Conception
Yes began to produce longer pieces of music on Close to the Edge (1972), their fifth studio release, which features the 18-minute eponymous title track. Following its release, singer Jon Anderson was searching for a theme for a large-scale composition. One evening in March 1973, while on a concert tour of Japan to promote Close to the Edge, Anderson found himself "caught up in a lengthy footnote on page 83" of Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda which describes four Shastric scriptures (Shruti, Smriti, Puranas and Tantras) that cover religion, art, social life, medicine, music and architecture. Anderson was introduced to Yogananda's work that month at the wedding reception of former Yes drummer Bill Bruford by Jamie Muir, then the percussionist for King Crimson.
As the group continued to tour in Australia and the United States, Anderson described the idea to guitarist Steve Howe, who took a liking to the concept of four "interlocking" pieces of music based around the scriptures. The two held candlelight sessions in their hotel rooms, with the basis of the vocals, lyrics, and instrumentation being put down after a six-hour session that ended at 7 a.m. while in Savannah, Georgia that April. Anderson was originally going to name the album Tales From Tobographic Oceans, claiming he had invented the word "tobographic" that was based on one of Fred Hoyle's theories of space. He mentioned the title while having dinner with Phil Carson, the CEO of Atlantic Records, but Carson noted that "tobographic" sounded like "topographic". Anderson liked the suggestion and changed the title accordingly.
The album's cover was designed and illustrated by Roger Dean, who had also created the artwork for the band's previous albums Fragile (1971), Close to the Edge (1972), and Yessongs (1973).
Read more about this topic: Tales From Topographic Oceans
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