Gordon Fletcher - Rolling Stone

Tuesday, July 2, 2024 7:53 AM

Gordon Fletcher
Rolling Stone
March 28, 1974

This album is too long. Not only does the band kill time with psychedelic doodling but the solo numbers are drawn out. Steve Howe spends ten minutes in a nerve-racking display of guitar technique on side three and bassist Chris Squire and drummer Alan White deliver barren, if cleverly executed, solos on side four.

Musically, the album suffers from over-elaboration which has generated both the apparently desired complexity and the almost unavoidable mechanical feel. Yes are best when using their surrealistic pastiche style to jab at basic emotions—as in their earlier "And You and I" and "Heart of the Sunrise." By contrast, the music of Tales leaves the listener grappling for some perspective.

The lyrics don't provide that perspective, either. Shastric scriptures are not the ideal point of departure for developing so simple a theme as Yes' standard, "Reality is the biggest kick of all." Composers John Anderson and Steve Howe no doubt understand the relationship between Tales and their personal search for Truth, Knowledge, Culture and Freedom, but they haven't clued in the rest of us. They tell us in their liner notes that the "Topographic Ocean" of the album's title refers to "... the ebb and flow and depth of our mind's eye"—but that is surely a message which our ears would never hear.

Tales does have some good moments. Rick Wakeman turns in another stellar performance as Lord-of-the-mellotron, and other ivories. Despite the battery of mechanical instruments, Wakeman continually impresses the listener as the most human of the group; he can convey desperation, fear or serenity with that diverse mechanized instrument, the Moog synthesizer.

On a particularly impressive acoustic interlude on side three, Wakeman employs his mellotron to sharpen the focus behind Howe's adroit, soulful work on the unamplified six-string. Jon Anderson gives his best vocal on his simple but powerful cut, touching a bitingly personal chord reminiscent of Yes' finest introspective moments. Too bad that this track remains the isolated high point on Tales From Topographic Oceans.