Yes - New Topographic Oceans documentary

[rael74]

It was a toss-up between making this or Throbbing Gristle's "20 Jazz Funk Greats".

Enjoy Droogs.

[Progatron]

Oh jeez! Bookmarking this!

[mozo-pg]

Excellent!! Thanks for creating this.

[Staun]

I liked the doc but it seemed a little rushed as TFTO is a rather complicated album. We all have a pretty good idea what Rick was thinking but I would like to know more as to what the rest of the band was feeling as things progressed, more of the day to day happenings. CTTE, TFTO and Relayer is certainly an important period for the group so because of this, I would like to have seen this be more expansive.

[Dave (in MA)]

Rushed!?

It's longer than any single side of the album.

[Staun]

Rushed!?

It's longer than any single side of the album.

Oh, what was I thinking?

[MudShark22]

While I'll check it later - this album, while not even in my top six Yes discs, does have a lot to unpack - so I'm totally looking forward to this.

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Death inspires me like a dog inspires a rabbit

[Sean]

How well done is this though?

[rael74]

I liked the doc but it seemed a little rushed as TFTO is a rather complicated album.

I agree I could have tried to look deeper into individual interviews as to what the other band members said about the album, however, the main problem I have when making these videos is not having enough images to fill the screen with. The Genesis Duke video I made was really difficult in this respect as so few photos of the band exist from that time.

Also, it was difficult to unearth that many genuinely new facts and perspectives on the album. I debated about including the curry story as we have all heard it a million times.

[BirstallBlue]

Watched it last night, excellent as ever. Hopefully more in the pipeline.

[starless and bible black]

Caught this yesterday on YouTube. It's great as always (and it's interesting to see Rael doing a 'Making Of' video on another band besides Genesis).
PS: Nothing against Genesis of course; I'm looking forward to seeing his take on Foxtrot.

[syncopatico]

You just had to stick a bit of Spinal Tap's "Stonehenge" in there at the end, didn't you!

[EBES]

Can't imagine a better next step after all the Genesis docs. Love this album but don't know it nearly as well as the Genesis stuff so I'm very much looking forward to setting some time aside this evening with the lights out and a fine sippable beverage.

[Paulrus]

Very nicely done, given the criminal paucity of archival material around this album. I really appreciate the discussion around the scriptural context, plus the sheer amount of photography used to illustrate everything. Many I've never seen before, and I consider myself a top tier Yes nut. Bravo!

[Progatron]

Fantastic, as every one of these have been! Well done and thank you! I love every second of this album and would change not a thing about it. In fact, I was already fascinated by it before I ever heard a note of it! The first time I heard of it was around 1988 when I bought a Genesis collector's guide called Turn It On Again (by Geoff Parkyn). In the intro, he's discussing The Lamb and brings about a comparison to 'the absurdly conceited Tales From Topographic Oceans by Yes'. Well, that description was all I needed! Despite it meaning to sound critical, it appealed to me, especially in conjuction with that title! I saved up (I was only 15) and bought the newly released CD version which came in the old-school fatboy case with the cropped cover. I was instantly in love with the album and it remained a mainstay in my stereo for ages. What a journey to go on, and I still hear new things in it all these years and hundreds of listens later.

A few random points:

- I presume Jon's original title idea of 'Tobergraphic' is where Wakeman got the 'Toby's graphic go-kart' joke from.

- You can really hear Alan's vocal in the opening chant when it is isolated like this.

- I'm completely in agreement with you about the restoration of the Revealing Science intro on the 2003 release. I was hoping the Wilson re-mix would retain this, but sadly no (it's included elsewhere on that set though, at least). And I have also cited each of the four pieces as my favourite at one time or another.

Again, excellent job! Take a bow!

[rael74]

You just had to stick a bit of Spinal Tap's "Stonehenge" in there at the end, didn't you!

Rock and Roll Creation actually! The gospel according to Spinal Tap no less...
I was in two minds about adding it, however even Wakeman himself has commented on it.
Apparently the Alan White drum ‘flower’ had problems opening sometimes and this inspired the Tap writers to do that scene in the movie.

[spellbound]

Thanks. Always liked this album but knew little about its ideas, influences, and formation. The billboard at about 18:33 suggests seeing Yes perform this album in concert, and I did.

[Scott Bails]

Another great documentary! I learn so much from these things. Always an enjoyable watch.

[Sean]

Ignore my previous question. I put two and two together and realize it's quite good, as were the Genesis ones. Keep up the good work, Rael!

[chalkpie]

Congrats Rael on another phenomenal documentary. So well done, and very creative and informative.

[Boceephus]

A very enjoyable doc. I've been a long time YES fan, though I felt Tales needed a bit of editing. There are pieces I love and pieces that I wish they'd put more effort into.
Alan White is terrific throughout. This and Relayer are the best examples of Alan's abilities.

[Garden Dreamer]

Amazing work... and you even managed to slip a Monkees picture in, one that I've never seen before! Some of the sound clips sound like alternate takes or mixes, where are they from?

[Ridge]

Outstanding job! Very informative.
Thank you so much.

[vostoklake]

Rock and Roll Creation actually! The gospel according to Spinal Tap no less...
I was in two minds about adding it, however even Wakeman himself has commented on it.
Apparently the Alan White drum ‘flower’ had problems opening sometimes and this inspired the Tap writers to do that scene in the movie.

I love the way that specific Spinal Tap songs are pastiches of identifiable prog bands. "Rock and Roll Creation" is Yes to the point that Nigel Tufnel singing with his finger in his ear looks just like Steve Howe in the Yessongs movie. Stonehenge is Tull, Flower People is "you know Moody who".

[rael74]

Some of the sound clips sound like alternate takes or mixes, where are they from?

The soundtrack is a complete mish-mash of demos, cover artists, live cuts and isolated tracks.
I use quite a lot from Brady Arnold’s YouTube channel. ‘Behind The Mulitrack’
He has wealth of material on it:
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC6Gd2ai9xUj402wnrX14-Vw