CLOSE TO THE EDGE

I knew that I would have to review this album eventually but it was only yesterday that I realized that it would get to be my review nr. 666. In other words, yes, it's entirely a coincidence!

Close To The Edge is easily one of the top five most celebrated progressive rock classics, marking the new lengthy song format era in Yes' history. All this is highly respected by me but my personal relation to this record is quite a strained one. I'm a huge fan on the album's title track. Even though I happen to prefer the live version from Yessongs slightly more, there's an aura of pure magic surrounding this composition that I just can't put in words. It's just one of those masterpiece performances where everything sounds amazing and it's a joy to revisit the piece and find new hidden details in its instrumental arrangements that I might have previously missed out on.

Unfortunately this is as far as I go in my regard of this so-called masterpiece. And You And I is a great piece of music but it's far from the best compositions that Yes are known for. I honestly really never saw it as a 10 minute tracks, even though the band actually manages to get away with it. This was indeed a strong period in Yes' career where they could do no wrong, but that doesn't automatically mean that they got it all right either! Siberian Khatru is a good example of just that. It's neither a bad nor an excellent track and I honestly never though much of it. Fans might see it as a good complement to the first two pieces but I really can't imagine that many actually enjoy it over them. This is exactly what makes it so average for me.

I have no intension of dismissing Close To The Edge since it's definitely a great album, but I wouldn't call it a huge favorite of mine. It ranks fifth in my Yes collection, which is not something I consider to be unworthy of its high regard in the prog community, but a fifth best album from a great band is still good thing!

***** star songs: Close To The Edge (18:43)

**** star songs: And You And I (10:09)

*** star songs: Siberian Khatru (9:01)