The most controversial of Yes albums, this provokes extreme reactions from fans.This is a double album consisting of four tracks based on the shastrick scriptures. From that description alone it is easy to see why the traditional enemies of progressive rock would see red. It does not, however, explain why it would turn so many Yes fans against this album, let alone cause Rick Wakeman to leave the band. The problem is not just that the album is particularly long winded and pretentious (even by Yes standards), it is that the music is also less accessible. Up to this point Yes had made a habit of putting at least one incredibly catchy tune on every album. On Tales from Topographic Oceans there are few tunes that would count as catchy, and they are all buried within a twenty minute long song.
It's not surprising that it creates such enthusiasm amongst other Yes fans though. For some fans the words 'long winded and pretentious' is a ringing endorsement. While I include myself in this category of Yes fan, however, I can't quite bring myself to share the absolute enthusiasm of this albums its most ardent admirers feel. I accepted from the outset that this album would take more than one listening to appreciate, and it certainly required a large number of listenings. In the end the result was worth it, but only just. The album, in spite of erratically switches of mood and tempo, works as a very effective whole. Jon Anderson's lyrics are no more silly than usual ("I reach over and the fruit of life stands still") and in places are as good as he's ever written. Melodically it has a number of high points, but not as many as in the bands other albums of the same era.
This is an album of grand designs, which falls short. Not far short, but certainly short. Do not expect to like it the first time you listen to it, if at all. With luck, though, your persistence may pay off, and you will be one of that group of people who think that Tales from Topographic Oceans is *the* Yes album.
review by Conrad Leviston — 11-28-02 —
