YES - Close to the Edge (1972)

kirk782 wrote: Still, perhaps the most likely to succeed would be Dark Side of the Moon Isn't Pink Floyd err, more publicly known than probably any other progressive rock band? With their success of Dark side of the Moon and The Wall, they were as successful as any mainstream rock band, I assume.

Grumpyprogfan wrote: Am I alone in thinking "And You and I" is mediocre at best?

To me it is an excellent example of a quieter and beautifully constructed more melodic song which gives some relief (balance) amongst the aural assault of the rest of the tracks on the album. Other examples I'd put in this category would be 'Child in Time' from Deep Purple in Rock, 'Stairway to Heaven' from Led Zeppelin IV, and 'Take a Pebble from ELP's debut album..

Edited by kirk782 - September 24 2024 at 04:10

I'm not objecting to the opening of the song, rather as the song being the opening of the album.

^ No reversing for me, just an adjustment of the flow of the songs.

Edited by Hugh Manatee - January 29 2024 at 20:23

The album makes a lot more sense to me if I alter the running order:

essexboyinwales wrote: richardh wrote: Tormato was my first exposure to Yes so it took me nearly another 2 decades before I took them seriously. I was told at school that if I liked ELP (who were my favourite band and everyone knew it!) then I would like Yes. That was so not true as they were actually quite different. 3 piece versus 5 piece, baritone versus falsetto etc. The only thing that was similar was Emerson and Wakeman's ever expanding keyboard stacks! My music taste was always all over the place. I liked some metal , some funk, some punk and some prog and some electronic. When I used to go on the ELP and related forums back in the day (late 90's early 00's) there were plenty of users who loved ELP but didn't like much other prog stuff. Yes were not necessarily the go to other prog band for ELP fans it seemed which was perhaps surprising. Pink Floyd were more that. Wakeman once compared Yes to the 'Boston Symphonic', you could change the musicians and it would still be the same group. He said this in interviews around the time of Union but 30 odd years later and it seems plenty true enough. For me CTTE is a perfect album. It represents 'order', it represents clarity, it represents excellence in prog. It's the centre of the universe. Fragile is equally a great album but the elements were still coming together. Some fans like their prog messy but I've never been one of those! And yet I find CTTE to be very messy!!!🤣

Boojieboy wrote: Still my favorite of the band. Seems like the stars all aligned with this one. The right chemistry, mood, approach, production, etc. for greatness.

Not to mention the writing, performance, production and artwork... it's not often all those factors come together and result in a truly classic album.

richardh wrote: Tormato was my first exposure to Yes so it took me nearly another 2 decades before I took them seriously. I was told at school that if I liked ELP (who were my favourite band and everyone knew it!) then I would like Yes. That was so not true as they were actually quite different. 3 piece versus 5 piece, baritone versus falsetto etc. The only thing that was similar was Emerson and Wakeman's ever expanding keyboard stacks! My music taste was always all over the place. I liked some metal , some funk, some punk and some prog and some electronic. When I used to go on the ELP and related forums back in the day (late 90's early 00's) there were plenty of users who loved ELP but didn't like much other prog stuff. Yes were not necessarily the go to other prog band for ELP fans it seemed which was perhaps surprising. Pink Floyd were more that. Wakeman once compared Yes to the 'Boston Symphonic', you could change the musicians and it would still be the same group. He said this in interviews around the time of Union but 30 odd years later and it seems plenty true enough. For me CTTE is a perfect album. It represents 'order', it represents clarity, it represents excellence in prog. It's the centre of the universe. Fragile is equally a great album but the elements were still coming together. Some fans like their prog messy but I've never been one of those!

And yet I find CTTE to be very messy!!!🤣

I first heard Close to the Edge as a teenager in the late 80s, and other than I liked the title track, the album never really clicked with me. I was a massive fan of Fragile at the time. I have tried it on and off again throughout the decades since, but still it just doesn't really do much for me. I think I might have liked it more had I not been exposed to Fragile first. I remember my friend who introduced me to Close to The Edge, and had introduced me to Fragile before that, telling me that it was better than Fragile. Maybe I had the wrong expectations, maybe I was defensive as I was so into Fragile, and probably I was just too obsessed with Fragile at the time. The timing was bad and I was just put off. Nowadays I very rarely listen to Yes as my interests have kept changing/ morphing/ adapting/ progressing through the decades as I have been exposed to more music and more styles. One thing commonly leads to another, and sometimes some major curveballs and very oddballs take my fancy. Not much of what I liked as a teen would be what I would return to now. And I don't get that kind of nostalgia value that some do from music with some exceptions (like Laurie Anderson's Big Science).