CLOSE TO THE EDGE

Close To The Edge is one of those seminar albums that will far outlast history. The whole shooboodle starts off with the sweet sound of birdsong, underpinned by Rick Wakemans In a bad mood Organ sound, then goes crashing into a jamming like section, where Steve Howe makes the best use of those big boney fingers which whizz up and down the fretboard faster than Linford Christie with diarrhoea. The song then brings Jon Anderson into play with him singing what sounds like Daaaaa Dap Dap and then goes into a really gorgeous section with some nice Steve Howe guitar playing, before we enter the main body of the song which has a kind of reggae bounce ( But not as annoying ) and makes me think of Welsh Miss Hobkinson every time i hear it. The first lyric sings of a witch with herbs and spices all over her helping some people out of disgraceful aspects. One concludes that the disgraceful aspects are the demon drink because she decides to re-arrange their livers ( Back to normal no doubt )

I can never understand why Jon Anderson is taking away the plane - did he hijack a plane at some point? Seems very UnJon.

And you and I is a very mellow song with lots of heavy sounds, and for some reason makes me think of the ex boxer George Foreman wandering around a graveyard. Majestic synths by Rick Wakeman, soaring vocals from Ian Anderson and the whole band taking you on a trip to heaven.

Siberian Khatru is what could be described as the Yes rocker on this album and has some cool hammond playing by Rick Wakeman . Stylistically it is not far removed from "The Clap" from "The Yes album" and ends the album off in happy phase as opposed to the "In a bad mood" organ which started the album off. No prog collection should be missing this beauty of an album

This album is recommended for those of you who like Yes Jon Anderson Druid Flash and The Buggles