TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS

This album has become famous due to the polarity in its reception. Some people regard it as pretentious, overblown trash and the definition of why prog never became more popular, and others regard it as a misunderstood masterpiece. While it's definitely one of the biggest 'grower' albums I've ever heard, I knew from the first listen to this work onwards that this was a beautiful piece of music; if not the highlight of Yes' career. While I can certainly see people not liking it, I see it as being a huge portion that might be too massive for some people to chew. To my ears however, there's some imperfections along the way, but there's a lot of beauty to behold here, and some of Yes' best compositional moments.

The album is essentially broken down into four 'epic' compositions each possessing a side of a vinyl record. A concept piece revolving around Hindu and Buddhist religious philosophies, the tracks reflect the ideals of Truth, Knowledge, Culture, and Freedom respectively. The lyrics are very tastefully done to the point of being spiritual; some of the best lyrics of Anderson's entire career can be found here.

Musically, it's a mixed hat, and this is where a lot of the hatred comes from. Rolling Stone magazine went as far to refer to this album as mere 'psychedelic doodling.' The problem is, they aren't half-wrong with that, at least as far as a few parts go. Some of the sections are a bit over-extended, and could have been quite a bit better had they been condensed and tweaked. While it is clear that there was a lot of attention put into the writing of the music, some of the extended so-called 'doodling' sections get on my nerves. A few parts such as the dissonant bell ringing in the last song 'Ritual,' are unpleasant to listen to, and deter from what otherwise is a monumental, classic album.

The first and last song are the most consistent, and overall enjoyable compositions on the album. That is not to say that the other two aren't good ('The Remembering' is fantastic, 'The Ancient' is also good but has a few more irritating parts than the other tracks) but those two seem to have the best flow of good ideas and flow. 'Ritual' has some of the best melodies on the album, and 'The Revealing Science Of God' has a superb structure to it; listening to it seems like only 5 minutes have gone by when it's actually been a third of an hour! 'The Remembering' takes a little while to get going but it has some really beautiful instrumental sections, as well as some light folky stuff. 'The Ancient' is full of electronic chaos but it ends up receding into one of the greatest classical acoustic sections I think Steve Howe has ever written and performed.

'Tales From Topographic Oceans' is certainly not for everyone. Some people might completely agree with the guy in Rolling Stone and think it's just random nonsense put on a record and sold for the sake of having a double album. However, if you're willing to try something a little different and demanding then what you might normally except from Yes, or any other band for that matter, then check this out. If you don't like it on first listen, listen to it again. You might just end up changing your mind.