Yes Release Single From Forthcoming 'Tales From Topographic Oceans' Box Set

One of the most ambitious albums in rock history, Yes’ Tales From Topographic Oceans arrives February 6 from Rhino as a Super Deluxe Edition boxed set.

The massive collection spans 12 CDs, 2 LPs, and a Blu-ray and features a newly remastered version of the original double album on both CD and vinyl; rarities; previously unreleased studio and live recordings; and several new mixes by Steven Wilson, including a Dolby Atmos version. 

Pre-order Tales From Topographic Oceans

Rhino.com will have an exclusive bundle of Tales From Topographic Oceans (Super Deluxe Edition) with a 12x12 Tales litho numbered and signed by Roger Dean, limited to 500.

The single edit for “The Ancient (Giants Under the Sun)” is out now. Have a listen below.

The origins behind Tales From Topographic Oceans trace back to a footnote in Paramahansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi, which inspired Jon Anderson to imagine a four-part musical journey through ancient Hindu scriptures. That concept took shape across four side-long compositions: “The Revealing Science Of God (Dance of the Dawn),” “The Remembering (High the Memory),” “The Ancient (Giants Under the Sun),” and “Ritual (Nous Sommes Du Soleil).”

To capture the album’s structural and spiritual ambition, Anderson (vocals), Steve Howe (guitar), Chris Squire (bass), Rick Wakeman (keyboards), and Alan White (drums) worked with longtime producer Eddy Offord at London’s Morgan Studios, using Britain’s first 24-track console. Released December 7, 1973, Tales From Topographic Oceans topped the U.K. album chart and reached #6 in the U.S., where it earned a Gold certification.

The new Super Deluxe Edition reveals deeper dimensions of the project with previously unreleased in-progress versions of all four album tracks, providing rare insight into the creation of Yes’ most audacious work. 

The set’s live material was recorded early in the tour for Tales and includes previously unreleased performances of all four album tracks, along with earlier favorites “And You And I” and “Close To The Edge.” The shows include Zürich (April 21, 1974), Manchester (November 28, 1973), and Cardiff (December 1, 1973). 

When the album came out, it took time for some fans and critics to catch up with the band, as writer Syd Schwartz of Jazz & Coffee recalls in the set’s liner notes. “Consensus was never the point,” he says. “Tales From Topographic Oceans will continue to be debated, dismissed, defended, and rediscovered. Its resistance to easy categorization is not a failure — it’s the reason it endures. It’s a vast, unknowable ocean of sound and spirit. And it still hasn’t finished revealing itself.”

Schwartz also notes the album would be a turning point for the band: “Without Tales, there’s no Relayer. No pivot to leaner, sharper structures in the later ’70s. No map gets drawn without first pushing the edges of the known world — and Tales is where Yes did exactly that.”