By 1973 Yes had hit the big time. Back to back studio albums The Yes Album, Fragile, and Close To The Edge were very successful with fans and critics alike. Bill Bruford would leave soon after Close To The Edge but the band would recruit form John Lennon drummer Alan While and tour extensively on the aforementioned album cycle with a massive triple live album out and doing well. So what’s next?
The band hit the studio for the first time with White and he’s great. Bruford is one of my favorite drummers of all time, but White is definitely up for the task. However, as the band begin to assemble the album album in the studio, legendary keyboardist Rick Wakeman begins to find himself increasingly disinterested in the direction of the music, which supposedly wasn’t leaving much room for keyboards.
As the recording process became more tedious Wakeman ends up hanging at the nearby pub and strikes up a friendship with Ozzy Osbourne and they somehow arrange for Wakeman to record keyboards for Sabbath’s opening masterpiece, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Wakeman goes uncredited, but his performances transform the album and show a new dimension for Sabbath, but I digress…
Wakeman and Yes manage to complete the whopping double album composed of four songs, one per side, and it does well enough. Wakeman departs after this tour, I believe… but not forever. Ultimately, Tales is a good record if you have time for a good listen.
This is a 1981 German repress on Atlantic Records. I had falsely thought I owned this album on vinyl for decades until one day I went to play it and realized I didn’t. Found this copy at a shop in London a couple years ago and it’s been good to me.
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