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THE REVIEW
The most important album in the history of punk? No, it's not "Never Mind The Bollocks," nor "Ramones." It's this one!
For all those who, back in 1973, were starting to get fed up with the excesses of progressive rock, "Tales From Topographic Oceans" was like a giant red cloth waved in front of an angry bull. It was the signal that a clean sweep was needed, before it was too late and we all ended up walking around in sequined robes like Rick Wakeman, reciting selected passages from The Lord of the Rings.
If it's possible to identify the exact moment when prog reached the point of no return, it must definitely be somewhere within these exhausting, endless, abominable four sides. An indigestible and indefensible mess from any point of view. In these blissful times of post-everything revisionism, where ideological-musical oppositions are as out of fashion as three-necked guitars, I can afford to be indulgent even with Yes, and admit that in the end, something good can be found in the band's early albums (at least up to "Yes Album," and let’s also squeeze in a bit of "Fragile" and "Close To The Edge"). Not here. Here, Yes takes no prisoners, led in their massacre of good taste by the castrato voice of Jon Anderson and the keyboard barrages of one of the most depressing clowns in rock history, that Wakeman I mentioned a few lines back. Inspired by some accident involving a guru or mystical thinker (Yogananda Parananda, or maybe Benny Hill), Farinelli queen voice unrolls a cascade of nonsense that would make you double over with laughter, were they not inserted into 'songs' with an average duration of twenty minutes, with epically imbecilic titles like "The Revealing Science of God - Dance of the Dawn" or "The Ancient Giants Under the Sun" or even (my favorite) "Ritual - Nous sommes du soleil." By the way: in over thirty years, has anyone discovered what on earth "topographic oceans" are?
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Summary by Bot
This review critiques Yes' 1973 album 'Tales From Topographic Oceans' as the ultimate example of progressive rock excess. It humorously condemns the album's long, overwhelming tracks and grandiose themes, suggesting it represented a turning point that alienated many listeners. While the reviewer acknowledges some early Yes albums for their value, this particular release is portrayed as an indulgent mess marked by confusing lyrics and overblown performances.Tracklist Lyrics
Other reviews
By Shine
It is an album that requires many listens and much time to appreciate its complexity and beauty.
If it had been 'cut down' by about 15 minutes, it would have been Yes’s best album.
By paloz
This album should be considered by everyone as Yes’s work, not a disappointing infinity of nonsense, as many before me have done.
If you have come out unscathed at the end of the album, congratulations, you have witnessed a prog rock masterpiece, born from a very courageous project, but brilliantly executed.
By Giammotto
"Tales From Topographic Oceans is not a controversial work... it is an album already ingrained in the genetic code of Howe and his companions."
"An epochal album... which really contains very few 'disappointing moments' and towards which I find all this hostility truly ridiculous."
By Ilovemusic
A true masterpiece of progressive rock.
The band's courage to push boundaries is evident in every note.
