CLOSE TO THE EDGE

This is a natural progression from their previous effort, Fragile. Cliche, but fitting.

This album has many diverse and open minded musical ideas. In its relatively short running time, many sound spaces are embraced. The title track is certainly a highlight of progressive symphonic music. Each main idea is thoroughly explored, and has a very professional feel. One note, however. The song tends to overextend some sounds, and this makes the track flow less smoothly. With an already short running time, I feel this needed to be cut down to avid unneeded repetition. What I suppose I am saying, would be that Yes didn't master the art of solid and terse composition writing.

But it is still a superb song. The vocals are quite nice, paired together with the skillful imagery. Some of the keyboard solos are absolutely mind blowing. Very talented musicians have placed their trademarks onto this. Side two is commenced with a much more restrained, but almost as encompassing ballad type song, with soft accentuation, and a jauntily majestic reverence. Again, with the title track, and the entire album in general, I feel as if too much time is spent exploring bland musical ideas in between the masterful ones.

And finally, you have the most overtly rock oriented song to close off this science fiction journey. Siberian Khatru begins with a classic rock guitar edge, leading into a steady power rock, with somewhat complex compositions. Yes have crafted three excellent songs that mesh together fairly well. They contain complexities and diverse nuances. However, some of the musical ideas aren't wholly interesting, and a little too much time is spent on them. Normally, I never mind an album's running time, but with one barely over half an hour, all the space you use counts. And here, this makes little blunders all the more noticeable. Still, quite the rush at times, and consistently interesting.

There are more than enough adventurous and intriguing ideas present, and no matter the score, this is carefully crafted professional music, with quite the experimental bent. Wakeman's trademark keys do wonders, and a powerful image is painted within.

**** Edgy stars

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