Tales From Topographic Oceans Sides
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Topic: Tales From Topographic Oceans Sides
Posted By: Magnum Vaeltaja
Subject: Tales From Topographic Oceans Sides
Date Posted: September 30 2016 at 19:28
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I've been absolutely enamoured by Tales lately, hence, a poll. Also, I figured we don't need a 90th thread about Moving Pictures this week.  Which of these four monumental pieces do you consider the highlight of the album? ------------- when i was a kid a doller was worth ten dollers - now a doller couldnt even buy you fifty cents |
Replies:
Posted By: Finnforest
Date Posted: September 30 2016 at 19:38
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I love Tales. 1. The Ancient 2. Ritual 3. Revealing 4. Remembering The easiest 5-star rating I've ever given and their best album imo. ------------- |
Posted By: LearsFool
Date Posted: September 30 2016 at 20:07
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"The Ancient", where Howe's mania that had been so random and mediocre for the past side and a half calms down, grows up, and clicks. -------------  
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Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: September 30 2016 at 20:44
| The Revealing Science of God, easily, for me. It would also be interesting a poll about which of the names we like best... I find them all really beautiful and intriguing... both parts of the names, like they put "The Revealing Science of God - Dance of the Dawn", there's "Giants Under the Sun" (paired with "The Ancient" I think). |
Posted By: snowsnow
Date Posted: October 01 2016 at 04:26
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1) Revealing 2) Remembering 3) Ritual 4) The ancient - can't listen to this - though I like the acoustic part at the end.
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Posted By: micky
Date Posted: October 01 2016 at 06:13
amen man...  it took a long time for that one to grow on me.. but when it hit.. it hit like a ton of bricks. Love all 4.. but the Ancient sounds nothing like anything they did... and now firmly in my top 5 prog tracks of alltime. Manic, hypnotic, brutal... then flip a switch.. and one of the most beautiful pieces of prog I've ever heard. It is the masterpiece of the masterpiece... and as I've often said.. it is the key to unlocking the brilliance of the album. Get The Ancient.. get the album. ------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip |
LearsFool wrote:Posted By: twosteves
Date Posted: October 01 2016 at 08:18
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Been listening to Tales a lot lately and what a masterpiece of prog it is----Love sides one and two but the whole thing makes musical sense to me. Talk about a piece of music that has aged well with time---at least for me. Voted Side One---the chanting opening and closing---Howes amazing guitar---and one of Ricks bests solos.
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Posted By: Manuel
Date Posted: October 01 2016 at 10:10
| I vote for The Ancient, though I love the whole album. |
Posted By: siLLy puPPy
Date Posted: October 01 2016 at 10:15
| This is one of those albums that is uneven upon first listen. Certain parts stand out more than others hence the many 3 stars or even less, however as i listened to this over the years the other tracks and segments within all the tracks began to stand out more until one day i found all the parts of all the tracks to work so well together. So sometimes some parts are my favorites and other times others are. It's a bloody brilliant album that plays the listener as much as the listener plays the music! No favorite tracks but it is a favorite album. Top 100 for sure |
Posted By: JediJoker7169
Date Posted: October 01 2016 at 12:12
| "The Revealing Science of God" is, for me, the ultimate Yes track. I'm surprised to see no votes for "Ritual" yet, though! I'd expect it to come just behind "Revealing Science" in popularity. |
Posted By: Quinino
Date Posted: October 01 2016 at 13:03
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The Revealing Science Of God - only because it's the very beginning of a wonderful journey that I immensely enjoy from the first to the last note |
Posted By: Magnum Vaeltaja
Date Posted: October 01 2016 at 13:23
