TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS

Enough! I've never understood the debating over this album. It is without question the most complicated and transcendant piece of rock music ever created. I've never understood how fans of Yes turned on this one. After Close to the Edge people were clamoring for more, all amazed by the length and majesty of the title track, they wanted even more of what it is that Yes did. Nothing else was like it. Tales is the natuural progression. Just as they took a leap from the 7-10 minute song length for the previous album, they leaped again from the 17 minue mark to these four songs clocking in at 20 minutes each. They result is one huge 80 minute piece with reoccuring themes, angelic vocals, and both cultural and out of this world music. This is exactly what Yes fans dreamed they would do. This is what they were meant to do. This is not music to play for anyone. This is music for music fans. Huge, epic and intricate, it requires you to stretch your conceptions, to live with each moment of the song and dares you to geuss what can possibly follow what you're hearing from moment to moment. Each song demands something different from you, and if you're like me, you'll tackle them at different times. It took me one full year after hearing it to fully understand what was going on with track (side) three. But I'm better for it. Music that inspires you to grow can not be taken lightly. Too often we settle for the catchy tune we can play and be done with on the drive to the store. You'll actually need to sit down, stop talking, and think with this album. If you are in a hurry to get somewhere or your mind is consumed with the stresses of your day, it will be lost on you. Impatience will ruin it. You have to accept that you'll be there for a while. Dark Side of the Moon was released the same year. That album is revered by many, and it's focus is on all of the ills of man. This is just the opposite. It is a celebration of humans, taking inspiration from various religious traditions and cultures and the wide array of knowledge that we have accumulated over the years. When it was released it was the highest reaching rock album of all time. 34 years later it still holds this title with no fear of losing it. It is unwavering and unapologetic for being what it is. Treasure this album because no one has dared to do anything like it since, and no one seems to want to. Even if they did, they aren't Yes and wouldn't be able to come close to pulling it off like this. Not even Yes themselves would ever reach this peak again. We're all fortunate that at one point in time someone out there really tried to take this genre to a place that would illuminate and enlighten it's listeners in the ways that only the great composers of the past could. I haven't dicussed the actual songs at any length because my wods woudl fail them, a person must hear for themselves. A dazzling success. Six Stars.