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patrickq View Drop Down
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    Posted: June 07 2019 at 23:16
Posting this in this here subforum because Close to the Edge comes up so often in Personal Top 10 lists.

Personally I think Relayer is slightly better, but I agree that CttE is truly a masterpiece. But then again, Yes is my favorite band. My question is what exactly about CttE makes it so broadly popular among PA people? It seems like you could be a Tech Metal or Math Rock fan, and your Top 10 favorite albums will be nine from your favorite prog subgenre, plus Close to the Edge.
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I don't know. I seem to be one of the few that has never really liked the album other than liking the title-track, even when I was big on other Yes. I prefer the earlier Yes albums. Close to the Edge wouldn't rank in my top 1000 albums, I don't even think it would make it in my top 2000. It just never clicked with me, and I've tried listening to it considerable times over decades.

Edited by Logan - June 08 2019 at 00:34
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I thinks it’s all in the structure, the melodicism, and overall sound. It’s memorable, complex without being a demanding listen, and just an epic, fantastic album.
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There are no wasted moments , no solo bits (outside of the main tracks) and it creates a 'feeling' . There is also snob value in having just 3 tracks as far as prog fans go. Even in 1972 it wasn't that common for prog bands to have so few tracks on one album. Tull admittedly went one better with Thick as a Brick and that of course is another contender.

However there is also that thing called consistency. I believe too many albums are overrated because of this need to be consistent. The rating system rewards consistency rather that inspiration. Fragile in my view is more inspired but then you have those wasted moments and solo bits littering up the place.

At the end of the day it's seems to be more about what you avoid doing then about the fantastic moments you can create. Brain Salad Surgery is my favourite album but of course there are those familiar ELP wanderings and side turns that seem to annoy many people.
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Originally posted by Logan Logan wrote:

I don't know. I seem to be one of the few that has never really liked the album other than liking the title-track, even when I was big on other Yes. I prefer the earlier Yes albums. Close to the Edge wouldn't rank in my top 1000 albums, I don't even think it would make it in my top 2000. It just never clicked with me, and I've tried listening to it considerable times over decades.


Sounds like me and Tales from Topographic Oceans. I’ve really tried, and I will again, to understand why so many people who like the same kind of music as me dig it so much.
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Originally posted by patrickq patrickq wrote:

Posting this in this here subforum because Close to the Edge comes up so often in Personal Top 10 lists.

Personally I think Relayer is slightly better, but I agree that CttE is truly a masterpiece. But then again, Yes is my favorite band. My question is what exactly about CttE makes it so broadly popular among PA people? It seems like you could be a Tech Metal or Math Rock fan, and your Top 10 favorite albums will be nine from your favorite prog subgenre, plus Close to the Edge.

I totally agree "Relayer" is better, but not just slightly.  "Close to the Edge" is in my opinion not daring enough; it is too "pleasing". it is the aural equivalent of a "Handschmeichler" (German word for an object that is nice to hold; literally it means "hand flatterer")


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Originally posted by BaldJean BaldJean wrote:

I totally agree "Relayer" is better, but not just slightly.  "Close to the Edge" is in my opinion not daring enough; it is too "pleasing". it is the aural equivalent of a "Handschmeichler" (German word for an object that is nice to hold; literally it means "hand flatterer")
I wonder if Close to the Edge was a necessary step before the band could create Relayer.

Edited by patrickq - June 08 2019 at 05:59
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Obviously part of the explanation of it's success is in what BaldJean wrote. It is quite melodic, emotional and accessible and some of the melodies work very well, but at the same time it has enough complexity and interesting if not experimental bits to separate it from AOR/standard classic rock. Add the virtuosity and brilliance of the instrumental performances and you have a classic.

Personally I think it's a very good album, but it is nowhere near my top 10 (and I also like Relayer quite abit more), the reason being that in some places I get the impression that they are more about showing off the instrumentalists' and composers' skills than that everything works 100% in musical/emotional terms, but this doesn't stop the album from overall working quite well (and I suspect that also the show off factor is attractive to some).


Edited by Lewian - June 08 2019 at 06:06
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Close To The Edge is a masterpiece, in the best 24-carat symphonic rock tradition, topped with with Wakeman's breathtaking work on vintage keyboard gear (like the Minimoog, Hammond and Mellotron) and Howe his varied guitar work, it is such a majestic blend of rock, classical and folk. But in comparison with Relayer it lacks emotion, Relayer is more dark and agressive. Especially in the titletrack in which Howe used a Fender Telecaster to sound more raw and rocky. For me playing one of these two albums is a matter of mood, feeling more euphoric or more dark ...

