The fact that what to Rick Wakeman amounts to "padding" to a lot of us is simply some of the most sublime music ever composed, is a testament to the impossibly high standards under which geniuses like Wakeman operate.

TFTO is still, after all these years, my number one choice when I go to my "serene place" and use music to help me get there. I think it always will be. Wakeman, Anderson, Howe, White and Squire are all geniuses in my book.

Whatever Rick may say about this album, the fact is that his keyboard parts are truely wonderful on this one, and that the album is a master piece

I know what he's saying, but for me the listener, it's a perfect piece of music. The "filler" WORKS. Driving in the mountains one rainy Thanksgiving afternoon, listening to Tales and watching the clouds, wind and water...it was as if it were the soundtrack to that day. One of my very favorite Yes albums.

Always like hearing inside stories like this one

Oddly (for me, at least), I've always thought TFTO showcases some of his most beautiful playing and textures.

Revealing science is perfect start to finish the rest have their moments.

Tales might be my favorite Yes album.

I don't hear that on 'Ritual' but ofc Rick was part of the team, so I can understand why he feels like they were extending things artificially. Ritual is a phenomenal piece of music with all sections having their role to make the piece work It's my favourite Yes album, bc I get challanged as listener, the complex nature of the songs is what makes it an interesting listen every time, while with CTTE, equally a masterpiece, I will know exactly what's coming

I did continue following his career waiting to find the wonder of some TFTO passages. I never found it again. For me, the most sublime music ever made

Most beautiful Album for me.Its totally existenial so no point argueing about it.-It is what it is for who that they are.😎

The “padding” is what makes “the really good themes” all the more breathtaking and spine-tingling when they come. Sit down and listen to the entire album and then do the same with Beethoven’s 9th and recognize great artists that were pushing boundaries. When you do that invariably you lose some of your audience (and maybe your keyboard player) but, like with Beethoven’s 9th I believe over time TTO will be (and perhaps already is?) recognized as a great masterpiece.

I love the album, but I've always been sympathetic to Rick about how things could have been better developed _and_ tighter all around. And I think the problem was quite simple: having spent months getting stoned in hotel rooms and writing together, Steve and Jon walked into rehearsal with this mammoth project already mostly complete, and said to Rick, Chris and Alan "OK, we're doing this, just add your bits". And I believe that if you listen to it with this in mind, you can hear that it's pretty much _all_ Steve and Jon.

If its padded, it's bloody good padding, that's all I'd say. 😊

Yes is my favourite band and Tales of Topographic Oceans Is my favourite album of theirs. Right from the beginning, I was especially taken by Sides 1 and 2 and have listened to them countless times and love them today as much as I did then - to me, they are note-for-note perfect. I agree with other comments that the album features some of Rick Wakeman's most exquisite keyboard work, showing his mastery over all keyboards and providing tremendous atmosphere to this rather ethereal project. He should be extremely proud of his contribution. I do agree with him that the album could have been improved had it been tightened. In this regard, if CDs been around in 1973, then Yes may have been convinced to do that. The logical place to cut is Steve Howe's lengthy guitar solo on Side 3. Another possible place to cut was the extended percussion part towards the end of Side 4. While I love listening to Side 4 from start to finish, I would agree with Rick that the Nous Sommes du Soleil song portion may have been the strongest music on the album, and shortening that to an 8-9 minute song would have worked better -- making it more appropriate for FM airplay and popularizing it more.

amazingly some of Ricks best playing is on Tales....In my opinion

Here's my take on the argument about "Tales" being made-up of a lot of filler material...it's the same argument that people have about the Beatle's "White Album". It could have been reduced to just one album, with a lot of the silly stuff pushed aside. But then we wouldn't have "Wild Honey Pie", or "Why Don't We Do It In The Road", among a few other "throw-aways". I have listened to "Tales" since it came out 50 years ago, and I wouldn't change a thing. With that being said, I'm certainly glad for the remastered version(I have the Rhino remaster), Squire's bass was definitely mixed very low on the original vinyl, and Alan White's drums sound like cardboard boxes. I haven't heard Steven Wilson's remaster, but the Rhino version is definitely an upgrade from the original vinyl.

Rick was absolutely right about Tales. John and Steve let their egos get the better of them IMO. One thing i can't believe they actually left off though..the opening part of Revealing Science of God that they have on the CD. It sets the stage for the whole album.

I was initially disappointed in tales for just the reason rick describes. There is some padding especially in the 2nd and 3rd songs. I have since gone back to it and love it much more now. Its a brilliant creative masterpiece. Ctte is still my favorite yes but tales is up there.

Great, Steve!

I'm a big Yes fan but that album I find self indulgent and the music meandering.

To be clear, Tales is possibly my favorite Yes record, with the possible exception of Close to the Edge. I've been listening to them since 1971, and first heard Tales when a friend gave me a copy of it made for DJs, so each side was divided up into shorter segments for airplay. There is a bit of bloat on the original released album on Ritual, but other than that, I love every minute of the record. The Ancient, in my opinion, rivals anything Mahavishnu ever did - absolute brilliance.

interview was good, shame that someone didnt turn off their notifications on their mobile, not good.

couldn't disagree more. Every minute of the album beginning to end is perfect. I'd be seriously pissed to hear a dumbed down Tales.

