1973 Albums

Tales From Topographic Oceans has the dubious distinction of being either the mother lode or motherf&#ker of all prog rock albums. The initial idea for the grandiose album came to Jon Anderson from a footnote regarding Shastric scriptures in Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi. Evidently, this was the grand concept he'd been searching for (imagine that!), and it allowed his lyrics to blossom into full-blown biblical verse. Together with Steve Howe, they put most of the initial musical ideas down during the same tours of 1973 that generated the triple-album Yessongs.

There probably isn't a whole lot of need to introduce this album; chances are good that you are one of the countless millions who either own the record, or had one of its two enclosed posters on your bedroom wall or stickers on your notebook. The Dark Side Of The Moon refined a suite of songs Pink Floyd debuted live a year prior as "Eclipse." The band then spent the second half of 1972 recording the album, though recording was interrupted for a US tour. And yet, as the prism on the cover suggests, this was a new direction for the band.

First things first: The band did not derive their name from American composer Henry Cowell, and the album, released in the US as Henry Cow, is also known as The Henry Cow Leg End (get the sock covers now?). The band began in 1968 when guitarist Fred Frith, alto saxophonist/organist Tim Hodgkinson and bassist John Greaves were students at Cambridge University. Andrew Powell, who would later work with The Alan Parsons Project and others, was an early member. By October 1972, drummer Chris Cutler had joined.