I have to go back to all my art-rock favorites once in a while. Selling England by the Pound, the first UK album, Eddie Jobson’s first, Happy the Man—some still hold more interest for me than others; Tales remains one of my favorites. Sure it’s overblown, but it’s brilliant; sure I’ve heard so much claptrap about it, but I have always loved it for being the beautiful monstrosity it is, for pulling no punches. The music and the lyrics reach for something they’ll never quite attain, the earthiness of rock and that cosmic symphonic thing, “the magic of the source,” that Yes always strove—OK, not quite always—to convey. It’s so Holst, and yet something romantic deep in my heart continues to respond to a group that makes a motivically unified suite. I still love Magma as well.
Anyway, Tales got reissued a few years ago, along with the other Atlantic Yes, and I rushed out to grab my copy, as previous issues were simply rotten, at least the ones you could get here. Nice reissues, useless bonus tracks, fairly informative notes and, above all, much better sound! I got it home, popped the disc in, and … wait, … thunder? Waves, wind? Did I buy the wrong … ah, but there’s that familiar descending second in Steve Howe’s guitar, shimmering Rick Wakeman keyboards in back, prefiguring exactly what happens when Jon Anderson’s lyrics enter; it was always an abrupt entrance I’d never really thought to question, but everything makes more contextual sense given what is obviously a new and stunningly atmospheric beginning!
The sound is everything I wanted it to be, revealing more detail than I’d heard on vinyl or CD. Lines like “But only through him we know, send flowered rainbows” still make me nostalgic for a time I never witnessed, a time, according to those that speak to me of its power, where people really believed that anything was possible. A record like Tales is impossible now without apology, and every other day or so, I think it’s too bad we’ve come this far.
~ Marc Medwin
Posted by derek on May 27, 2007 5:26 PMyou could've actually picked a good Yes album. you know, "Close to the Edge" or something. i've been rocking "In the Court of the Crimson King" lately myself. don't forget "Death Walks Behind You" and "Godbluff", too.
Posted by: grisha at May 29, 2007 7:08 AMGrisha, curious to hear what works for you from that KC album? (before maybe posting my own thoughts as one who, at 15, thought it was the bee's knees.)
Posted by: Brian Olewnick at May 29, 2007 7:30 AMTales is indeed a great album, and the most recent reissue is pretty revelatory, not least because of that restored intro. I only really like Yes when they stretch out and go, so my three favorite albums are this one, Close To The Edge and the at times astonishingly noisy/metallic Relayer.
I wonder why Yessongs, the live album, wasn't part of the recent batch of reissues, though?
Posted by: pdf at May 29, 2007 10:10 AMMy attitude toward Yes is generally just say “No”, but I would love to read a convincing case for their viability as both musicians & entertainers. Marc’s subjective blurb above scratches the skin, anyone care to carve into the bone?
Posted by: narew ramsh at May 29, 2007 12:08 PMBrian, I like the songs. It's a great rock album, and I find that's enough to enjoy it. My favourite KC is mid-70, but i just discovered this one for myself.
Posted by: grisha at May 29, 2007 1:10 PMI think it was toward the end of '69 when the first Crimson record appeared. I remember sitting by the radio in the afternoon, waiting for its "slot" to come up on WNEW-FM; one of the DJs tended to play it at that time for a couple of weeks. Even remember journeying to NYC and seeing that amazing cover staring out from a record store display window (we wouldn't have known what the cover looked like, necessarily, before buying a record back then!)
Thought it was the greatest thing I'd ever heard, pretty much. Of course, by 1975 (KC's "Red") I'd largely given up on all that and was knee deep in the AACM and such and traded in virtually my entire rock collection.
I picked up ITCOTCK on disc about 25 years later, having rarely if ever heard the pieces in the intervening years. Mostly, I was just curious how I'd react to it these days. Most went the way I expected--I still enjoyed Schizoid Man (what's not to enjoy?) and had a far better appreciation of the instrumental parts of "Moonchild" than I did at 15. otoh, I found the title cut and Epitaph almost unlistenable in their pomposity.
The big surprise, to me, was how beautiful I found the melody and playing in "I Talk to the Wind" (not the lyrics!). It's a really gorgeous tune.
Given that, I often re-looked at the second release, "In the Wake of Poseidon" but could never pull the trigger, knowing how awful the Holst ripoff would be...Pretty sure I also couldn't tolerate Jon Anderson on "Circus". "Islands" (with Harry Miller!) might still hold up though, if I ever get around to giveing it another go.
Posted by: Brian Olewnick at May 29, 2007 6:29 PMBrian - I would say "I Talk to the Wind" is all-right in the lyrics dept, but nothing more.