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This is really hard for me to decide... On one hand, The Revealing is the most "tight" track on the album; a coherent, colossus of a track that sets the mood from the start and builds divinely to a mighty climax. But then The Remembering, while slow to start out, contains some of the most joyous and energetic sections the band ever laid down. The Ancient is a different beast altogether. The avant-garde first half isn't my favourite part to listen to, but is still important in breaking up the softer symphonic qualities of the first two sides, and then the acoustic second half might just be the most gorgeous section on the entire album. Ultimately I think I'll have to give it to Ritual. The first five minutes are Yes at their most melodic-rockin', then the verses show Yes at their most sentimental, and then that ending...that might just be one of the most powerful closers in all of music. If the sun ever went supernova while a flaming death asteroid came crashing into Earth, the last minute or so of Ritual is what would be playing while everyone scrambled around hopelessly. ------------- when i was a kid a doller was worth ten dollers - now a doller couldnt even buy you fifty cents |
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: October 01 2016 at 16:23
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All 4 sides are beyond incredible - esp. The Ancient. So, the order goes like this : The Ancient The Revealing Science Of God The Remembering Ritual |
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: October 01 2016 at 16:36
all 4 are awesome.. in their own ways... which of course is the icing on top of the album. if I had to rank them.. The Ancient Ritual Revealing Science The Remembering ------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip |
Posted By: Upbeat Tango Monday
Date Posted: October 01 2016 at 17:13
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Revealing > Remembering = Ancient >> Ritual ------------- Two random guys agreed to shake hands. Just Because. They felt like it, you know. It was an agreement of sorts...a random agreement. |
Posted By: Man With Hat
Date Posted: October 01 2016 at 17:50
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Side 3 for me. The Ancient Ritual The Revealing... The Remembering ------------- Dig me...But don't...Bury me I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect. |
Posted By: The-time-is-now
Date Posted: October 02 2016 at 06:54
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The Revealing Science of God. -------------  One of my best achievements in life was to find this picture :D |
Posted By: maryes
Date Posted: October 02 2016 at 09:25
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1- The Revealing Science of God. 2 - Ritual 3 - The Remembering 4 - The Ancient Is my order of preference, and to me a 5 stars album !!! (#1075019) posted Sunday, November 10, 2013 .
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Posted By: someone_else
Date Posted: October 02 2016 at 09:42
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2.5/5 imho The Ancient >> The Revealing Science of God > The Remembering >>>> Ritual ------------- 
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Posted By: chopper
Date Posted: October 03 2016 at 06:02
| Difficult to rank them but "The Remembering" is my favourite. Everything from "Don the cap..." to that magnificent ending is just brilliant. Side 1 and 4 are pretty much equal, and I have to be in the right mood for "The Ancient". |
Posted By: Flight123
Date Posted: October 03 2016 at 06:22
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Favourites shift over the years: I remember seeing their 1976 tour on British TV (from QPR FC - Yes fans were attacked by SAHB fans (one of the support bands) - those were the days!!) and they played 'Ritual', which I thought was great. More recently, its 'The Remembering' (despite being subject to Wakeman's bile) |
Posted By: Barbu
Date Posted: October 07 2016 at 11:23
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du soleil ------------- |
Posted By: Frenetic Zetetic
Date Posted: March 05 2018 at 03:02
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The Revealing Science of God ------------- "I am so prog, I listen to concept albums on shuffle." -KMac2021 |
Posted By: Blacksword
Date Posted: March 05 2018 at 03:07
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The Revealing Science of God. It's up there with CTTE and Awaken. The rest of the album, although good in parts, comes nowewhere near to side 1 in tems of sheer quality. ------------- Ultimately bored by endless ecstasy! |
Posted By: Frenetic Zetetic
Date Posted: March 05 2018 at 03:08
The rest of the album is great, but nothing hits like the opener, I agree! I'd probably put Gates behind CTTE, personally. ------------- "I am so prog, I listen to concept albums on shuffle." -KMac2021 |
Posted By: Mortte
Date Posted: March 05 2018 at 03:16
| the Remembering. |
Posted By: miamiscot
Date Posted: March 05 2018 at 07:45
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My favorite album ever!!! All four sides are perfect. That said, Side One is a little more perfect!!!