Keep in mind , Rick was screwing around with Black Sabbath laying down bits for their album Sabbath Bloody Sabbath , as they were booked at Morgan Studios also . It might sound weird .. but it seems kind of fake for a member of a band to be hob nobbing with the " competition " . Another thing Wakeman wanted to do later on after Tormato was ' phone in ' his bits . His reuniting with Yes after Relayer was not because he missed his bandmates ... he made some dreadful business decisions and everyone involved saw $ signs at the prospect of a reunion ... so Rick , as brilliant as he is ... a lot of his comments can be taken with a grain of salt . He can also be a funny comedian at times .. but that has worn thin in the past also . All in all ... a nice bloke .

Well I do agree with parts of Rick's criticism. However, I do think Tales features some of the best moments in modern music in general. I wouldn't change anything about Sides A, C and D but I do think The Remembering should have been 12-15 minutes.

My favorite Yes album. Double albums shouldn't be compared to single albums (IMO). It's a much more difficult task to pull off. If you took every double album and trimmed it down to make it a single, of course I'd be better every time. But it means we'd never get to enjoy a double.

How much composing did Wakeman contribute to YES?

The funny thing about this is that with roughly 80 solo albums under his belt, Rick Wakeman is actually the king of padding. You could condense his solo stuff down to about 37 albums and you wouldn't be missing much substantive. LOTS of filler on his post 80s albums.

Sorry Rick, I'm not buying any of your shit! He talks about "Padding." Ok rick, tell us what specific parts that you are referring to? I, like many yes fans, have been listening to this four part masterpiece for the last 50 years, feel that this is a well put together, forward looking endeavor. Not for nothing, some of Wakeman's solo albums sound over padded to me.

Tales has tons of great musical ideas but DANG did it need some editorial oversight, somebody to say no. Also, the original sound quality was not as good as CttE. The remasters were better.

To my ears, there’s a few minutes of filler on track 2, half of track 3 is filler, and a few minutes could’ve been chopped off of track 4. HOWEVER, the genius of Tales is how cohesive the entire album sounds. All that being said: Howe, Wakeman, Anderson, Squire, & White were perfectionists. They could have tinkered with that album for another year and still not been satisfied. It’s a massive accomplishment, so let’s enjoy what we have.

OH FOR F*CKS SAKE! The "CD" argument again! CD's hold 80 minutes!!!! That's almost as long as TALES is! A CD wouldn't have made ANY difference at all! The truth is that Rick is afraid of experimental music. He's likes conventional, harmonic, conservative music. He thinks "Owner of a Lonely Heart" is great, and Tales is "too weird." Personally, I enjoy some weirdness on a rock album. Especially in 1973 and 1974, my favorite prog were some of the craziest pieces from the genre: TALES, A Wizard a True Star, "The Ikon," WHERE HAVE I KNOWN YOU BEFORE, "The Waiting Room," "In and Out the Chakras We Go," "Toccotta," and especially "Larks Tongues in Aspic part one." Can you imagine Rick if he had been in King Crimson when they were recording that? He would have been scared sh*itless. Topographic Oceans should NOT be dumbed down for Wakeman and his ilk. He would eliminate some of the best moments of the composition to make it more conventional. I prefer a major work like this to take some risks. Keep in mind that in Prog Magazine's Top 100 Albums of All Time, Topographic Oceans came in at #22, ahead of ANY solo Rick Wakeman album. Wakeman was even scared of Relayer and called it "free jazz." The only thing that ever pissed me off about Topographic Oceans period is that they ever asked Wakeman back to the band after he had left while insulting the work. His own solo career was dive-bombing fast-- the No Earthly Connection album barely made a dent in our charts. Meanwhile, Tales and Relayer were in the Top Ten for a good six weeks, went gold, and the band continued to play in stadiums; many of their biggest audiences were without Wakeman in the band in 1975 and 1976.

I've heard Rick's complaints about "padding" before, and I just don't agree. The truth is that he never contributed much of any song-writing to the band, keeping his material for his own solo albums. I think he felt under-used on the album, and so went and recorded with another band in the same studio while "Tales" was being made.

Edit Tales ??? Blasphemy !!!!

It's a bad album. Rick is screwing around making "oceans in the minds eye" noise, Chris has nothing to say, Alan isn't Bill, so the work Chris and Bill built upon on prior records isn't there. Jon thinks he's doing an informercial for joining a new age cult and Steve played some acoustic guitar (ok!). Rick should dunk on this mess, but it's bad for business I suppose.

I think Tales is rubbish, and I agree with Rick. "It has more padding than a young female trying to convince the doorman she's 18" - Rick Wakeman *he didn't really say that

I liked Tales from Topographic Oceans when it came out, but there was a long period of time when I could not listen to it because of Alan Whites drumming. They really should have gotten a different drummer, Alan White was no where near up to the musicianship of the rest of the band, and his playing totally ruined my enjoyment of the music. Even today instead of listening to and enjoying the music, I have to try to block out the drumming.