Did you hear the alternate version that was released on "The Brondesbury Tapes (1968)" by Giles, Giles & Fripp. There are two version on the record from what I remember - both of them have a tempo that's much more upbeat than the KC take.
Tom, no I haven't heard that. I had the original GG&F record though I really have no clear memory of the music on it.
"I'm on the outside, looking inside
What do I see?
Much confusion, disillusion
All around me."
Argggh, can't take it! Admittedly, it might have something to do with a case of near-terminal Lake-ophobia contracted during ELP days.
I thought that this could not be reissued until Steve Howe was no longer the director of Incus, uh...whoops wrong record!
Posted by: Rob Cambre at May 30, 2007 7:27 AMNice one.. good job Bailey died when he did, he would have ended up recording an album with Steve Howe..
Posted by: Dan Warburton at May 30, 2007 9:20 AMOuch! I dunno Dan, I might have liked that! Not a big Yes fan, but a few of their tunes have been guilty (and not so) pleasures o'mine for years. When that Vinnie Gallo film "Buffalo 66" came out I remember really digging the trailer and how it used a tune (can't remember the title) from "Fragile." Anyhoo, even though a lot of Yes' music is frightfully pretentious, Howe always got a cool sound, and I can hear a bit of it in Jeff Parker, so musta been an influence.
In any case, Derek didn't seem to make duets with other guitarists a priority. Only a few (Henry, Noel) got recorded. Bailey/Howe would probably have been preferably to duos with Fripp or Torn, to pick on a few. Now Dan, we'd probably both go for one with Skunk Baxter or one of the other S.Dan guit' men... Ok, I'll stop now.
Posted by: Rob Cambre at May 30, 2007 10:05 AMOuch! I dunno Dan, I might have liked that! Not a big Yes fan, but a few of their tunes have been guilty (and not so) pleasures o'mine for years. When that Vinnie Gallo film "Buffalo 66" came out I remember really digging the trailer and how it used a tune (can't remember the title) from "Fragile." Anyhoo, even though a lot of Yes' music is frightfully pretentious, Howe always got a cool sound, and I can hear a bit of it in Jeff Parker, so musta been an influence.
In any case, Derek didn't seem to make duets with other guitarists a priority. Only a few (Henry, Noel) got recorded. Bailey/Howe would probably have been preferably to duos with Fripp or Torn, to pick on a few. Now Dan, we'd probably both go for one with Skunk Baxter or one of the other S.Dan guit' men... Ok, I'll stop now.
Posted by: Rob Cambre at May 30, 2007 10:16 AM"and I can hear a bit of it in Jeff Parker, so musta been an influence."
That Could be why I just never got Jeff Parker. He seems to ruin every album he plays on with his cheesy tone and bad ideas.
Posted by: Chris Squire at May 30, 2007 2:19 PMSkunk Baxter, ah yes.. the rock guitarist turned military scientist!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_%22Skunk%22_Baxter#Defense_consulting_career
TFTO is, in superficial ways, what Time magazine in its review referred to as (if memory serves me) "Mahlerian." I think that was intended to mean big and overblown, blowzy and sweeping (think Gustav's whopper symphonies), but also orchestral, and therefore somehow a tier or two above, say, Ted Nugent. It was one of my favorite records for about a decade from its release. I've had the Rhino reissue and, although the vinyl sound is superior, I now enjoy it again these many years later. Why? There's all the woop-de-doo boom-crash sizzle-screech, the lyrical inspiration of Paramahansa Yogananda, the post-psychedelic Roger Dean cover...the whole enchilada, as they say. For me, the high points are Howe's blistering, bluesy (not at all blowzy) guitar moments. One can debate the merits of prog as real rock 'n' roll, but those episodes surely are (like, say, Ted Nugent).
Since Jeff Baxter has been invoked, I'll close with a hypothesis I've toyed with for a couple years, namely, that we can credit (or, by my lights, blame) the current condition of rock music on Steely Dan, no more, no less. Theirs was a nearly compelling, almost charismatic brand of "so what?" rock, interesting music and musicianship in jam band trappings, that has given their successors leave to tinker without shame. Lord knows, Gentle Giant loved to tinker, but I can imagine actually spinning one of their disks again. But what time of the day should I occupy with forty minutes of Steely Dan? (Or Tortoise, Wilco, Pavement, Tin Hat Trio, you get the picture...)
Posted by: Dean C. Rowan at June 1, 2007 12:34 PM"That Could be why I just never got Jeff Parker. He seems to ruin every album he plays on with his cheesy tone and bad ideas"
Wow. Jeff Paker is one of my favorites for his beautiful tone and great ideas.
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