Original subtitles

It’s March 1973

Jon Anderson is a guest at the wedding of friend and ex-Yes drummer Bill Bruford.

Also in attendance is Jamie Muir, percussionist in Bruford’s new band King Crimson.

Anderson had recently watched Crimson play live and was fascinated with Muir on-stage

presence.

Anderson approached Muir at the wedding and explained that he was looking for ideas for

the next Yes album.

Muir instantly knew the answer to Jon’s question and after a brief disappearance returned

with a copy of a book titled the Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda.

Anderson would have seen the book’s author before but without knowing it as he features

on the cover of the Sgt Pepper album.

One of many eastern gurus that were adopted by musicians and artists in the 1960s, Paramahansa

Yogananda is credited with popularising ancient Indian wisdom and the concepts of meditation,

yoga and self-enlightment to the West.

It was whilst Yes are on tour in Japan that Anderson became engrossed with the book.

With his attention being drawn to a passage describing four key Hindu Shastras.

Shastras are scriptures that contain guidance and outline key beliefs within the ancient

Indian religion.

These four shastras, the cornerstone of this ancient Indian religion, were to become key

to the lyrical themes and musical structure of the next Yes album.

Let’s try and examine them.

This relates to divine messages that which is directly heard and revealed from gods to

the higher authorities of Hinduism.

Namely the Rishies (ancient sages and yogis).

This relates to things that are remembered by normal people.

These are often stories and interpretations by which the previous shruti revelations are

recalled and passed onto others.

For some reason this concept is mis-spelt on the Tales sleeve notes.

This is the literal Sanskrit word for “ancient” and this shastra relates to collection of

ancient and sacred Hindu literature.

These include myths about the gods and their decedents and how man and his universe was

created.

This relates to rites and rituals.

The freeing of energy and expanding of consciousness.

Tantas relate to connections between mind, body, soul and beyond and it is through our

actions, mantras, yoga, diet and ceremony that this connection is achieved.

Perhaps how Topograhic Oceans would have turned out had Anderson not met Jamie Muir is another

question, but I imagine that the theme of four would probably have remained with possibly

Earth, Water, Fire and Air being strong contenders for the thematic colours of each side.

The title itself is a strange one as the word topographic refers to the study of land features,

mountains and so on and not the oceans and seas.

The original title was tales from Tales from Tobographic Oceans, this being one of Andersons

‘invented words’ supposedly inspired by a short story called “October the First

is too Late”.

The forthcoming album was advertised as ‘tobographic’ as late as October and Anderson introduced

the album using this word on some early November show dates, so the change of title must have

come very late in proceedings.

In one now famous all night writing session on 20th April in Savannah, Georgia.

Anderson and Howe mapped out the basic lyrical themes and melodies for what was originally

one single piece of music.

The subsequent convert reviews following this legendary writing session were less than favourable

confirming the often quoted reference that the night of writing of Topographic left it’s

writers exhausted for days afterwards.

On entering ELP’s Manticore rehearsal studios in London, it is thought that the single song

idea had now developed into Jon’s new idea of four ‘close to the edges’.

In an interview in around this time, Wakeman described the new album as having interchangeable

parts the idea being that the band could re-arrange them when playing and shorten or lengthen

pieces based on the mood and response from the audience.

He is unclear though about how this idea would translate onto a vinyl record, but certain

they would find a way.

Wakeman has also stated that on entering the rehearsal studio, the initial album tracks

had lengths of 8, 12, 15 and 19 minutes.

He is unspecific; however, as to which piece was which length.

The band took a month off during these rehearsals in which Anderson travelled to Morocco where

he wrote the lyrics.

I often wonder how the young singer must have felt at this time, with the newly released

Yessongs album riding high in the charts he must have beamed with confidence and limitless ambition.

When Anderson from returned, discussions over the recording location began.

Both he and Wakeman voted for a country retreat or forest, with a huge tent and electric generators

buried underground to reduce noise.

Howe and Squire voted for the more traditional London studio setting.

A compromise was struck with the studio was decorated with palm trees, plants, farmyard

fencing, hay bails and a cardboard replica cow with mechanical udders.

On 20th May 1973 the band and producer Eddie Offord entered Morgan Studios to begin five

months of recording.

For Wakeman the boredom of the elongated sessions were elevated when Black Sabbath arrived at

the same studio to record their Sabbath Bloody Sabbath album and invited Wakeman to play

on it.

It is thought that Sabbath were responsible for graffitying and breaking Yes’s studio

cow.

This period marked the start of Wakeman’s disillusionment with the band.

