In a 2016 interview with Prog magazine marking the album's 40th anniversary, former Yes singer Jon Anderson reflected on the intense self-imposed pressure he faced while making his 1976 debut solo album, Olias Of Sunhillow. Anderson recorded the entire album largely alone in his garage/home studio in Buckinghamshire, playing every instrument himself and painstakingly synchronising drums, bells, voices and a "Middle Eastern guitar" using the laborious techniques of the era. He describes the experience as "a state of madness," recounting how he once wept with relief at dawn after finally hearing a passage play back in perfect synchronisation.

The concept album told the story of a magician-hero who rescues his people from a dying planet aboard a galleon-like spaceship, an idea inspired by Roger Dean's cover artwork for Yes's 1971 album Fragile. Anderson spent around a year composing the story before recording. The project emerged during Yes's commercial peak: the five albums from Fragile to 1974's Relayer all reached the UK Top 10 and US Top 20, with Tales From Topographic Oceans hitting No.1 in Britain, giving the band the clout to secure solo time from Atlantic Records. The album's demands clashed with the band's touring plans, leaving Anderson mentally exhausted despite his eventual pride in the work.