Edited by TenYearsAfter - June 08 2019 at 06:33
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Its one of a kind and a classic after repeated listening s endures ,i know this because i have listened to this record since i was 12 ,i am 55 been a listener and a fan of many genres, this yes album is absolutely, a masterpiece ,you either are a fan or not, if not that okay, but from a yes fan standpoint it,s probably their best work.

Edited by grantman - June 08 2019 at 07:07
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People have different tastes in music. From that time period, I prefer The Yes Album by far ... with Fragile a distant 2nd. I don't think it's a bandwagon effect. People here are all over the map, but Close to the Edge seems a fave with many folks. It's like with Rush. A Farewell to Kings has been my all time fave for years. I was surprised to find that many people on PA are of similar opinion. I was surprised because Rush is probably best known for 2112 and Moving Pictures.
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Originally posted by patrickq patrickq wrote:

Posting this in this here subforum because Close to the Edge comes up so often in Personal Top 10 lists.

Personally I think Relayer is slightly better, but I agree that CttE is truly a masterpiece. But then again, Yes is my favorite band. My question is what exactly about CttE makes it so broadly popular among PA people? It seems like you could be a Tech Metal or Math Rock fan, and your Top 10 favorite albums will be nine from your favorite prog subgenre, plus Close to the Edge.

I'm not really sure. It almost seems to be one of those things where people(well prog fans anyway)like it because everyone else likes it. It seems to be a case of "it must be popular for a reason." Also, I think it's only in the past ten years or so that it has been regarded as one of the very top prog albums(if not the top prog album). It now seems to be an album that is well regarded outside of just hardcore prog circles. For example it's also rated pretty high on the rate your music website with over 15,000 ratings(coming in at number 63 over all).  As to why it's so popular on here I don't know. It could almost as easily be "in the court of the crimson king" as the number one album on here(which apparently it was at one point). I actually agree with you that relayer is better but I realize that is  personal preference. Although relayer is much wilder it's also not as repetitive imo. Both are among the greatest prog rock albums ever though and my two favorite Yes albums(if I had to choose).
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Originally posted by Jaketejas Jaketejas wrote:

People have different tastes in music. From that time period, I prefer The Yes Album by far ... with Fragile a distant 2nd. I don't think it's a bandwagon effect. People here are all over the map, but Close to the Edge seems a fave with many folks. It's like with Rush. A Farewell to Kings has been my all time fave for years. I was surprised to find that many people on PA are of similar opinion. I was surprised because Rush is probably best known for 2112 and Moving Pictures.

You could be right actually about it not really being a band wagon effect(even though that was my initial impression). If we take away the prog element for a second and just look at music in general Yes are definitely not what you would call a bandwagon band(especially not these days). You don't see Yes t shirts in Spencers or see young people wearing them these days. Rush would be much closer although the best example, in my opinion, would be the Grateful Dead. Prog fans, imo, tend to be independent thinkers(for the most part) so I don't think there's much(if any)of a herd mentality going on. As for Rush would say they are more well known and have a bigger fanbase(probably by far)than Yes over all. I spend time over on one of the main Rush fansites and can tell you that a lot of Rush fans aren't even really prog fans(probably at least 70 percent aren't in fact). Although Yes aren't the biggest prog band(they might have been at one point; I would give that honor to either Rush or PF) I think on here there are an equal number of Yes, Rush, Genesis, Pink Floyd and King Crimson fans even though Yes happens to have the number one album.


Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - June 08 2019 at 11:54
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Originally posted by AFlowerKingCrimson AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:

I'm not really sure. It almost seems to be one of those things where people(well prog fans anyway)like it because everyone else likes it. It seems to be a case of "it must be popular for a reason."
Originally posted by Jaketejas Jaketejas wrote:

I don't think it's a bandwagon effect. People here are all over the map, but Close to the Edge seems a fave with many folks.

This is what I’m wondering. To what degree do people rank CttE 5 stars because everybody knows it’s the best?

I guess there’s always a bandwagon effect to some extent, although as Jaketejas suggests, maybe there’s something universally appealing about CttE. Some album has to be ranked #1. If CttE wasn’t such a universal favorite, some other album would be.

