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Nitrate - Renegade

Yes 'Tales from Topographic Oceans' (1973)



Found a nice 2nd-hand LP copy this morning and am giving it a spin.

'Topographic Oceans' is one of those love-it-or-hate-it records that splits opinions - for some it is a Himalayan peak of Prog perfection, for others a Marianas Trench of overblown pompous boredom.
Rick Wakeman disliked it and, for concerts, had special wooden blocks with nails set in to hold down keyboard chords while he ate takeaway curries (smuggled onstage by the roadies) from under his cape.

Older now (and maybe not wiser but more patient) it's finding a new place in my appreciation. After the monumental precision of 'Close to the Edge' there was no way to improve on that - so a totally different approach was needed and 'Tales' was just what Yes had to do at that moment. A double LP comprising a single work spread out over 4 side-long sections.

Mainly written by Anderson and Howe, the music is very much guitar-based with the lyrics searching for spiritual enlightenment. It could be a recipe for a New-Age drone-out but Chris Squire and new-boy Alan White do their best to inject some rhythmic backbone into proceedings, and Wakeman's Moog solos are inspired (when he is allowed to let rip).

Still, there are sections that are just too long and drawn-out to hold one's attention properly, but the good bits are certainly worthwhile. Putting this work into its perspective in the Yes story, now it fits and I can begin, grudgingly, to like it.

I think there is too much good material for a single vinyl album and not enough for a double album. If CD had been around at the time it would have been problem solved.

I have 'Magnification' on order. Apparently the vinyl version only uses 3 LP sides.

Pink Floyd - Atom heart mother
Smith/Kotzen - Better days EP
Styx - Greatest Hits

Yes 'Magnification' (2001)



In the new millenium, Yes found themselves as a 4-piece unit with no keyboard player. So they decided to fill out their sound by incorporating a complete symphony orchestra in the next project. The result is, quite literally, 'magnificent' and a sadly overlooked entry in their catalogue.

Anderson, Howe, Squire and White here discard the Modern-Rock trappings of 'The Ladder' and return to the melodic subtlety of their 70's heyday. There do not appear to be any clashing ego's on 'Magnification', harmony is the order of the day - and when these talents combine, as they do here, then the results are really special.

This would be Jon Anderson's final studio album as a member of Yes (health reasons after the following tour) - but he went on a high-point.

For the audiophiles among us: this album is gorgeously recorded and the orchestra / band mix is sensitively done. I managed to get the HDCD edition of 'Magnification' but the recent 3-sided LP has a phenomenal SQ that the digital version cannot equal.

A masterpiece.

Skid Row- Subhuman race & Slave to the grind

Yard Act have just released the debut album. Its an album full of commentary on modern life. Hopefully I will get to see them in the near future.

Pink Floyd - A saucerful of secrets

Have a ticket to see Nick Mason's Saucerful of secrets in May which has been gathering dust for over two years due to Covid cancellations.

Yes 'Talk' (1994)



Like '90125' this was very much a Trevor Rabin-dominated project, again with a high-tech, effect-laden sound filling out some great, anthemic songs.

Sadly, the popularity of Yes had gone into a decline after the disappointing political exercise of 'Union' and 'Talk' did not get the exposure that it deserves. Probably the most powerful statement Yes ever released, this album is an essential listen for those wanting to hear how Arena Rock ought to have sounded in the 90's.

Rabin left Yes after this and went into movie-soundtrack work. He had put his heart and soul into 'Talk' and it should have been huge.