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Posted By: ForestFriend
Date Posted: March 05 2018 at 09:58
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So many great moments in Ritual, have to go with that one. ------------- https://borealkinship.bandcamp.com/releases" rel="nofollow - My prog band - Boreal Kinship |
Posted By: Larkstongue41
Date Posted: March 05 2018 at 10:01
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Side 4. Loooove this album. The only Yes I regularly come back to. ------------- "Larks' tongues. Wrens' livers. Chaffinch brains. Jaguars' earlobes. Wolf nipple chips. Get 'em while they're hot. They're lovely. Dromedary pretzels, only half a denar." |
Posted By: Squonk19
Date Posted: March 05 2018 at 10:13
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Side 1 closely followed by Side 4. ------------- “Living in their pools, they soon forget about the sea.” |
Posted By: Saperlipopette!
Date Posted: March 05 2018 at 11:30
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Its been so long I really can't be sure I remember correctly. But I think A bored me a little, B bored a little more, C was pretty great and D certainly had its moments. ------------- 
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Posted By: Prog Sothoth
Date Posted: March 05 2018 at 18:53
| A long time ago I would have chosen one of the first two songs, but these days I'm way more into the other two. Went with The Ancient. |
Posted By: irrelevant
Date Posted: March 06 2018 at 03:25
I'd hesitantly go with that, so I voted with the majority, however The Remembering probably has my favourite section of the album. ------------- https://gabebuller.bandcamp.com/" rel="nofollow - New album! http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=7385" rel="nofollow - http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=7385 |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: March 06 2018 at 10:04
| I can't really choose. I like all more or less equally except "the remembering"(I like the first half of it then it kind of drags on and repeats too much). The ancient usually doesn't get enough respect but it seems to be doing well here. Ritual used to be considered one of their best tracks but these days it seems to have been swept under the carpet and even this poll seems to indicate it's not that popular anymore. |
Posted By: cstack3
Date Posted: March 06 2018 at 12:58
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I voted for RSOG, but could have voted for "Remembering" as well. I always thought that Sides 1 and 2, played sequentially, were perfect. Ancient is a bit noisy for my tastes, but it has some wonderful moments. Ritual is also fine, this photo is from the "Solo Albums" tour in Illinois - this is Ritual, as Howe is playing his Les Paul Junior guitar. My friend Curt took this photo. There was no better band back in the day than Yes.  ------------- I am not a Robot, I'm a FREE MAN!! |
Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: April 10 2018 at 04:39
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OK, I've read Aymeric Leroy's book on Yes, so it drove me to relisten to most of the albums I own (until Drama and the two KTA), but I was curious to see if my buddy Aymeric would help appreciate what I thought was Yes' weakest 70's album. In some ways, he did help me re)evaluate the album, though only partially, coz I still think it is way too long and often uninteresting.
