Yes
Tales From Topographic Oceans

In reality, this is not a full-fledged review: these are various thoughts on the album: if you wish, you can continue reading.

On December 20^th in the year 1973, in Europe comes out 'Tales from Topographic Oceans', a new album by Yes. It's a double LP featuring 4 tracks each about 20 minutes long, one for each side, totaling just over 80 minutes. This work presents itself quite well, judging by the stunning cover (like all those published by the group - but this one in my opinion is special...), and the structure of the songs is intriguing (only for true rock lovers).

And yet... what happens? What happens is that many are disappointed by the album, and those who until then adored Yes suddenly disown them.

And ultimately, this is what my "review" is about: how could this have happened? How did listeners, faced with such a thoughtful and mystical album, give up completely? I tried to imagine what happened. There are two cases:

1. The case of the skeptical listener, who: looks incredulously at the tracklist and respective durations; finds courage and starts the first part; after the first track (finding it exhausting), tries to convince himself to listen to it all to make a good impression with friends; halfway through the second track, he turns it off and collapses, exhausted, onto his bed, thinking about how much money he wasted.
2. The case of the loyal "Yes fanatic", excited, who at the end of it all throws there a: "So what?". He found this opus too complicated for his tastes.

And now I ask you directly (I hope you appreciated this concept album as much as I did): how did all those people manage to remain impassive in front of such a creative explosion (I admit, perhaps a bit ambitious, but who wasn’t in the legendary 70s prog)? Why did they give the LP such an obligatory and inattentive listen?

If they had listened carefully, they probably would have noticed some lyrics with an astonishing mystery:

"And for a moment when our world had filled the skies
Magic turned our eyes
To feast on the treasure set for our strange device

What happened to wonders we once knew so well
Did we forget what happened surely we can tell
We must have waited all our lives for this
Moment moment moment"

"High the memory carry on
While the moments start to linger
Sail away among your dreams
The strength regains us in between our time
The strength regains us in between our time
As we shall speak to differ also the ends meet the river's son. . ."

"And I heard a million voices singing
Acting to the story that they had heard about
Does one child know the secret and can say it
Or does it all come out along without you. . . "

And the conclusion, which incessantly repeats "Nous sommes du Soleil," as if wanting to give an answer to all the questions man has asked so far.

This album should be considered by everyone as Yes's work, not a disappointing infinity of nonsense, as many before me have done.

Some clarifications:

• The 5 stars I gave the record are not so much for the album's content itself (wonderful), but mainly to emphasize its importance.
• I do not at all think this is Yes's best album; I personally also love Fragile, Close To The Edge, Relayer (also underrated - I give it 5) and all the rest.
• I recommend the "proggers" who do not know it, or have listened to it reluctantly, to dedicate its entire duration to it; only then will you notice its magic (and citations from previous albums).

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.