Tales from Topographic Oceans

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Template:Album infobox Tales From Topographic Oceans is the sixth studio album by British progressive rock band Yes. It is a double album, released on Atlantic Records in December 1973 worldwide and early January 1974 in North America.

The album is the most controversial album in Yes's discography, and possibly in the entire history of progressive rock. The album, released when progressive rock was at the height of its popularity with bands such as Genesis, King Crimson, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and the earlier albums of Yes, was arguably key to the genre's decline in popularity, which played a part in paving the way for the punk rock bands of the mid 1970's, such as The Ramones and The Sex Pistols, thus destroying a large chunk of the huge momentum built up by the previous three studio albums.

Further, the record supposedly highlighted everything that was considered wrong with progressive rock music at that time. When released, the popular music magazine Melody Maker summed the album up in one word; "No", with similar reaction by Rolling Stone upon the album's re-review. The album's concept, a four-piece work of symphonic length and scope (incidentally based on the Shastric scriptures, as found in a footnote within Paramahansa Yogananda's book Autobiography of a Yogi), was their most ambitious to date, but was one of the main targets of the album's criticisers, that too much musical padding had been employed, with little in the way of a proper concept or lyrics to back it up.

There was also dissatisfaction with the album from one of the band members, Rick Wakeman, who showed his distaste for the album by eating curry on stage while songs from the album were being performed. This infamous incident was the precursor to Wakeman leaving the group, to be replaced by Patrick Moraz, who appeared for the album Relayer.

Part of Wakeman's unfavorable attitude towards the album stems from the fact that vocalist Jon Anderson and guitarist Steve Howe constructed the bulk of the album entirely on their own (as the liner notes suggest), leaving the remaining three members with relatively little to contribute (which the liner notes refute).

This complaint was not uncommon (drummer Bill Bruford had left the band a year earlier for similar reasons), and stories abound of Anderson and Howe putting tiles in the studio to simulate the acoustics of a bathroom, while Wakeman, in frustration, spent much of the time playing darts.

The album reached #1 in the UK album chart and also went into the US Top 10, even going gold from advance orders, before any fans had ever heard the content. Despite this, many Yes fans and casual listeners remain divided over whether or not this was one of the group's stronger works.

Despite Rick Wakeman's reservations about the album, this was an opinion not shared by the other members, Steve Howe in particular stated that some of his best guitar work was to be found on Topographic Oceans. In addition, it should be noted that even Wakeman, in interviews, mentioned that he enjoyed some of the musical content of "The Ancient" (both track and side three of the album).

It is a quintessential example of the progressive rock movement, and despite having its detractors, many Yes fans state that the album is not the pariah of the progressive rock movement it is claimed to be.

Track listing

All songs: Words by Jon Anderson/Steve Howe;
Music by Jon Anderson/Chris Squire/Steve Howe/Rick Wakeman/Alan White, except where noted.

1. "The Revealing Science of God (Dance of the Dawn)" – 22:22
   • 2003 Rhino remaster includes two minute intro that was edited out of the original release at the last minute
2. "The Remembering (High the Memory)" (Jon Anderson/Chris Squire/Steve Howe/Rick Wakeman/Alan White) – 20:38
3. "The Ancient (Giants under the Sun)" – 18:35
4. "Ritual (Nous Sommes Du Soleil)" – 21:37

Tales From Topographic Oceans (Atlantic 80001) reached #1 in the UK. It also reached #6 in the US during a chart stay of 27 weeks.

Tales From Topographic Oceans was remastered and reissued in 2003 with two bonus tracks, featuring early runthroughs of two of its songs.

Personnel

• Jon Anderson – Vocals
• Chris Squire – Bass, vocals
• Steve Howe – Guitars, vocals
• Rick Wakeman – Keyboards
• Alan White – Drums and percussion

External links and sources

• Tales from Topographic Oceans, CD booklet essay, Mike Tiano, c.2003
• AllMusicGuide.com
• "Top Pop Albums 1955-2001", Joel Whitburn, c.2002
• Lyrics to Tales FromTopographic Oceans
• When Dinosaurs Roamed The Earth...- A critical view of Topographic Oceans from the 'Punk 77' website
• Jon Anderson speaks to the UK Guardian newspaper on Topographic oceans

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