautiful melodies in the Remembering and throughout. Almost King Crimson like opening of of the Ancient. Bizarre Alan White drum freak out in The Ritual. Recapitulation of previous themes in The Ritual giving some continuity to the massive thing. A rather mundane friend who was into just pop music summed it up nicely I thought. When I played him side 1 of the LP (at the time) he remarked, "The trouble with the music you like is that it wears you out and you don't need to listen to anything else then." Right. Edited by Weston - June 14 2009 at 09:26 |
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micky
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator Joined: October 02 2005 Location: . Status: Offline Points: 46833 |
Posted: June 14 2009 at 10:01 |
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whoa.... you seriously aren't trying to compare Tales to Voyage 34 are you? One album about an acid trip done by an underground band.... another album done by a world-class band on top of the musical world dealing with Shastic Scriptures .... to put it into context.... let's see Dream Theater do an album ...and knock it out of the park that could potentially alienate all of it's audience. it aint's happening.... music for 'art's sake' was a noble idea in the 70's.... it doesn't happen today. The nearest parallel... in fact might be the Decemberists. They could have... in fact DID... alienate and lose part of their long term fanbase by shifting style and direction in the pursuit of... not trying to sell albums... but pursuit of artistic ideals. |
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The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
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el böthy
Prog Reviewer
Joined: April 27 2005 Location: Argentina Status: Offline Points: 6336 |
Posted: June 14 2009 at 13:41 |
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Hehehehe... what?  |
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"You want me to play what, Robert?"
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moshkito
Forum Senior Member
Joined: January 04 2007 Location: Grok City Status: Online Points: 17509 |
Posted: June 15 2009 at 15:07 |
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I appreciate this comment and at least it is showing a little respect and maturity.
Now let's check something completely different ... where it came from ...
Music in those days was making a tremendous attempt to get some credibility away from the "pop" music complex, that is generally thought as non-music and un-important by a lot of academic and history of music pundits ... and to this end, the majority of folks that we consider "prog" were, in fact, the very people that were trying to validate music ... I'm sure you heard Pete Townsend refer to his piece as a "rock opera" .... but there was one problem.
Like today, radio and business is run by people that have no talent, desire or design in music ... it is all about the money and fabricating it in any way, shape or form ... and even magazines like Rolling Stone, have milked this to the umpteenth degree ... they used to trash Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze and one time a review said of Tangerine Dream ... "it's not rock'n'roll" ... just to give you an idea what mentality a lot of these musicians are fighting all the time. I mean .. c'mon folks ... look at the Canterbury scene and start counting off the professors now ... you woould be quite surprised!
Pete Townsend, at the time, got laughed right off by all the classical music crowd ... and I remember a review on one magazine (wasn't Time, but something from NY) that said that the young man was out of his mind thinking that a rock musical would be an "opera" ... he did say that it looked like a nice musical. And of course, a buffoon named Ken Russell made sure that the cultural element around rock showed in the movie so that no classical minded person would ever see it or even bother considering Tommy an opera ... a terrible injustice was born ... and to this day, we need to fight that attitude and many folks here in this board are doing the same thing ...
In the early 70's the birth of FM radio helped a lot of stations to play longer cuts and stuff that was less commercial ... and a lot of bands found this freedom really liberating ... you would not have heard King Crimson if it were not for FM radio ... because they never sold on the AM dial! They were not a "hit".
A lot of the people we love are better than average musicians ... and as such a lot of them tried a lot of things ... A LOT OF THINGS ... and some of them were very good, and some of them did not work ... it's hard not to see Jethro Tull create "A Passion Play" after he got to see Pink Floyd do a dancing thing to Atom Heart Mother in NY with Twyla Tharp ... and then a couple of kids get really adventurous and create something like Topographic Oceans ...
What was bad on these? Only one thing ... the rock press trashed it senseless ... that's what was wrong with it, and as such they intimidated many bands and prevented them from doing anything long for quite some time. And even bands like King Crimson were not exactly immune from this crap ... it was the largest character assassination that you ever saw ... all in the name of "hit" and "record company" ... although you never heard YES or Roger Dean complaint much. Or worse ... in the name of "rock'n'roll" the least talent driven droll kind of music ever invented!
No one, in this board, sits here and trashes Beethoven, or Mozart for what they did, or even is bizarre enough to go around saying that the Choir in the 9th is a bunch of sh*t ... so why the heck would you be upset and trash someone that is trying to raise his quality of art from simple hit song to something more honorable and respectfull?
Only a moron would trash that artist ... and not appreciate someone our own age ... trying to become larger than life ... and accomplish something with their music ... it might not be "perfect" ... but what the fudge is that word anyway ... so Mozart is perfect and Beethoven is trash ... screw you, we all would say!