On the day the final fix was complete Jon Anderson and producer Eddie Offord left the

studio with the treasured master tapes.

Whilst trying to find their car keys these tapes were placed ontop of the car only for

the two to drive off without noticing.

These tapes slid from the car roof and into the path of an oncoming bus.

Anderson claims he had to jump in front of the bus to stop it just before it ran the

tapes over, some may wish he hadn’t.

The eve of the albums release saw the band receive a wealth of accolades in the highly

regarded Melody Maker readers Poll.

The band must have felt elated knowing also that the album had already been certified

gold status on it’s 100,000 pre-orders alone.

Ahead of Elton John, Bowie and ELP and it was Yes who proudly sat at the number 1 position

in the UK charts over the Christmas and New Year period and I often wonder how many families

must have felt listening to this record on a cold Boxing Day afternoon.

Let’s now unpack this festive fun and see what, if any sense we can make of it.

The initial mix of this track was 28 minutes long and it was cut for it’s first release.

The 2003 re-issue, however re-introduced the original crashing waves and synth intro.

I feel that this was a masterstroke and in many ways set a completely different tone

for the whole track.

It also strengthened the hindu concepts of SHRUTI in that it deals with god and the creation

of the universe.

In what is a real standout moment for the album the opening vocal chant centres on four

concepts; the dawn of light, dawn of thought, dawn of power and dawn of love.

The opening lyrics overlap and intertwine like the hindu ever-opening flower, with it’s

endless caresses and everlasting life.

The song plots mankind’s evolution, emerging from god through sea, land and air, dancing

from the ocean.

It describes our reaching out for knowledge and love which we sometimes lose – chasing

it late into corners and also laments mistakes made and the forgetting of wisdom we once

knew so well.

It is an incredible statement of intent.

The hindu shruti themes echo in lines like

‘I can’t believe our song will leave you’ and the idea that god’s knowledge is passed

on to the gurus whist lines like “we receive all we venture to give’ reflect the idea

of Karma.

The music throughout is excellent and perhaps more than anywhere else on the album there

is a real balance and harmony between the instruments.

Part of this song originated in the Fragile recording sessions in a song called ‘All Fighters Past’.

Anderson wanted to create a calming ‘sea’ of music and the piece, which employs a vast

array of different instruments is largely dominated by Wakeman’s swirling keyboards

and the rumbling undercurrent of Squires bass.

The music evokes images of oceans, rain, waves and turbulence.

Whilst the lyrics refer to rivers, sailing, seagulls and compasses.

Ultimately the listener sails beyond the topographic ocean and into the skies and distant suns.

The reference to the ‘relayer’ is an Indian guru who passes on his divine knowledge to others.

This echos the Hindu concept of SMRITI which this side of the album is supposed to be based

around.

When played live, Wakeman was afforded the opportunity to branch out with an extended

mellotron and mini-moog solo.

Chord sections of this track were written by Alan White, which he strummed out on guitar.

It would probably have been the opening sections with their similarity to his later Turn of The Century track.

Arguably the most surreal and challenging of all Yes music, the third movement of the

album draws influence from the power and energy of the sun.

It is here that the albums links with Hindu philosophy become muddled.

Anderson’s album notes reference the song tapping into distant cultures with Indian,

Chinese and Central American influences.

None of this really links with the hindu concept of Purana which is more about how mankind

links with one another and our ancestors.

This is what this album side is supposed to be themed on.

As it stands the side 4 song lyrics have more connection to this concept of how we interconnect

with each other and the universe, especially the Nous Sommes Du Sollei part.

Likewise, the tribal percussion presented on side 3 would be more suited to the Tantric

concepts of ritual, dance and ceremony.

Something that side 4 is supposed to be about.

It feels on reflection like Anderson either got the concepts and songs mixed up or swapped them intentionally

and with no-one having a clue what the album was really about anyway, no-one noticed.

The first half of the track includes a list of different words for various ancient sun-gods,

most of which Anderson manages to pronounce correctly.

As much as I adore this track, I always feel somehow that two thirds of the way through

the band literally ran out of ideas and decided to bolt another acoustic track onto escape

a spiriling mess.

Shoe-horned in at the end of side three Leaves of Green is perhaps robbed of being enjoyed

more as a song in it’s own right.

The section was originally played in an electric arrangement that fitted the original song

slightly better.

It’s a beautiful albeit dis-joined coda and was played as a standalone live piece

for many years to come.

As mentioned previously this song would have been much better suited to the hindu concept

of Puranas (The Ancient) and the links with ones past, and as if to elude to the bands

own history at 4 minutes in Howe plays a few notes from Close To The Edge.