All of that said, Close to the Edge was my #1 favorite album for more than 25 years. Only in the past few years did I realize that Relayer was superior. So I can see why people like it.
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Originally posted by patrickq patrickq wrote:

Originally posted by Logan Logan wrote:

I don't know. I seem to be one of the few that has never really liked the album other than liking the title-track, even when I was big on other Yes. I prefer the earlier Yes albums. Close to the Edge wouldn't rank in my top 1000 albums, I don't even think it would make it in my top 2000. It just never clicked with me, and I've tried listening to it considerable times over decades.


Sounds like me and Tales from Topographic Oceans. I’ve really tried, and I will again, to understand why so many people who like the same kind of music as me dig it so much.


I also have a problem with TfTO, and like Relayer. When I was exposed to Close to the Edge, I was already a huge fan of Fragile, and CttE just didn't speak to me in the same way. Subsequently, I lost interest in most so-called Symphonic Prog and found myself more interested in Prog categories such as Canterbury Scene, Krautrock, Zeuhl, Rock in Opposition, Avant Prog, Electronic, Prog Folk and various JRF acts.

For a 3 track album with some comparability (symph qualities), I much prefer, say, Bubu's Anabelas to Close to the Edge. To me it seems a much more dynamic and accomplished album. And I'd easily take Magma's 1001° centigrades (1971) over it too and many other three track albums.

Yes is a band that I was more interested in as a teenager, but my tastes shifted. My first love was classical music, then Prog, then jazz and electronic music, back to Prog, into folk etc. To me Close to the Edge is still a fairly solid three star album, but it never struck me personally as great. Different strokes for different folks.

Edited by Logan - June 08 2019 at 14:47
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Originally posted by patrickq patrickq wrote:

Originally posted by AFlowerKingCrimson AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:

I'm not really sure. It almost seems to be one of those things where people(well prog fans anyway)like it because everyone else likes it. It seems to be a case of "it must be popular for a reason."
Originally posted by Jaketejas Jaketejas wrote:

I don't think it's a bandwagon effect. People here are all over the map, but Close to the Edge seems a fave with many folks.

This is what I’m wondering. To what degree do people rank CttE 5 stars because everybody knows it’s the best?

I guess there’s always a bandwagon effect to some extent, although as Jaketejas suggests, maybe there’s something universally appealing about CttE. Some album has to be ranked #1. If CttE wasn’t such a universal favorite, some other album would be.

All of that said, Close to the Edge was my #1 favorite album for more than 25 years. Only in the past few years did I realize that Relayer was superior. So I can see why people like it.

I hope what I'm about to say doesn't sound too confusing but in the past few years I started to see "Close to the Edge" as sort of the prog equivalent of "Dark side of the Moon" or even "Sgt. Peppers" or "Pet Sounds." I guess the confusing part would be that many consider DSOTM(or even Sgt. Peppers)to be prog albums. However, within strictly prog circles is what I mean. If CTTE isn't the first album that most newcomers to prog get it's usually at least one of them(unless of course they are caught up on prog metal or pay no attention to classic bands). 


Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - June 08 2019 at 15:00
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^
I see what you’re saying. Like if you’re going to study English literature, you can expect to read Hamlet pretty early on.
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Originally posted by patrickq patrickq wrote:

Posting this in this here subforum because Close to the Edge comes up so often in Personal Top 10 lists.

Personally I think Relayer is slightly better, but I agree that CttE is truly a masterpiece. But then again, Yes is my favorite band. My question is what exactly about CttE makes it so broadly popular among PA people? It seems like you could be a Tech Metal or Math Rock fan, and your Top 10 favorite albums will be nine from your favorite prog subgenre, plus Close to the Edge.

I opened a discussion about Close to the Edge here


where you can read my opinions about that song and that album.

Anyway neither CTTE nor Relayer are in my Top 10, or 20, or 30, maybe 100.
Amos Goldberg (professor of Genocide Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem): Yes, it's genocide. It's so difficult and painful to admit it, but we can no longer avoid this conclusion.
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Originally posted by patrickq patrickq wrote:

^
I see what you’re saying. Like if you’re going to study English literature, you can expect to read Hamlet pretty early on.

Yep. Exactly.


Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - June 08 2019 at 21:25
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Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

There are no wasted moments

Pretty much ~
"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought."   -- John F. Kennedy
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