Maybe I'm finally starting to "get" Yes' TFTO.

Finnforest wrote: I noticed something on my most current listening that is perhaps just silly, but I have no problem embarrassing myself This time through it, I paid even less attention to lyrics than I normally do, just focusing on the music.  I'm not saying this was intentional by the band, but, the album sort of "feels" like it is mirroring the life cycle.  RSoG has these beautiful somewhat nostalgic melodies that evoke the feelings of childhood to me, wonder, naivety, innocence, mystery.  The Remembering would be young adulthood, adventure, falling in love.  In the Ancient the first half sounds like the stresses of midlife, sometimes jagged and painful while the lovely acoustic in the second half balances it out with what we love about our life.  And in Ritual we begin with that warmth that suggests an elder in a life well lived.  In the middle there is a break and then suddenly the harsh dissonance (by Yes standards anyway) of the percussion/breath sounds which could be representation of suffering and death.  Then breaking from that and closing melodically into the beyond/afterlife.  Again, not saying this was a theme of the bands, just saying that for me as a listener it works as a subplot.  And whenever artists are asked what their albums "mean", many dodge the question by saying variations of "it means whatever it means to our fans."  So I guess we're entitled to wonder about subplots.  Anyway, sorry for that.  Ducking the tomatoes now

Perhaps you might try listening to it while appreciating Thomas Cole's famous series:

As I have said Love Tales--a very special album---love this website but can't believe that Tales is not considered at top 100 prog album but a lot of the stuff that is on there---including stuff in the Top 10---I wouldn't even consider worth more than a few listens---but taste is random.

TFTO is the closest thing to an actual symphony to be found in prog rock.  In other words, it demands you sit, listen, and experience it.  I can't do Tales in passive way.

You should never start to finally get an album.  Either you appreciated when you first heard it or your didn't.  The worst thing you can to is to try and force yourself to appreciate any album that doesn't suit your ears...

I've loved Tales since the moment I first dropped the needle on side 1.  Back in '75 my 1st Yes album was CttE, a couple months later I moved on to Relayer, then about 5 months later I bought Tales.  I still consider it one of the great prog accomplishments of all time.

Finnforest wrote: Slartibartfast wrote: You should never start to finally get an album.  Either you appreciated when you first heard it or your didn't.  The worst thing you can to is to try and force yourself to appreciate any album that doesn't suit your ears... Can't agree with that one I'm afraid.  There are a fair number of albums over the years that I did not appreciate on the first listen, and they ended up being albums I love.   Just me I guess, but sometimes it takes me time to warm up to certain albums.

Guldbamsen wrote: Finnforest wrote: Slartibartfast wrote: You should never start to finally get an album.  Either you appreciated when you first heard it or your didn't.  The worst thing you can to is to try and force yourself to appreciate any album that doesn't suit your ears... Can't agree with that one I'm afraid.  There are a fair number of albums over the years that I did not appreciate on the first listen, and they ended up being albums I love.   Just me I guess, but sometimes it takes me time to warm up to certain albums.  That's me as well Jim. Some of my most beloved albums are ones I didn't get at all when I first started out listening to them. Some I even hated.....which also is why I'm continuing to give this album a chance. Heck, when I first span Igor Wakhevitch I felt like screaming and jumping out the window Now I love the guy. All it took was 6 months, a beach and waves.

I too have many albums/songs/bands I have needed to listen to several times in order to get into them. If I hadn't presisted, then I would never have gotten into Pink Floyd, Rick Wakeman, Yes, etc, and thus I would never have gotten into prog. However, there seems to be something that compells me to return to the music even if I didn't like it so much at first listen (I particularly remember this with my first listens of Yes, with Fragile and CttE).

Padraic wrote: TFTO is the closest thing to an actual symphony to be found in prog rock.  In other words, it demands you sit, listen, and experience it.  I can't do Tales in passive way.

 

Edited by moshkito - January 18 2015 at 10:34

Epignosis wrote: As I've said many times before, Tales from Topographic Oceans is my all time favorite album. From the first enchanting syllables, I knew there was something special about this one.  "The Revealing Science of God" introduces us to several themes, and each passage moves into the next with an imperceptible fluidity.  In its grittier moments, it pays tribute to the coda of "Siberian Khatru," while the Mellotron offers a refreshing sense of beauty. The Remembering" shows Yes at their most bucolic and redolent.  Although the title of the piece speaks of remembering, the work gives us glimpses into the future ("Remember the Future?"); for example, triumphantly proclaiming the title of their next album, "Relayer!" During "The Ancient," you will hear Howe wink at earlier phrases, such as how he sneaks in the main guitar motif from "Siberian Khatru" or how, during his classical guitar excursion, he includes the opening guitar riff from "Close to the Edge." "Ritual" is a bright and uplifting contrast to the murky mystery of the third movement.  As the tension mounts in the middle, you will hear a reprise of the main melody from "The Remembering," and at the finale, there's the main theme from "The Revealing Science of God," only transformed into a minor key.

Epignosis,

Congratulations!  You are a true listener and appreciator of music. 

So many here seem hell bent on spouting their opinions about an album "I don't like this part, can't get into that part, doesn't do it for me, Jon sings too much, too much padding, etc...

One would be better to examine a work such as Tales and maybe ask questions and or try to learn something about it.

There was a great book called "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" 
That book and "Tales from Topographic Oceans" are both monumental steps in the understanding of philosophy and music of that era.

Tales is not about whether "you" like it.  It's a historical musical document that reflects upon a much deeper connection to the times, the past, the then present and future.  It's literature as much as music. 

If one doesn't get Tales, that is more a reflection on the listener than the body of work and one's feelings and understanding of quality itself. 

No doubt it won't work for everyone, nor is it supposed to.

Worse than a toothache.