I will also pick The Ancient, but hands down, though it's hardly perfect Indeed, the first part of The Ancient is relatively free of Jon's often obtuse lyrics, and this allows the rest of the band to expand a little more . The first 12 minutes are quite interesting and is Yes at their most experimental, somewhere between heart Of The Sunrise (alternating the furious and the quiet 'tron passages) and Relayer's Sound Chaser. the second part (the acoustic song is totally awkward tagged on to it, though. It's not a bad song per se, but its got nothing to do with the near-RIO madness preceding it. Revealing Science is OK (but no more), but it tries to recreate what CTTE (the t/t) did, but fails in doing so. Far behind The Ancient's first part. I kind of like Ritual's first part, but TBH, White' tribal drums thing bores me to tears (though we got to see it live during the Magnification symphonic tour, and it was a bit of a revelation in itself).... However, I can also do without the closing section as well. as for Remembering, I still can't remember a single thing about it as it is soooo booooooring
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all 4 are awesome.. in their own ways... which of course is the icing on top of the album. Posted By: M27Barney
Date Posted: April 10 2018 at 05:10
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Ritual by a short margin - then RSOG , The Ancient (sublime guitar work), Last The remembering - but they are all better than most other bands best output - tales has got to be in the top five symphonic prog releases of all time - if somebody tells me that 90125/Abacab is better I'd fooking shoot them (metaphorically)! ------------- Play me my song.....Here it comes again....... |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: April 10 2018 at 05:23
| I voted for Ritual since I feel it's under rated and needed more votes. I'm not sure if it's the best track on tales(that might go to TRSOG)but I think it's the catchiest at least. |
Posted By: Frenetic Zetetic
Date Posted: April 10 2018 at 10:55
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Did TFTGO click really fast with anyone else? I feel like the whole album felt pretty natural for me the first listen through. It was just more Yes music. Maybe more than people were expecting (or even wanted), but all the music is excellent IMHO. ------------- "I am so prog, I listen to concept albums on shuffle." -KMac2021 |
Posted By: Barbu
Date Posted: April 10 2018 at 11:26
Heard it for the fisrt time at age 18, clicked at age 30.  ------------- |
Posted By: ProgMetaller2112
Date Posted: April 10 2018 at 11:36
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We love when we play.... This one is just absolutely breathtaking in my opinion. Although, as of recent times the Ancient has been getting me more haha ------------- “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” ― George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four "Ignorance and Prejudice and Fear walk Hand in Hand"- Neil Peart |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: April 10 2018 at 13:28
| The thing about Ancient is that nothing else in the Yes catalog sounds anything like it(imo). It's just so out there and is probably the closest they ever came to sounding like King Crimson(again imo). |
Posted By: For Nobody's Bush
Date Posted: April 10 2018 at 18:29
| I know that when I first tried to get into this album The ancient made sense enough for me to soldier on, and now I love the whole thing=Prog italian rum cake! |
Posted By: For Nobody's Bush
Date Posted: April 10 2018 at 18:29
| OOps, I meant The Ritual. |
Posted By: ProgMetaller2112
Date Posted: April 10 2018 at 19:10
No. It's Yes ------------- “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” ― George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four "Ignorance and Prejudice and Fear walk Hand in Hand"- Neil Peart |
Posted By: Upbeat Tango Monday
Date Posted: April 10 2018 at 19:26
That happened to me with A Passion Play. The first time I heard it I thought "WTF" and left it aside to rot. One day I decided to give it another spin and it clicked completely. Today I consider it to be JT's best album and one of my top 5 records ever.  ------------- Two random guys agreed to shake hands. Just Because. They felt like it, you know. It was an agreement of sorts...a random agreement. |
Posted By: Magnum Vaeltaja
Date Posted: April 10 2018 at 21:52
Wouldn't say it clicked on first listen, per se, but I'd say it took me about as long as any other Yes album for me to get into. Didn't dislike it on the first listen and knew I wanted to hear it again. Then about 5 full listens before I considered it an album I liked, about 5 more listens before I considered it an album I loved, and about another 5 before I considered it a favourite. Certainly not a drawn-out, grueling task for me to get into; took the better part of a summer. ------------- when i was a kid a doller was worth ten dollers - now a doller couldnt even buy you fifty cents |
Posted By: twosteves
Date Posted: April 10 2018 at 21:58
well said----Tales is a great work of prog---is every moment riveting? No but thats true of many 90 minute pieces of classical music or any music for that matter----I think the love version of Ritual is better than the studio----I think the opening with Howe and closing parts with Howe are beautiful guitar parts---but to me it is the most flawed side---Jon goes on and on---bass solo and drum solos are just ok----I actually like the Remembering as symphonic prog--it's more folky in parts ----the ending sends chills down my spine every time
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Posted By: Mortte
Date Posted: April 10 2018 at 22:26
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