YES - Close to the Edge (1972)
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Recommendations/Featured albums
Forum Description: Make or seek recommendations and discuss specific prog albums
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=132186
Printed Date: January 02 2025 at 07:09
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: YES - Close to the Edge (1972)
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Subject: YES - Close to the Edge (1972)
Date Posted: December 08 2023 at 07:28
YES, it's the best-selling YES album to date - at least until 90125 in 1983 - And You and I know it's not just the best YES album, but the best Progressive Rock album of all time, having remained at the top of PA's Top 100 Albums Chart almost since the Turn of the Century. The making of every YES album is not without its usual Drama and this album was no exception, which inspired drummer Bill Bruford to come up with the album title as a reflection of the Fragile state of YES at the time, where tensions sometimes came Close to the Edge of tearing the band apart. Indeed, this would be the last YES album to feature Bill Bruford - having described Close to the Edge as being particularly laborious to make - before departing for the cheerful insanity of being a member of King Crimson.   1972: YES - Close to the Edge - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_ktk8PtkXO8GdshsmXb6w0fhaCMMTsyFio" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_ktk8PtkXO8GdshsmXb6w0fhaCMMTsyFio YES line-up:- Jon Anderson; Bill Bruford; Steve Howe; Chris Squire; & Rick Wakeman Track Listing 1. Close to the Edge (18:43) 2. And You and I (10:12) 3. Siberian Khatru (8:56)
A group of YES fans riding Close to the Edge on an O.A.P.'s outing.   |
Replies:
Posted By: Progishness
Date Posted: December 08 2023 at 08:06
|
The album is prog perfection - what more can you say? ------------- "We're going to need a bigger swear jar." Chloë Grace Moretz as Mindy McCready aka 'Hit Girl' in Kick-Ass 2 |
Posted By: Octopus II
Date Posted: December 08 2023 at 08:07
The woman at the front of that convoy looks like one of Monty Python's 'Hells Grannies'   The bloke behind her could pass for Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson.
|
Posted By: essexboyinwales
Date Posted: December 08 2023 at 09:28
|
I can understand why Bruford thought it was laborious to make….. 🤐 ------------- Heaven is waiting but waiting is Hell |
Posted By: Frets N Worries
Date Posted: December 08 2023 at 09:29
|
It's the highest rated Prog album for a good reason. (Although not Yes's best ) ------------- The Wheel of Time Turns, and Ages come and pass. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the shadow. Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time... |
Posted By: Grumpyprogfan
Date Posted: December 08 2023 at 10:07
| Am I alone in thinking "And You and I" is mediocre at best? |
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: December 08 2023 at 10:11
Maybe, but I know for sure I'm alone in preferring Mirror to the Sky over Close to the Edge - at least until the novelty value of a brand new YES album wears off again.
|
Grumpyprogfan wrote:Posted By: David_D
Date Posted: December 10 2023 at 02:25
|
I'm not that crazy about the vocals, but I quite enjoy and admire the instrumental side of this album. ------------- quality over quantity, and all kind of PopcoRn almost beyond |
Posted By: chopper
Date Posted: December 10 2023 at 10:19
Maybe. It's probably my favourite Yes song, and there's a reason it's on most Yes live albums.
|
Posted By: mellotronwave
Date Posted: December 10 2023 at 12:47
Probably not but.... |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: December 10 2023 at 19:56
| The only thing I can possibly grumble about is the order of the tracks, totally reverse it works better imo. Siberian Khatru was used to open many Yes shows for a reason. And You And I despite it's length managed to get onto mainstream radio in the UK. It's a magical track. The title track is a delightful multipart epic that flows beautifully and shows the band's first dip into fusion territory. Prog perfection. |
Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: December 13 2023 at 18:58
| Perfect Yes, along with Fragile. |
Posted By: Floydoid
Date Posted: December 14 2023 at 00:08
|
If someone asked you to define prog rock, you'd tell them to listen to 'Close to the Edge'. ------------- 'We're going to need a bigger swear jar.' |
Posted By: miamiscot
Date Posted: December 14 2023 at 07:43
|
It's perfection. ------------- The Prog Corner |
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: December 14 2023 at 07:54
|
Jon Anderson & the Prog Geeks with a medley of classic Yessongs. Yours is No Disgrace if you can't name them all. |
Posted By: David_D
Date Posted: December 17 2023 at 07:33
The right word should be "the sissy vocals".  ------------- quality over quantity, and all kind of PopcoRn almost beyond |
Posted By: suitkees
Date Posted: December 17 2023 at 07:48
|
^ Oh gosh, sometimes you'd better not react to yourself...  And both sides of this album have vocals on them. ------------- The razamataz is a pain in the bum |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: December 17 2023 at 09:54
