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Tales from Topographic Oceans
Listening guide
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A couple of weeks ago, Mark and I assembled one of the most learned and erudite groups of experts the progressive world has ever seen to talk in incredible depth and detail about the Steven Wilson remixes of Tales from Topographic Oceans.
We welcomed Prog Report stalwart Geoff Bailie along with Yes book authors Simon Barrow and Stephen Lambe to our special YMP round table after setting them the task of listening to one side each of Tales, with Mark taking side 4. I was exempt because I needed to act as referee and moderator – or at least that’s my excuse.
If you’re a fan of YMP deep dives, you’re in for a treat. If you’re not a fan of that kind of thing feel free to take this week off – not really, it’s all fascinating stuff.
- Is remixing Yes albums ever a good idea?
- What has Steven Wilson done to Tales?
- Has he improved it?
Let us know if you agree with us!
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Yes – The Tormato Story
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Theme music
The music I use is the last movement of Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite. This has been used as introduction music at many Yes concerts. My theme music is not take from a live concert – I put it together from: archive.org
6 replies on “Yes Album Listening Guides – Tales From Topographic Oceans Part 12 – The Steven Wilson Experts Assemble! – 642”
Great discussion. Thanks for this episode. I just want to weigh in on the “to re-mix or not to re-mix” question. The more the better, IMO. I like Steven Wilson’s mix as I do his own music. If you don’t like the mixes, you can revert to whichever is your favorite.
Here’s a question for Mark: It’s no secret you are not a fan of SW’s remixes. Fair enough. To each his own. So, which version of Tales IS your favorite. Like a lot of us, I have several. I bought the original vinyl when the album was released, but don’t have that any more. I have a few on CD.
Also, I just wanted to comment on the different versions. My recollection from the the original vinyl release in 1973 was that the drums sounded terrible. I remember likening them to the sound of hitting cardboard boxes. When the 2003 Rhino version came out, it was a big improvement.
Off topic: to Mark and all: which is your favorite version of Relayer? I had the vinyl, but only bought a CD version late in the game. I bought the Japanese mini-LP version (HDCD AMCY-6298). Packaging is great, but the sound is really noisy; a lot of hiss. Hard to listen to. So, beside the SW version, does anyone have any favorites?
Mark, Thanks for answering my question on the podcast. Sorry, if I overstated your opinion. Thanks for setting the record straight. I agree that SW is one of the best “new” prog artists. The Raven and Hand Cannot Erase are masterpieces.
It seems to me that Steve Howe is standing on weak ground when he kvetches about the Steven Wilson remixes. He should have involved himself more, as did Ian Anderson and Robert Fripp. Now, one could say that Anderson and Fripp have been control freaks over the years, but they were right to not simply turn over things to Wilson, no matter how skilled he is at production, as Howe largely did.
This was a great episode with lots of little tidbits of listening treasure for Tales fans! The Remembering was my favorite side when I was a teenager and I loved hearing Simon’s discussion of the last 3 minutes. Also last week with M.Tait was fascinating. Just a reminder to check out my commentary on YMP Episode 640 where I asked Kevin to consider including a bit in the book about the spiritual elements of Tales in context with the previous album (CTTE) and Relayer. Cheers!