CLOSE TO THE EDGE

Well, it's about time somebody reviewed this damn album! To many this is their favourite No album. I slightly prefer both The No Album and Relifter to this. I put the CD in my computer and played it on Windows Media Player. Guess what? The picture of the cover was upside down! How cool. Let's talk about that album cover. Somebody paid Roger Dean to do that? A five year old could do that...for free! What else. There are pictures of Chris Squire and producer Eddie Offord smoking cigarettes. Bad bass player! Bad producer! Don't you know cigarettes are bad for you? In their defense, it was the 1970s, a decade in which it was apparently illegal to *not* smoke cigerettes. Speaking of Offord, he is almost the sixth member here. He basically took a bunch of half-finished ideas and edited them into the title track.

The first 8 minutes of said title track is some of the greatest 8 minutes in all prog. 'Total Mass Retain' has an awesome rhythm section; I'm surprised nobody has sampled this yet. I love the 'Get Up, Get Down' section, but don't care for the instrumental part before the vocals. I also hate that church organ. It ruins everything for me. Nothing against church organ, I actually like it in "Parallels". I just love the part after the organ with the weird sounding synths and the fast bass.

Some moments of "And You And I" are better than others. Never liked the intro. Love the wah- wahed vocals during the part that starts "coins and crosses..." It really sounds like poor Jon is under water! Unless you read the lyrics you have no idea what that voice is saying. As with other Yes songs, I generally don't like the parts that are just vocals and acoustic guitar here. Love the reggae-esque part that starts "I listened hard..."

"Siberian Khatru" is just flawless! I wouldn't change a nanosecond of this song. I like the 1950s rock'n'roll style guitar playing at the beginning. I laugh at people who say that Yes are not rock. If what Steve Howe does at the beginning of this song is not rock, then I don't know what the hell is. I should also mention Howe's electric sitar playing which is a nice addition. He never intentionally tried to sound Indian. This was also the last album with Bruford(for a very long time). His drumming is missed on future Yes albums.

So, why am I not giving this 5 stars? Basically that chuch organ in the title track, and parts of "And You And I" are pretty weak compared to the rest of the album. That cover is pretty lame too. A classic album and a great way to help start one's journey into prog. I give this 4.5 but they can't all be masterpieces can they?