| The best Yes album although my personal favorite is probably relayer. Actually, fragile sold better also. |
Posted By: David_D
Date Posted: December 17 2023 at 09:55
|
If to look at it from the bright side? ------------- quality over quantity, and all kind of PopcoRn almost beyond |
Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: December 17 2023 at 11:45
|
Great LP , and is still at the top of the list here. I like the Yes lp and Fragile just as much though. ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: essexboyinwales
Date Posted: December 17 2023 at 13:22
OH NO I WOULDN’T!!! 😉 ------------- Heaven is waiting but waiting is Hell |
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: December 23 2023 at 14:43
Total Mass Retain - The Complete Yessongs Concert (courtesy of Flick Vault)  |
Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: December 31 2023 at 01:10
It would actually be the most honest album to show them. Though also the perfect way to scare them off if they are not predisposed to like the music. Perhaps it would have to go along with In The Court of the Crimson King and Selling England by the Pound. Still, perhaps the most likely to succeed would be Dark Side of the Moon, and then go with the next Floyd albums, and then, perhaps some Tull, like Aqualung. From there dive into something deeper. |
Posted By: Floydoid
Date Posted: December 31 2023 at 06:00
Oh excellent choices... I'd also chuck in TAAB sooner rather than later, and maybe 'Tubular Bells' even tho it's not strictly prog.! ------------- 'We're going to need a bigger swear jar.' |
Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: January 01 2024 at 13:45
Oh, 70's Mike Oldfield is more than prog enough for me. If Pink Floyd is prog, then Oldfield is prog, and both have the elements I most love of prog. |
Posted By: Floydoid
Date Posted: January 01 2024 at 15:21
|
I only said that as Oldfield is listed on here as Crossover Prog - for me (the original) Tubular Bells is about as prog as it gets. As to whether my beloved Floyd are prog or not, that is a topic we could debate for ever... to me like some other artists (might I suggest Bowie, Bush & Prince) they simply live in their own unique niche. ------------- 'We're going to need a bigger swear jar.' |
Posted By: Cheers
Date Posted: January 06 2024 at 11:55
My Prog 'primer' has always been Trick of the Tail... Have to say that I'd imagine COTCK would be just as 'scary' as Close to the Edge - I did once try to tempt somebody in with Camel/Mirage - and it kind of bombed!
|
Posted By: Floydoid
Date Posted: January 06 2024 at 12:49
|
I think with Camel that 'The Snow Goose' might be a good starter for giving a flavour of what prog is all about. ------------- 'We're going to need a bigger swear jar.' |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: January 06 2024 at 23:46
|
Most 70's Floyd for psyche, early Tull for bluesy folk and Camel (first 3) for symphonic work well enough. Marillion for neo. King Crimson's debut is a mix hence why they are electic. I think it could go either way with Schizoid man (no pun intended) as it's really heavy and jazzy and very challenging. Greg Lake's normal melliflous vocals are subverted somewhat but it makes a statement! Mike Oldfield was in some respects the pre-cursor for New age. That hangs round his neck a bit. Tubular Bells is unique and does have strong prog links although I always preferred the live 'rocked up' version that appeared on Exposed as well as the more recently recorded classical symphonic version that also impressed me a lot.
|
Posted By: Floydoid
Date Posted: January 07 2024 at 00:05
|
Funnily enough in my digital music collection I have Mike Oldfield filed under New Age. ------------- 'We're going to need a bigger swear jar.' |
Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: January 08 2024 at 19:11
Actually, originally I knew Mike Oldfield as a New Age artist. I guess there are many reasons to consider him so, and depending on the definition of New Age it might not be so far away from prog itself. I mean, 70's Mike Oldfield definitley fits my idea of what New Age is supposed to be, and at the same time it fits prog... but then, Enya, though obviously New Age, I would definitley never consider her prog. |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: January 08 2024 at 23:25
agree with that
|
Posted By: Floydoid
Date Posted: January 09 2024 at 02:02
|
He certainly did a lot to kick start what would become the New Age movement of the 1990's. ------------- 'We're going to need a bigger swear jar.' |
Posted By: Boojieboy
Date Posted: January 09 2024 at 18:25
|
Still my favorite of the band. Seems like the stars all aligned with this one. The right chemistry, mood, approach, production, etc. for greatness. |
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: January 09 2024 at 19:01
| 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). |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: January 09 2024 at 19:31
|
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!
