'Tales From Topographic Oceans' by Yes is now 52 years old, and in a somewhat belated 50th Anniversary edition, it has just been re-issued as a 15CD set, including a Steven Wilson 2026 remix, new instrumental mixes, singles edits and works in progress, and live recordings. One of my favourite live bootlegs from that time was their Madison Square Garden gig on 18 February 1974, when they played the whole album as part of the set list, but one of the odd things about the latest re-issue is that none of the three live discs feature the whole album, with each of them missing one or two tracks. The band themselves stopped playing all four sides of 'Tales...' after their Detroit show on 28 February 1974, and although there are a few bootlegs around which include all four tracks, this is generally regarded as the best recording of a complete live performance of the double album. There are actually two recordings of this show: one contains the entire concert except the encore, but it has several cuts in the music, lousy sound quality, and terrible speed problems, while the other recording is this one, which has been remastered to improve the sound quality even more. 'Tales...' has been given something of a rough ride over the years, with this ambitious masterpiece of peak progressive rock dividing listeners, who either love or loathe its sprawling, indulgent four-side-long tracks. While critics often panned its bloat, devoted fans celebrate it as a highly detailed, spiritual, and immersive sonic journey filled with immense musical skill, and as I am one of the latter, then being able to hear all four pieces in a live setting should have been a no-brainer for the compliers of the Anniversary set. As they have failed to deliver, then here is the complete live 'Tales From Topographic Oceans', as performed by Yes at the very peak of their powers.
Track listing
01 Introduction
02 The Revealing Science Of God (Dance Of The Dawn)
03 The Remembering (High The Memory)
04 The Ancient (Giants Under The Sun)
05 Ritual (Nous Sommes Du Soleil)
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