It’s a wondrous time to be a fan of the music of Yes. The group’s classic period albums (The Yes Album, Fragile, Close to the Edge) have recently received mammoth reissue box sets, and there have also been some excellent live albums, including much-coveted Record Store Day releases.
The album that followed Close to the Edge, 1973’s Tales from Topographic Oceans, has now also been released in a fulsome reissue box. Unlike the three aforementioned albums from the group’s most beloved period, Tales from Topographic Oceans has its fans and its detractors. Some of those detractors even include members of Yes, most notably keyboard player Rick Wakeman.
Up until Close to the Edge, prog was a commercially successful musical genre, and many critics applauded its imaginative, ethereal, and conceptual approach, as well as the musicians, who were true instrumental craftsmen of the highest order. Tales from Topographic Oceans was an album that was, for some, an album that unfortunately reflected too much of what the genre’s critics considered the worst aspects of the sound; its indulgent, long musical passages and sometimes nearly incomprehensible lyrical flights of fancy that would make C.S. Lewis blush had them questioning whether two full LPs was overkill.
For some, the album was a symptom of how music was losing its way as the mid-’70s approached and may have even been signaling the first stirrings of listeners looking for something more immediate and simpler that harkened back to the roots of rock, which would eventually lead to punk and new wave and, much later, indie and grunge.
Listening to the album now, with fresh ears and a little distance, free of the cultural and critical baggage of the time, Tales from Topographic Oceans, for the most part, comes across as an ambitious, deeply rich conceptual work that does not sound dated or irrelevant.
The album’s theme was drawn from a long footnote in Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda, which became the jumping-off point for Jon Anderson’s lyrics. The group was coming off the massive Close to the Edge tour, and it was drummer Alan White’s debut in the studio, having replaced Bill Buford.
White was thrown into the deep end, having to begin his career with the group playing extremely complex material and replacing Buford, an acclaimed and accomplished prog drum master. His baptism by fire was a success, and he was the group’s drummer until his death in 2022. Along with Anderson and White, the lineup here includes Steve Howe, Chris Squire, and Rick Wakeman.
The album flows nicely, though side three gets bogged down a bit. Once again, Steven Wilson’s remixes work perfectly. There is a bounty of excellent bonus material, although some of it can be a little repetitive. The best part is the live concerts and hearing how some of the tracks have evolved. Fans of Dolby Atmos and 5.1 mixes will once again be thrilled by what Wilson does with Yes’s music in these formats.
The new reissue is very much in the same vein as the previous Yes reissues. The sturdy, LP-sized package includes the complete original two-record vinyl set remastered by Bernie Grundman—plus a whopping 12 CDs and a Blu-ray. Along with a new 2-CD remix of the original album by Steven Wilson, there are two CDs of his new instrumental mixes. There are also three CDs of studio rarities, a live CD recorded in 1973 in Manchester and Cardiff, Wales, along with another CD of a 1974 concert recorded in Zurich.
Additionally, there is also one CD that includes “The Ancient” and “Ritual.” The Blu-ray contains a 2026 Dolby Atmos mix, a 5.1 DTS-HD MA mix, a stereo remix, a stereo remaster, and an instrumental mix. There is also a lavish 16-page booklet featuring the original artwork, liner notes, and more. Like the previous booklets in these Yes boxes, the one here is indispensable.
Yes fans and music critics will have a field day arguing the merits of this reissue. It’s a monumental undertaking, and given the amount of material the box contains and the sumptuous presentation, at what is value pricing, it’s a wonder indeed.
It’s interesting that another excellent archival project, which is a very sharp contrast to Tales from Topographic Oceans, should come out at roughly the same time. Symphonic Live was recorded in 2001 and features the core group of the time (Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, Alan White), backed by a symphony orchestra. The tour and concept stemmed from the group’s 2001 Magnification album. This material has been released several times before in various formats.
The concert was filmed and recorded live at Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam, with the backing of the European Festival Orchestra conducted by Wilheilm Keitel. In essence, the music reflects a different approach to presenting the group’s music live. While they had recorded two albums before Magnification without keyboardist Rick Wakeman, and they had a keyboardist on their previous recording, the album and tour marked an obvious awareness on their part that a bold step was needed to fill the void.
Even before Wakeman, such accomplished keyboard players as Tony Kaye, Patrick Moraz, Geoff Downes, Eddie Jobson, and even Rick Wakeman’s son Oliver filled an integral role in the group. What is clear from this reissue of the tour and why it was so successful is how the backing of an orchestra solved the hole left by their esteemed keyboard players of the past, gave a fresh new take to their classic music, but never strayed too far from the classic Yes prog supremacy of their music.
This reissue is available as either a 4LP set or a 2CD/Blu-ray set. Yes fans will want to have both, as each offers a unique perspective and experience.
The set list features the classics one would expect, such as “Close To The Edge,” “Long Distance Runaround,” “Starship Trooper,” “And You and I,” “I’ve Seen All Good People,” and “Roundabout.” There are also tracks from Magnification, “Ritual” from Tales from Topographic Oceans, and their post-prog bid for new wave relevance, the big hit “Owner of a Lonely Heart,” and more.
Both sets are well-conceived. The four-LP set was half-speed mastered and pressed on 180-gram vinyl in Germany, with artwork etched on side eight. It’s a gatefold package with two albums in each sleeve.
The Blu-ray includes a film of the concert, directed by Aubrey Powell, as well as a documentary and a video of the song “Don’t Go.” The box also includes a 16-page booklet, a large foldout, a double-sided poster, and five art cards. Watching the concert is an emotional experience. The youthful orchestra serves as both collaborators and fans, literally discovering the music as they perform it. The group’s musicianship is peerless, and Jon Anderson anchors Yes’s spiritual and narrative essence.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
Tales From Topographic Oceans (Super Deluxe Edition)
B+
Symphonic Live
B+