|
Posted By: essexboyinwales
Date Posted: January 12 2024 at 15:10
And yet I find CTTE to be very messy!!!🤣 ------------- Heaven is waiting but waiting is Hell |
Posted By: dr prog
Date Posted: January 14 2024 at 19:59
|
I found it a bit boring last time I played it lol. Yes aren’t even in my top 10 anymore. They stopped being fun after fragile. Brian Auger is more fun ------------- All I like is prog related bands beginning late 60's/early 70's. Their music from 1968 - 83 has the composition and sound which will never be beaten. Perfect blend of jazz, classical, folk and rock. |
Posted By: Floydoid
Date Posted: January 14 2024 at 21:44
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. ------------- 'We're going to need a bigger swear jar.' |
Posted By: dr prog
Date Posted: January 26 2024 at 22:45
|
There’s 15 minutes of goodness. The rest is ok. The 3 albums before are more enjoyable. They seemed to run out of ideas for songs so they just filled out the album. ------------- All I like is prog related bands beginning late 60's/early 70's. Their music from 1968 - 83 has the composition and sound which will never be beaten. Perfect blend of jazz, classical, folk and rock. |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: January 26 2024 at 22:55
Had another listen a few days ago and it still hits the spot for me. The sound and performances are incredible. Lots of goosebumps especially on the I get up and I get down section with Wakey buidling the tesnion beautifully. Bruford's importance to the band also resonates, he and Squire are just so good playing together. Just so much detail and not a wasted moment.
|
Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: January 29 2024 at 19:38
|
This album is a dissappointment, it only has three good songs.
|
Posted By: Hugh Manatee
Date Posted: January 29 2024 at 20:05
|
The album makes a lot more sense to me if I alter the running order: 1. Siberian Khatru 2. Close to the Edge 3. And You and I In its original vinyl format this running order was impractical of course. ------------- I should have been a pair of ragged claws Scuttling across the floors of uncertain seas |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: January 29 2024 at 20:12
| ^ I would just reverse it but ELP had made the Tarkus epic as Side One a year earlier so Yes couldn't tuck the epic away on Side 2. The rivalry was a bit of a thing that was hyped up by the record company but then ELP were still top dogs. Hilariously Brian Lane later (in 1974) asked Keith Emerson if he wanted to replace Wakeman in Yes but that's another story! |
Posted By: Hugh Manatee
Date Posted: January 29 2024 at 20:22
|
^ No reversing for me, just an adjustment of the flow of the songs. The thing that bothered me about CttE was how long the title track took to "find its way" as it were. This running order eases me into the title track more comfortably. But then again maybe it isn't about being comfortable. ------------- I should have been a pair of ragged claws Scuttling across the floors of uncertain seas |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: January 29 2024 at 20:29
| CTTE opens as well as any epic I've heard , the main complaint of it over time is that it's a suite of 4 songs but they didn't hide that fact. Gates is maybe more cohesive though. |
Posted By: Hugh Manatee
Date Posted: January 29 2024 at 20:45
|
I'm not objecting to the opening of the song, rather as the song being the opening of the album. Do I need to qualify that this is just my opinion? ------------- I should have been a pair of ragged claws Scuttling across the floors of uncertain seas |
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: August 13 2024 at 00:57
|
Jon Anderson was reportedly given a hard time over his abstruse lyrics during the recording sessions for Close to the Edge. At one point, a clearly irritated Bill Bruford asked, "What on earth does 'Total Mass Retain' mean?" Anderson replied, "What's wrong with 'Total Mass Retain'? I had to think of something quickly", to which Bruford replied, "Why not just call it 'Puke'?"...... That was the beginning of the end of Bruford's time with YES. |
Posted By: kirk782
Date Posted: September 24 2024 at 04:06
On a later day Yes album, this song might be the standout track :p. But when compared to the other 2 tracks, it does feel a little dull even to me.I like Fragile as good as this [though not with all the intermediatery tracks like Five Percent for Nothing; they are a good one time listen but nothing to be kept on loop unlike the classics].
That was a great album from ELP. Even the side stuffed with shorter songs were eminently listenable. I still haven't listened to each ELP album [last three missing] but Tarkus is till now, my favorite from them.
|
Posted By: kirk782
Date Posted: September 24 2024 at 04:13
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.
|
Posted By: Floydoid
Date Posted: September 24 2024 at 13:11
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.. ------------- 'We're going to need a bigger swear jar.' |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: September 24 2024 at 16:30
| I was too young to be much of a music fan when this album first came out (well, technically I was around but I was only two) but nonetheless it seems to me that this album is possibly more famous now then in the 70s. It always seems like Fragile was their big one but these days it seems like CTTE is. Anyway, regardless it's a well deserved classic prog album and one of the top 5 albums in the genre. |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: September 24 2024 at 22:59
Indeed although they weren't always called 'progressive rock'. For me only Animals fully fits. DSOTM is what PA would call 'Crossover' nowadays (somehow Crime Of The Century is even more 'prog') while their psyche roots are fully realised on WYWH. The Wall is more rock opera in the vein of Tommy or Quadrophenia for me. I am splliting hairs of course. It's all very creative but Yes remain the quintessential prog band and you might be suprised how many have heard of Tales From Topographic Oceans although Owner Of A Lonely Heart is way more remembered and perhaps for the public at large that is what Yes are.
|