Tales From Topographic Oceans vs 90125

[soundchaser09]

On the 50th and 40th anniversaries of these two polarising records, which is your favourite today?

[JMKUSA]

This is easy.

One is pop pablum, the work of a band that sold out in the name of selling records to schoolgirls and imbeciles.

The other is one of the most brilliant and inspired progressive rock masterpieces.

[Homemade Parachute]

This is easy.

One has a band firing on all cylinders creatively, looking for new sounds, looking to the future, thinking through every minute, playing together with all of their strengths on display.

The other has four sides.

[Davy]

I love 90125, a top five album for me.

[Frumious B]

I love them both. I play 90125 more often because I can really only do TFTO when I have a dedicated listening window to devote myself to giving my attention to the whole thing.

[madbear]

This is easy.

One is pop pablum, the work of a band that sold out in the name of selling records to schoolgirls and imbeciles.

The other is one of the most brilliant and inspired progressive rock masterpieces.

This

[Roundabob]

Easy for me. Tales was a major work by the band I loved. 90125 was a nice and fresh album by a band I liked. Both are very good albums, and perfectly represent where the band was at that moment in time.

[madbear]

This is easy.

One has a band firing on all cylinders creatively, looking for new sounds, looking to the future, thinking through every minute, playing together with all of their strengths on display.

The other has four sides.

new sounds? 90125 regurgitates the worst 1980s pop rock...


4 sides is good: room to expand, explore and build. Topographic Oceans is just fantastic.

[pianozach]

LOL.

The comments so far. You guys.

I voted TfTO, but I still think 90125 is a stellar album.

[JMKUSA]

LOL.

The comments so far. You guys.

I voted TfTO, but I still think 90125 is a stellar album.

I was intentionally being provocative. But I stand by my comment! I do like Hearts and It Can Happen though.

[Khatrooper]

Next poll, Tales vs Last Train. 😵💫

[Enlighten]

It’s a draw for me. Both rate a 6. Tales could benefit from editing and paring down the padding to just the cohesive musical ideas that work. As a single album, it could have been great, as a double album, it can be meandering and lose the plot. 90125 is a clever shift to assimilate into the 80’s marketplace and that’s it’s weakness too. Too much a band selling itself to become a franchise and keep itself going. It could have benefitted from more Yessiying. Cinema was the perfect intro to what could have been a modern Yes epic but alas, the calibration to corporate pressures set them on a different course.

[pjt]

Both, neither..., both. Both!
Both good, but flawed in very different ways. You can't compare the two, apples and oranges. Steak or cake?

[Mr. Holland]

Funny. In my personal ranking both albums are next to one another. 90125 at no. 9 and Tales at no. 10. So not much between them. 90125 is the more cohesive album IMO. Tales basically gets the no. 10 spot soley based on Revealing Science of God and Ritual. Had the album just been those two songs it would probably have been a top 5 album for me. The other two pieces do little for me and believe me I've tried.

90125 I can listen to the whole way through and the songs are much more in sync with one another.

[luna65]

LOL. The comments so far. You guys.

Right?! So typical. 😜