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The 20th of February 1974

Official U.K. Albums Chart results from Sunday the 17th to Saturday the 23rd of February 1974

Cut-off for sales figures was up to the end of Saturday the 16th of February

Results counted from Sunday the 17th,

and published on Wednesday the 20th of February 1974.

Yes

Tales From Topographic Oceans

At No.13, on the “The Top 50 U.K. Albums Chart”, the week of my 2nd Birthday, are Yes with Tales From Topographic Oceans.

One of the biggest,..

…if not the biggest, boldest, and exceptionally grandiloquent forays into rock music culture ever put down onto record. This album not only challenged the limits of the format itself, but also the edges of interpretation into spiritual perception in music, and ultimately the patience of the listeners themselves.

The band were floating back down from a hugely successful tour promoting their previous album “Close To The Edge“, of which the title track spanned the whole side of the album. Some therefore reasoned that, due to the popular reception of that length of output, why not give the public what they want, and quadruple it.

The out-and-out conviction of a select few members of the band, to take the readings of the 1940’s book by Paramahansa Yogananda “Autobiography of a Yogi” and elucidate the narrative to fit their recitation with modern instrumentation, and connect and make subjective annotations in parts, to the contemporary of the present day’s controversies, such as the continuing disturbances of the Vietnam war; this project was so bold, so audacious, so ridiculously gargantuan, it would end up dividing, not only their own followers, but also the band themselves.

For some, it was the ultimate shining moment, for others it was, (and I’m paraphrasing J.R.R. Tolkien here) like the album’s content was spreading itself too thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread; for the remainder, it was just a bloody hard slog.

The nucleus of an idea…

…had been borne from Jon, with the added support of Steve. The concept itself was a brave one, before they’d even pitched it to the rest of the band.

Four pieces (…well you can’t really call them songs, can you?) over four sides of a double album. The notion to illuminate four bodies of Hindu texts (shastras–śruti, smriti, puranas, and tantras) and transcend them into a modern electronic rock format, was the ultimate definition of progressive.

Half the band weren’t sure, and Rick in-particular thought the whole thing ludicrous and overblown in the extreme. However, they managed to swing the deciding vote their way by seducing their new drummer Alan to their proposal.

The process itself…

…bore all the hallmarks of seventies rock excess, with Jon pushing for the idea to set up a recording studio in a makeshift tent in the woods, to fully immerse himself into the power of nature; and although the rest of the band drew the line at this particular plan, it came at a unique (to put it mildly) compromise. Nature would instead come to them.

And so, the studio was rented out and adorned with hay bales (which began to stink), Flowers and plants (which ultimately died), a model cow with electronic udders (which I’m surprised they didn’t try to get a tune from and play onto the album), and even a children’s toy barn. Everything to make farmer Anderson happy. All they needed now was for Ozzy Osbourne to walk in and look around in stunned silence, which he in fact did when he, along with Black Sabbath set up in the adjoining studio. I can just picture that moment now.

By the end of the whole process, the studio was a complete mess, the cow had been graffiti-ed, and Rick had hidden himself in the local pub. The final cherry on the cake was when their producer drove down the road with the completed master tapes placed on the roof of his car, after he’d carelessly left them there to find his keys. Fortunately, they were rescued further back down the road, before another vehicle ran over them.

After the success of the previous album, expectations were extremely high for this next release, and anticipation of this was reflected into the pre-orders for the album, resulting in it becoming the first ever LP to receive gold certification status on pre-sales alone.

The album…

…landed into the Top 10 at No.10, last year on the 16th of December 1973, where it sat for two consecutive weeks before shooting straight to the top of the chart on the 30th of that month; sitting proudly to become the first No.1 album of 1974 for two consecutive weeks. After which, it leapt up and down around the Top 20 area, falling to No.21 by the end of January, then back within it again, as we approach this featured week, where last week it had sat at No.21 again.

From here,..

…the album will fall back to No.21 for a third time, but afterwards, will continue downwards until, after the 16th of March, it falls out of the chart altogether.

It reappears at the close of that month, to stay for a fortnight, and see in the month of April, then another two weeks will see it close out that month too, and welcome in May.

After that, it will take a big stretch of time, over 42 years in fact, before it sneaks back into the (now) Top 100, to sit for a week at No.99, and so far (at this time of writing) that’s it.

I did wonder if it was going to make one further appearance, as (at the time of writing) it has just been re-released as a huge boxset as I write in the early spring of 2026, but alas, it hasn’t materialised.