Yes – Tales From Topographic Oceans (1973/2013) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Yes – Tales From Topographic Oceans (1973/2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:21:31 minutes | 2,83 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rhino Atlantic

Chart History/Awards
– #1 on the UK Albums Chart for 1973.
– #6 on the US Billboard 200 Chart for 1974.
– Certified Gold by the RIAA (US) and BPI (UK) in 1974.

After several whirlwind tours to celebrate their amazing successful run with albums like Fragile, Close To The Edge and Yessongs, the legendary Yes got back to the studio and worked on an amazing and huge piece of music for their prog-rock masterwork, Tales From Topographic Oceans.

With an ever interesting line-up of world class musicianship featuring Jon Anderson (vocals), Chris Squire (bass/vocals), Steve Howe (guitars/vocals), Rick Wakeman (keyboards) and Alan White on drums, Tales From Topographic Oceans truly stands as absolutely one of the most important albums of their mega successful career.

Often considered one of the finest recordings in their amazing career, Yes fans continue to praise Tales Of Topographic Oceans as a truly inspiring masterwork. This important piece of music consists of four amazing Yes workouts such as the definitive side one opener “The Revealing Science of God,” the art-rock driven “The Remembering,” the percussive and acoustic favorite “The Ancient – Giants Under The Sun,” and of course, the definitive album closer “Ritual – Nous Sommes du Soleil”.

Four decades after its release, this is still the most controversial record in Yes’ output. Tales from Topographic Oceans was the place where Yes either fulfilled all of the promise shown on their previous five albums or slid off the rails in a fit of artistic hubris, especially on the part of lead singer Jon Anderson and guitarist Steve Howe, who dominated the composition credits here. Actually, the group probably did a bit of both here across 80 minutes of music on a fully packed double-LP set; the group’s musical ambitions were obvious on its face, as it consisted of four long songs (really suites) each taking up a side of an album, and each longer than the previous album’s side-long “Close to the Edge.” And Tales had a jumping-off point that was as far advanced in complexity and density as Close to the Edge had been out in front of its predecessor, Fragile, — and all of it made The Yes Album seem like basic rock & roll. Anderson, by virtue of his voice and lyrics, is the dominant personality on Tales, and his fascination with Eastern religion is fully manifest, as never before (or since). Confronted by song titles such as “The Revealing Science of God,” and a concept derived from the Buddhist Shastric scriptures, the casual listener might have felt in need of both a running start and a sheet of footnotes: Yes keyboard player Rick Wakeman clearly felt something along those lines, as it was while making this record that he decided to exit the group. And, yet, Tales contains some of the most sublimely beautiful musical passages ever to come from the group, and develops a major chunk of that music in depth and degrees in ways that one can only marvel at, though there’s a big leap from marvel to enjoy. If one can grab onto it, Tales is a long, sometimes glorious musical ride across landscapes strange and wonderful, thick with enticing musical textures; it offers the Yes fan the chance to be a true “astral traveler.” Apart from one percussion break by Alan White that doesn’t come off (if there had to be a Yes album with a percussion solo, why couldn’t it have come along when Bill Bruford was in the band?), the music never falls flat, and it’s a pity that Wakeman couldn’t appreciate the richness and vitality he brought to the album. And Anderson and Howe get to work in an extraordinarily wide range of musical voices. In another reality, perhaps the gorgeous, folk-like passages on Tales would have spawned songs of four or five minutes, but here they are, woven into these long-form pieces, and if one can take the plunge into these particular sonic oceans, and comfortably stay under long enough, it’s a journey that will reward. But it’s not a trip for everyone — or even every Yes fan — to take, especially not too soon after discovering the album.

Tracklist:
1. Yes – The Revealing Science Of God / Dance Of The Dawn (20:28)
2. Yes – The Remembering / High The Memory (20:43)
3. Yes – The Ancient / Giants Under The Sun (18:40)
4. Yes – Ritual / Nous Sommes Du Soleil (21:38)

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