Furthermore, throughout the track, Howe can be heard re-playing various themes from the

album and especially as it crescendos towards the end.

The original idea was that the final track would conclude by re-visiting these earlier

themes in a jazz style.

When played live the first part of this song featured some wonderful bass phrasing by Chris

Squire, however it’s arguably drummer Alan White who is the star of the show not only

for his thunderous primal percussion climax but also for the ‘Hold Me My Love’ part

that follows it.

This precursor to the Nous Somme Du Soliei ending was originally written by White on

piano.

In many ways he is the unsung writer of this album.

With the album still a month from release, the tour began on 16th November in Bournmouth.

The disillusioned Wakeman managed to play a mere eight shows before announcing to the

band that he was leaving.

For financial reasons, he was persuaded to stay on until the end of the tour.

The setlist was pretty consistent with all of the Close To The Edge album beign played

and then Topograhic Oceans.

By February 74 The Remembering was dropped in favour of Starship Trooper

The band improved their stage design and lighting considerable for the tour and recordings from

the time reveal noticeable gasps of awe and exclamations as the tracks open.

Anderson would give an introduction to each movement including a brief history of the

sanskit language.

As a curtain raiser, some US fans were treated to seeing a huge hot air balloon flying outside

some venues.

The in-famous Wakeman curry was eaten at the Manchester Free Trade Hall.

Apparently Wakeman was telling the roadie about wanting to go for a curry after the

gig.

The roadie in question misheard Rick and assumed he wanted one there and then on-stage and

soon returned by a Chicken Vindaloo, poppadoms and Onion Bhargi which Rick promptly tucked

into during the show.

The curry probably came from the Rajoot resteraunt which is only two minutes walk from the venue

and still operates today and has done since the 1960s.

The importance of Roger Dean to this band cannot be over-stated and although he solidified

his importance with the epic Yessongs art it’s here that he really comes of age with

this cover.

The use of colour, composition and content are astonishing as Dean hints at what the

Topographic Ocean could look like.

A world of both the known and unknown, simultaneously real and surreal.

Solid, historic rock and the twinkling heavens.

One of the many sources of this incredible cover is the book The View Over Atlantis which

features illustrations of the many ancient stone circles, ley lines and earthworks found

in the South-West of England.

Specifically, Dean includes the following: The ancient stone circles of Avebury and Stonehenge.

Various rock formations from Land’s End including Logan Rock.

From Yorkshire we have the weird and wonderful Brimham rock formations.

Further afield from Peru we have Mexico’s ancient Chichen Itza (ch-itch-en itsa) temple

and below it the Nazca line Monkey carving.

The five fish are presumably the five members of the band.

One of them is noticeably different from the others, more dormant and disinterested.

It also matches a fossil on the rock perhaps eluding that it too is not destined to be

around for much longer.

The main UK Music papers were critical of the album on it’s release.

Chris Welch’s Melody Maker referenced the brilliant moments in the album but stated

that it took long to get to them.

Side three in particular comes in for some stick especially with Howe’s long boring

howling.

It also references Anderson’s ‘endless lyrics’.

Overall it is an album which divides listeners, but then lots of Yes albums do this.

In many ways the album was always going to have problems due to the idea of four pieces

of music having to fit onto four sides of vinyl.

This both restricts some parts and drags out others.

Possibly a single album (with a part-one and part-two approach) would have been more successful?

Something that could have allowed the music themes to inter-twined and developed more cohesively?

Considering the band’s original idea of interlocking pieces of music that would be

playing in different arrangements based on audience reaction, they could have experimented

with a multi-groove record that played a slightly different version of the music each time the

needle dropped?

This supports Howe’s idea at this time of wanting to write songs that had no end.

The band themselves all acknowledged both the album’s brilliance and shortcomings

and not long after it’s release Anderson was expressing a desire to re-record it in

a different way.

One of albums best assessment’s comes from Rick Wakeman, ever critical of the album he

said that it was like a woman’s padded bra.

The cover looks good…but when you peel off the padding there’s not a lot there.

Personally, whilst there are some moments on it that I could do without, I’ve adored

this album for decades.

There’s a magic in it for me that I don’t hear in other Yes records, even if I feel

those other Yes records may actually be better.

Topographic just has that extra special something, perhaps this comes from the sheer scope and

ambition one that could only really have come from this glorious era in music.

And incidentally, each one of the sides has at some point or other been my favourite one.

Anything that can claim to be both the band’s greatest and worst album is surely worth a deeper look

and I hope I’ve done that here for you... Namaste