TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS

The love it or hate it double album. I think the reason why some fans, and band members dislike this album is because it takes a long time to build up and because there is so much material it requires a lot of patience and the right state of mind to listen to. One flaw of the album is that if you listen to one of the tracks individually they are not as impressive as when you listen to the album as a whole because the first track is an excellent build up to the remembering and it continuouslly progresses into better pieces, just very slowly. I think it was silly to include ritual on the recent ultimate collection as it feels like they've taken a snippet from the album whilst if you listen to the rest of the album first the song seems much better.

If none of that compells you to listen to this album then it is always nice to see yes do something different as this album is very experimental and uses many different styles and sections including mellow organ and piano pieces, pounding basslines and guitar/piano battles. Not to mention the incredible drum techniques in ritual. The lyrics show that this album is a concept album about ways of life and the life of yes and refers to christianity at times. Anyone will have to appreciate the almost impossible task of producing 80 minutes of perfectly orchestrated music. This album has its ups and downs but after you settle into it you will love it as much as close to the edge, relayer and fragile. Perhaps this one is different because the other albums just mentioned really grab you by the balls and always entertain whilst this album takes a while to get going. Jon Andersons vocals are still upto par as usual. This is brilliant stuff and i think it did well for yes. I would much recommend this album over anything after relayer. In a word...yes.