Yes: Tales from Topographic Oceans

Tales From Topographic Oceans

Best song: The Revealing Science of God (Dance of the Dawn)

Worst song: The Ancient (Giants Under the Sun)

Overall grade: 5

It seems slightly twisted to write this on the same day as a Ramones review. I feel like a traitor, like I’m betraying both bands equally by listening to and enjoying the other one. But don’t listen to what people tell you about this album – more than anything else, it’s an incredibly important protopunk record. Sure, Iggy Pop was loud and Status Quo only knew three chords but it was this album, more than any other, that really inspired the rage that punk musicians felt, that really convinced them that speaking out against the musical climate of the time was the only way to go.

But despite it causing a whole musical movement three or four years after its release, this album got quite a lot of hate from critics for quite a long time. Its reputation seems to be improving somewhat throughout recent years, and I’ve read quite a few positive reviews of it since George Starostin trashed it on his old site. I guess I’ll be positive too – qualified positive. This could be a single album and it might be one of my favourite Yes albums, and that could either be these four songs each cut down to around twelve minutes, or it could be just two of these songs (first and last, please) with a little more effort put into each of them.

That second option is because I think that even if these songs were perfect, this album would still be too much. I have Soft Machine’s ‘Third’, another album made up of four sidelongs, and it’s freaking hard work to listen to, as much as I like it – and I say that as a lover of these extended compositions. But overall I’d choose all four songs shortened, just so Jon Anderson can still claim to be the only person to write an album based on ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’, which is of course why he started this project in the first place.

So, four songs to talk about, and how much I like each one directly correlates with their interest to filler ratio, so if they WERE cut down (if I say it enough, Jon might take the hint) it’s perfectly possible that ‘Ritual (Nous Sommes Du Soleil)’ could be my favourite, because parts of that song are, in a word, sublime. It’s the closest thing on the record to a traditional song and it showcases Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman performing some of their best work. However, it’s also the most drum-heavy track, and we’re had a lineup change in the last year – Alan White is now behind the kit, and he’s very good, but he’s not Bruford-good. So this is the only point where Bill’s missed. (Side note: I now have his autobiography! Should I do a book review?)

I’ll go backwards, then. This is preceded by The Ancient (Do I Have To Write These Subtitles Every Time) which is the part that really drags. Half the band barely make an appearance and so Steve Howe is left to hold up the fort on his own which he does with some boring electric guitar and some awesome classical guitar, and the song, especially the first half, is a lot more noisy and experimental than you’d expect from Yes, and the style isn’t something they do well. It’s a fair effort, though, and makes more sense if you’re following the lyrics and/or concept. Interestingly, if my sources are right, Howe actually contributed to these lyrics, making it not quite such an Anderson-dominated affair as most think.

Further back still, ‘The Remembering’ is laid back even in its interesting sections, and in its dull parts I think that Jon Anderson should have composed ambient music. I don’t really think that, it would have been a huge waste of his talents, but he certainly COULD have done. Chris Squire plays excellently on this song though; think ‘The Fish’ but bigger. If each band member really made their mark on one section here, this is his, and if you’ve ever thought the bass can’t be a lead instrument, here’s proof that it can. Oh, I also think this song inspired the tranquil blue of the cover art: one of Roger Dean’s best works, it was my desktop background for a while.

Lastly, to begin with, ‘The Revealing Science of God’. A friend of mine once said something like ‘When a song becomes longer than about eight minutes, it’s no longer a regular song, it’s a symphony’. I’m not trying to be pretentious, but I think that’s true here. This is great, great stuff the most fully formed piece, the one with enough musical ideas to justify 22 minutes, that completes the triumvirate of Yes sidelongs with ‘Close To The Edge’ and ‘Gates of Delirium’. It defies the whole idea of a structure and seems to have beginnings and endings in unexpected places. It’d be brilliant to see this one live.

Each of these are worthwhile pieces to varying degrees, and you shouldn’t just dismiss this album. At the same time, you might not want to listen to it all at once. You could split it up and do a piece when you wake up, one in your lunch break, one after you finish school/work for the day and one before you go to bed… come to think of it, that actually sounds rather nice, doesn’t it? I might do that next time instead of what I usually do, which is listen to it while I perform mindless tasks like putting all my CDs onto iTunes.

Don’t believe the controversy: say Yes to this album.

That was by far and away the worst line I have ever written.