Tales of Topographic Oceans ... is one of the best references and examples of what the human creative spirit can do ... it might not be perfect ... but saying that Layla is fabulous and this is not is really one of the biggest disappointments in the appreciation of the human spirit and creativity ever born ... Edited by moshkito - June 15 2009 at 15:22 |
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SilverEclipse
Forum Senior Member
Joined: September 19 2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 123 |
Posted: June 15 2009 at 15:12 |
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Brilliant. The most beautiful album I've ever listened to, and certainly one of the most rewarding experiences in music. Sure, some hated it (even in the band), but I do believe that Anderson and Howe created a true masterpiece with this one.
Deep, deep into five star territory; might be my favorite classic prog album. Only a few others from the classic prog period rival it.
Edit: and a note. Could someone explain why this album is pretentious? Pretentious would be acting like they are making the greatest piece of music ever with nothing to back it up. As far as I can tell, Anderson always had deep interest into Eastern philosophy and culture and needed a theme for an even-further reaching album than CTTE. They were justing making the music they wanted to make. They've had more technically impressive moments... so it certainly doesn't seem like they're showing off. Plus, they have the chops to pull this off and they know it.
You want to know what PRETENTIOUS is? Look no further than U2 to get your definition. Yes were nothing like U2. Edited by SilverEclipse - June 15 2009 at 15:25 |
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"and if the band your in starts playing different tunes, I'll see you on the dark side of the moon"
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crimson87
Prog Reviewer
Joined: January 03 2008 Location: Argentina Status: Offline Points: 1818 |
Posted: June 15 2009 at 15:13 |
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I agree with your post moskito even if Layla IS fabulous to my ears. I can't stand the music press what a bunch of idiots!
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hitting_singularity2
Forum Senior Member
Joined: June 14 2009 Location: ON, Canada Status: Offline Points: 127 |
Posted: June 15 2009 at 18:20 |
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I have not heard this album that much, at the most 2 times fully, But i have heard Revealing the Science of God multiple times, and it is one of my favorite Yes songs (top 15?) However, there are a few other 20+ minute epics that I find much more attention grabbing and easier to get into.. not that that is what makes a good epic. In conclusion, I shall listen to it a couple more times before reviewing it difinitively
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micky
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator Joined: October 02 2005 Location: . Status: Offline Points: 46833 |
Posted: June 15 2009 at 19:33 |
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yeah... that is an album that begs multiple... multiple listens before an attempt to review it.
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The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
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RoyFairbank
Forum Senior Member
Joined: January 07 2008 Location: Somewhere Status: Offline Points: 1072 |
Posted: June 15 2009 at 19:37 |
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I may not know arts, but I knows what I likes
Whenever I put it on I find it hard to focus but I find it enjoyable. Not sure I like Close to the Edge as much, but I may like Relayer more. Going for the One is good too... Tell you the truth they all sound kind of the same to me after Fragile and before Tormato   Its very reassuring when you have a four minute song that tells you where you are on the album with a timely "OWNER OF A LONELYYYYYYYYY HEART!" or "City of Love, City of Love, City of Love..." ah what a fool I am for thee, 90125  |
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jammun
Prog Reviewer
Joined: July 14 2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 3449 |
Posted: June 15 2009 at 19:56 |
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*Sighs... all this talk about Tales -- now I'm going to have to listen to it...again...and try to see what everyone sees/hears in it. And yes I've been listening to it (not all that often lately and admittedly, but who keeps going to a dry well expecting water after a while?) for 30+ years and still don't get it. I find the first three minutes of Heart of the Sunrise more compelling -- more an example of this band reaching for and achieving greatness -- than the total of Tales. But back to the well I go. |
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Can you tell me where we're headin'?
Lincoln County Road or Armageddon. |
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npjnpj
Forum Senior Member
Joined: December 05 2007 Location: Germany Status: Offline Points: 2720 |
Posted: June 16 2009 at 04:48 |
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This is the actual Yes album I love to bits, not Close to the Egde or Fragile, or whatever, THIS IS THE ONE!
I can't think of many more albums that I just want to close my eyes to and be taken on a marvellous journey to, just floating along and appreciating every tone.
I find this one to be the album that they'd been working towards for years, a culmination of everything that went before.
Meaning: I quite like it.  Edited by npjnpj - June 16 2009 at 04:49 |
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hitting_singularity2
Forum Senior Member
Joined: June 14 2009 Location: ON, Canada Status: Offline Points: 127 |
Posted: June 16 2009 at 09:00 |
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I guess i will review in in a couple years then :P for now i'll stick to the new bands that don't have many reviews |
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Album Discussions: Tales From Topographic Oceans
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Slartibartfast wrote: