by Geoff Bailie
When I was young, in the days before the internet, we had a fantastic set of encyclopedias at home. They were the definitive source of knowledge on all subjects – you knew what you needed would be there! Each year the company offered an annual update – a single volume that covered all the discoveries of the preceding 12 months in a colour filled, beautifully bound volume. If there were such a thing for music, then the Yes Rhino Super Deluxes are as close as you can get to those encyclopedias.
Tales holds a unique place in Yes history. For many it’s the best thing they ever recorded; for others (including some band members!) it was a step too far. The new Super Deluxe Edition, as well as being the largest set that Rhino has issued will delight those who love Tales and all it offers.
Let’s start with what’s in the set. There’s the original album mix in a fresh remaster on 2 CDs and 2 vinyl albums. Next up there are the Steven Wilson stereo remixes on CD – both as full remixes and as instrumentals. So that’s 6 CDs and 2 records so far! Next up there are 3 CDs of Rarities, which are either single edits of excerpts from the Tales album or work in progress / run through versions of the tracks. Finally there are 3 discs of live material. The first is from UK shows early in the 1973 tour from Manchester and Cardiff. The second pair of discs is a 1974 show from Zurich – if you have the Pangeric reissue of Tales, the track Ritual on that is from the same show. It’s simply: encyclopedic!
Some of the material has come out on the original Rhino and Pangeric reissues. Really the only things missing from those are the needle drops of the vinyl that were on the Pangeric blu ray – but, hey, you have the vinyl remastered!
The 2026 remaster and the 2026 Wilson remix are both excellent. I have no doubt that people will have views on the remix – Steven Wilson’s goal is always to remain faithful to the spirit of the original mix, but aiming to, perhaps, scrape away some sonic haze from the original recording. He also works with what he has to work with, which in some cases can be multitracks missing some elements. The reward for the eagle-eared is a fresh view with the occasional alternate item slipped in, in the place of a missing overdub.
As much as a fan of Jon Anderson as I am, I love the instrumental remixes of the Tales tracks. You get a great insight into the fine details of what is going on in the tracks. On this album there are so many subtleties that get a bit lost – beautiful bass lines low in the mix in places, percussion and other colours and, most of all for me, you get a much clearer view of Rick’s contributions to this album. The Remembering is a beautiful piece to check out the instrumental mix of. It shimmers and sparkles in ways you haven’t heard before at the start and the “Relayer” part show the tightness of the (let’s not forget new) White/ Squire rhythm section. The Single Edits are, for me a bit of a novelty / alternate universe part of the box. It’s hard to view them as anything more than imagined promo sound bites from the album, but they do no harm in this vast collection.
The alternate / in progress / “version” takes of the songs are for those who know this music inside out and want to go deep! The Revealing is a good illustration of this. Gathered in the box set are 4 alternative / early versions. The eagle eyed online have already spotted that they are all of differing lengths, and include a version that is almost 28 minutes long. With an extended intro and lots of variation in the second half of the song, it shows that, despite accusations by some about the album having lots of padding, the band did trim some of the initial ideas down quite a bit. There is a lot of music to work through here, and it’s great that label has decided to put it all in here to make this set as comprehensive as it can be.
The live tracks on this set are perhaps where the real gold is to be found. With the exception of Ritual from Zurich (included here), there have been no Tales era live tracks released from 1973/74 – but here you finally have a version of each song! First off you have The Remembering and The Ancient from November 1973 in Manchester – shows where the band were playing 4 record sides of music to audiences who had not heard it (because the tour started before the album was released)! The sleeve notes tell us that The Remembering was positioned as a live feature for Rick’s keyboards but as the tour progressed, he stopped taking the opportunity. The Manchester version, while not being a complete one, contains an epic Wakeman keyboard exploration – it’s sad that Rick didn’t feel he had much to add to TFTO because this is excellent! The version of The Ancient is powerful and these “early in the tour” live tracks have lots of energy – the recording fades before Leaves of Green which justifies following it with a full version recorded in Cardiff a few weeks later.
The set closes with a large chunk of a show from Zurich in 1974. The band were still opening playing the complete Close To The Edge album, though the tape found didn’t get started after Siberian Khatru, so we have wonderful versions of And You And I and Close To The Edge. At this point in the tour, the 4 sides of Topo had been trimmed to 3 in concert. The Revealing sadly has an early fade, making it the only album track without a full live version – and it’s a shame because the performance is energetic! The versions of The Ancient and Ritual have the confidence of multiple live plays. And in case you think he’s eating curry on stage, as the folklore says, Rick Wakeman is very much here and active. It’s a shame the closing Starship Trooper and Roundabout weren’t captured to complete the show, but what we’ve got here are strong live recordings that have been in the archives for 50+ years!
Finally there is the bluray that features new Dolby Atmos, 5.1, Stereo and instrumental remixes plus the new remaster of the original mix! I’ve road tested the 5.1 mix and it’s incredible – Tales contains a lot of intricate music and instrumentation – the wider soundstage gives it room to breathe and I believe the Atmos mix takes that to the next level. A shout out as well to Syd Schwartz whose excellent sleeve notes have all sorts of details to indulge in while you immerse yourself in the music.
Is it Yes’s best album? Does it deserve its reputation as the epitome of overindulgence? Well I wouldn’t say “Yes” to either of those question. But if you’re a Yesfan then you should say “Yes” to this encyclopedic study of this album.
https://store.rhino.com/products/tales-from-topographic-oceans-super-deluxe-edition-12cd-2lp-br
12CD+2LP+blu-ray box set
CD 1: Original Album Remastered
“The Revealing Science Of God (Dance Of The Dawn)”
“The Remembering (High The Memory)”
CD 2: Original Album Remastered
“The Ancient (Giants Under The Sun)”
“Ritual (Nous Sommes du Soleil)”
CD 3: Steven Wilson 2026 Stereo Remixes
“The Revealing Science Of God (Dance Of The Dawn)”
“The Remembering (High The Memory)”
CD 4: Steven Wilson 2026 Stereo Remixes
“The Ancient (Giants Under The Sun)”
“Ritual (Nous Sommes du Soleil)”
CD 5: Steven Wilson 2026 Instrumental Mixes
“The Revealing Science Of God (Dance Of The Dawn)”
“The Remembering (High The Memory)”
CD 6: Steven Wilson 2026 Instrumental Mixes
“The Ancient (Giants Under The Sun)”
“Ritual (Nous Sommes du Soleil)”
CD 7: Rarities
“The Revealing Science Of God (Dance Of The Dawn)” – Single Edit
“The Remembering (High The Memory)” – Single Edit
“The Ancient (Giants Under The Sun)” – Single Edit
“Ritual (Nous Sommes du Soleil)” – Single Edit 1
“Ritual (Nous Sommes du Soleil)” – Single Edit 2
“The Revealing Science Of God (Dance Of The Dawn)” – Version 1
“The Remembering (High The Memory)” – In Progress
“The Ancient (Giants Under The Sun)” – In Progress
CD 8: Rarities
“The Revealing Science Of God (Dance Of The Dawn)” – In Progress *
“The Ancient (Giants Under The Sun)” – In Progress 2 *
“The Revealing Science Of God (Dance Of The Dawn)” – In Progress 2 *
CD 9: Rarities
“The Remembering (High The Memory)” – In Progress 2 *
“Ritual (Nous Sommes du Soleil)” – In Progress *
“The Revealing Science Of God (Dance Of The Dawn)” – Version 2
CD 10: Live 1973Live at Free Trade Hall, Manchester, England (11/28/73)
“The Remembering (High The Memory)” *
“The Ancient (Giants Under The Sun)” *
Live at Capitol Theatre, Cardiff, Wales (12/1/73)
“The Ancient (Giants Under The Sun)” *
“Ritual (Nous Sommes du Soleil)” *
*Previously unreleased
CD 11: Live at Hallenstadion Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland (4/21/74)
“And You And I” *
“Cord Of Life”
“Eclipse”
III.“The Preacher The Teacher”
IV.“Apocalypse”
“Close To The Edge” *
“The Solid Time Of Change”
“Total Mass Retain”
III.“I Get Up I Get Down”
IV.“Seasons Of Man”
“The Revealing Science Of God (Dance Of The Dawn)” *
*Previously unreleased
CD 12: Live at Hallenstadion Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland (4/21/74)
“The Ancient (Giants Under The Sun)” *
“Ritual (Nous Sommes du Soleil)”
*Previously unreleased
LP 1: Original Album RemasteredSide One
“The Revealing Science Of God (Dance Of The Dawn)”
Side Two
“The Remembering (High The Memory)”
LP 2: Original Album RemasteredSide One
“The Ancient (Giants Under The Sun)”
Side Two
“Ritual (Nous Sommes du Soleil)”
Blu-ray
2026 Dolby Atmos Mix
2026 5.1 Mix DTS-HD MA
2026 Stereo Remix
2026 Stereo Remaster
2026 Instrumental Mix
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