Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken Fuller

This week Mark and I are once again indebted to Doug Curran for setting us off to find out more about keyboard innovator Larry Fast and his Tales from Topographic Oceans connections. As you will hear, Larry was involved in the sound of the keyboards on Tales, something I did not realise until Doug posted a happy birthday message to Larry on the YMP Facebook Discussion Group last week. How much did you know about Larry’s connections with Rick Wakeman? Let us know in the comments on the show notes for this week’s episode.

• How did Larry and Rick meet?
• What was it about Larry that Rick likes?
• What is the Tales from Topographic Oceans link?

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken Fuller

Mark and I had a great conversation with Ian Hartley this week. As mentioned last week, Ian has produced his own 50th Anniversary box set of Tales from Topographic Oceans and we were keen to know what motivated him, how he went about it and how it fitted in with his own Yes story. If you haven’t already watched Ian’s YouTube video where he unboxes his own box and also shows off some of his Tales collection, then please do - it’s embedded into the show notes. Ian was very generous and it was a treat to speak to another dedicated Yes fan who has been collecting the band’s output (particularly live recordings) for many years.

• What was the motivation for producing this set?
• What would Ian like to see in the future from the band?
• Is this the first time Ian has done this?

Let us know if you agree with us!

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken Fuller

This week Mark and I take a look at and have a chat about what Yes fan Ian Hartley has done to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Tales from Topographic Oceans. A chap after our own 5%-er hearts, he has taken things very much into his own hands as you will hear. If you want to understand fully what we are banging on about (if that’s even possible) then watch the video Ian made of the set which I have embedded below.

• What has Ian been up to?
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• Why have Yes not released any 50th Anniversary editions?
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• Just how did Ian do this?

Let us know if you agree with us!

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken Fuller

We continue our Tales from topographic oceans obsession this week with a look at 3 very different live recordings of side 4, Ritual - Nous Sommes du Soleil. The 3 different performances are included in the show notes below. They are from Yesshows (1980) , Symphonic Live (2002) and Topographic Drama (2017). This means we have the following musicians to listen to: Anderson, Squire, White, Moraz, Howe, Downes, Brislin, Sherwood, Davison, Schellen and the whole of the European Festival Orchestra. Wow. There are many differences between the recordings so listen along and see what you think.

• Which is the best performance?
• No Wakeman?
• A whole symphony orchestra - what does it add?

Let us know if you agree with us!