Just put on Tales from Topographic Oceans

[colcifer]

Remind me why most people hate this album?

[Down & Outman]

Grew up with Yes. Wore out Close to the Edge album (Yes, Vinyl) learning it. It's kind of different if your not used to them.

[M0ses]

They just aren't as good as us.

[Bob C]

I listened to it today too. I listen to Yes almost every day. Cuts 1 and 4 are my favorites. 3 isn't bad either, and 2 is way better than just okay.

I guess some people think Yes "out-pompoused" themselves with Tales. Also, I've heard it said that they could have cut some of the fat and squeezed it onto one record instead of two.

It is definitely a "concept album", which some people are just not into. I suppose a few parts do drag on, but I think it is a fine piece. I like it a lot.

Of course, all of the bass in "Ritual" is great. I saw Yes perform that live on the Masterworks tour in 2000, as well as back in the 70's, when Tales had just come out.

[Phalex]

Chris Squire is why I play bass. I love all thing yes...... Well prior to Howe leaving anyway.

[dhsierra1]

Originally Posted by M0ses

They just aren't as good as us.

LOL

[AltGrendel]

Originally Posted by colcifer

Remind me why most people hate this album?

I have no idea, I think it's great. Love the drum section on side 4. That was a great section to see live during the Relayer tour way back in the day.

[Red Four]

The only mistake this album made was pissing off the cool kids, i.e. the critics. Critics, for the most part, timidly kowtow to the fashionistas of their time, and there's no more craven or common way to try to please the cool kids and make them notice you than to make fun of those who don't play their game - rule #1 of the game being to defer to the coolness of the cool kids.

TFTO is the smart kid in class who is genuinely interested in the subject being taught, who asks educated questions about it in class and who tries to do really well on the assignments. This type of behavior threatens to invalidate the slacker ethos of the hipsters, and such behavior can't be tolerated - it has to be mocked, ruthlessly.

There's nothing wrong with TFTO. It's a group of musicians absolutely going for it, believing in the power and energy of what they're doing and what they're tapped into. It's like any other album in that some people like it and some people don't. But there's a class of people who feel it's their professional obligation to not like it. People who see Chris Squire wearing a sparkly cape as absurd, but who don't see what their beloved fashionistas do as equally absurd.

It's a sprawling, ambitious, unapologetic album. One of my favorite albums ever.

[hrodbert696]

It's just too big and overdone. I do like the album but only when I'm in a certain kind of mood and have the time to kill.

I actually like something Rick Wakeman has said about it; Vinyl at the time was about 18-20 minutes per side. He thought they had more than 36 or 40 minutes of good material but they didn't have 72. So they padded it out. If they had gone into the studio with the idea ten or fifteen years later, when they could have released a 60 minute CD rather than a 72-minute double album, it would have been a lot tighter and better.

[Vanceman]

Last Saturday I played Close to the Edge for a friend, he's a drummer. He's in his 40's, knows way more about music than I do, but has never heard this album. Before any vocals came in, he had guessed Zappa, Genesis, Crimson, and had recognized Bruford's style. He was blown away! It was so much fun to turn someone on to a Yes album.

Tales didn't need to be a double album.

[5StringBlues]

Originally Posted by colcifer

Remind me why most people hate this album?

Short attention spans.


I love it,especially sides one and two.

[Duckwater]

The only complaint I have is that Chris isn't mixed high enough

[colcifer]

It's long, I'll say that. When you've got the time though.... Even though there are some slight problems, since it's unprecedented in scope (CttE was Symphonic rock but not a rock symphony), I give allowances.

[fretlessguy]

I agree with Bob C. It wasn't that it was bad, it was actually genius. However, as to borrow the words of Rick Wakeman, "There was a lot of padding in there". It does, however, make for great driving music so I play it on long road trips.

[5StringBlues]

PM colcifer

[bassybill]

I'm a massive Yes fan - they were just about the first band that I really got into. But I have to say TFTO is not one of my favourites, not by a long way. I much prefer the three albums before it (especially the live incarnations of those tracks on Yessongs), Relayer (easily my actual favourite Yes studio album - Moraz is superb on every track) and even Going For The One.

[Sketchy]

Tales is probably my favourite Yes album. It has so many brilliant moments and a really, really nice atmosphere.

Fantastic cover too...

[brianrost]

Originally Posted by colcifer

Remind me why most people hate this album?

Why do you like it?

I bought it the day it came out and just found it boring. The songs (compositions?) aren't focused enough for me.

I've gone back a few times over the years to try it with fresh ears but always feel the same.

Great cover, though

[Roscoe East]

Originally Posted by brianrost

The songs (compositions?) aren't focused enough for me.

fwiw, the reason I love TFTO (it's easily one of my favorite rock albums period, though I have a hard time deciding whether it or Relayer is my favorite Yes album) is because it's not just a bunch of songs, it's more like an actual suite of compositions with underlying themes that recur in different guises throughout the four sides.

iow, it's actually a bit more focused than the typical Yes album, because all the material is "of a part", more unified, more justified in its derivation if you will.

[4001]

I like everything but side three.

I think a lot of fans didn't like it because after Close to the Edge, TFTO seemed over the edge.