Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Close to the Edge

 
Album Review: Close to the Edge

  • Artist: Yes
  • Rating: StarStarStarStarStar
  • Release Date: September 13, 1972
  • Total Time: 37:56
  • Type: Lyrics are included with the album
  • Genre: Rock

Review

With 1971's Fragile having left Yes poised quivering on the brink of what friend and foe acknowledged was the peak of the band's achievement, Close to the Edge was never going to be an easy album to make. Drummer Bill Bruford was already shifting restlessly against Jon Anderson's increasingly mystic/mystifying lyricism, while contemporary reports of the recording sessions depicted bandmate Rick Wakeman, too, as little more than an observer to the vast tapestry that Anderson, Steve Howe, and Chris Squire were creating. For it was vast. Close to the Edge comprised just three tracks, the epic "And You and I" and "Siberian Khatru," plus a side-long title track that represented the musical, lyrical, and sonic culmination of all that Yes had worked toward over the past five years. Close to the Edge would make the Top Five on both sides of the Atlantic, dispatch Yes on the longest tour of its career so far and, if hindsight be the guide, launch the band on a downward swing that only disintegration, rebuilding, and a savage change of direction would cure. The latter, however, was still to come. In 1972, Close to the Edge was a flawless masterpiece. ~ Dave Thompson, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track TitleComposersPerformersTime
Close to the Edge: The Solid Time of Change/Total Mass Retain/I Get Up Jon Anderson, Steve Howe Yes (18:42)
And You and I: Cord of Life/Eclipse/The Preacher the Teacher/Apocalypse Jon Anderson, Bill Bruford, Chris Squire Yes (10:08)
Siberian Khatru (Lyrics) Rick Wakeman, Jon Anderson, Steve Howe Yes (8:54)

Credits

Rick Wakeman (Keyboards), Rick Wakeman (Group Member), Jon Anderson (Vocals), Bill Bruford (Percussion), Bill Bruford (Drums), Steve Howe (Guitar), Steve Howe (Vocals), Steve Howe (Group Member), Chris Squire (Bass), Chris Squire (Vocals), Chris Squire (Group Member), Yes (Arranger), Yes (Producer), Yes (Main Performer), Roger Dean (Design), Roger Dean (Photography), Roger Dean (Cover Design), Roger Dean (Paintings), Roger Dean (Logo), Roger Dean (Cover Art), Barry Diament (Mastering), Eddie Offord (Producer), Mike Dunne (Tape), Martin Adelman (Photography)
Search unanswered questions...
Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics
Wikipedia: Close to the Edge
Top
Close to the Edge
Studio album by Yes
Released 13 September 1972
Recorded April–June 1972
Genre Progressive rock
Length 37:51
Label Atlantic
Producer Yes and Eddie Offord
Professional reviews
Yes chronology
Fragile
(1971)
Close to the Edge
(1972)
Yessongs
(1973)

Close to the Edge is the fifth album by British progressive rock band Yes.

Contents

Features

This record set a trend for Yes of structuring an album around a single epic song, significantly longer than the album's other tracks. Here the centerpiece is the song "Close to the Edge". Later Yes albums that follow a similar pattern are Relayer (which features "The Gates of Delirium") and Going for the One (which features "Awaken").

The spiritual influences introduced by Jon Anderson, which later formed the basis of Tales from Topographic Oceans, are already evident in the music and lyrics of all three tracks on Close to the Edge. Renewal and repetition are other main themes; the title track starts and finishes with the same sound effects of running water and birds, and in "Siberian Khatru" there is the repetition of two-syllable words and phrases.

According to the group's fans, the title track is inspired by Hermann Hesse's book Siddhartha. This interpretation, which can cast the cryptic and mysterious lyrics in a new light, reads the song as tracking the awakening of Hesse's character "close to the edge" of a river (and, symbolically, of the serial lifetimes of his soul), where he experiences a spiritual awakening.

In June 1972, just as recording ended, drummer Bill Bruford suddenly left the line-up to play with King Crimson, forcing Yes to find a replacement drummer (ex-Plastic Ono Band member Alan White) before starting a new U.S. tour.

Inside of the Close to the Edge LP cover.

The cover art was by Roger Dean. Some of the photography for the album sleeve was by bass player Chris Squire's former bandmate in the Selfs and The Syn, Martyn Adelman.

The album is listed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Progarchives.com voted it the greatest progressive album of all time in 2006. Guitar World ranked it #67 in their (Reader's Choice) list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Albums of All Time. It is ranked as the 69th greatest album of all time on Rate Your Music.

Rhino Records issued a remastered and expanded version of Close to the Edge on August 26, 2003. It added four bonus tracks: single versions of "America" and "Total Mass Retain" and early versions of "And You and I" and "Siberian Khatru" (as "Siberia").

Close to the Edge (Atlantic K 50012) was released on Atlantic Records in September 1972. It reached #4 in the UK, and it reached #3 in the U.S. during a chart stay of 32 weeks. In the Netherlands it reached #1 on the Dutch album charts, and has been the only Yes album to do so.

Track listing

# Title Writer(s) Length
1. "Close to the Edge"
  • "The Solid Time of Change"
  • "Total Mass Retain"
  • "I Get Up I Get Down"
  • "Seasons of Man"  
Anderson/Howe 18:43
2. "And You and I"
  • "Cord of Life"
  • "Eclipse"
  • "The Preacher the Teacher"
  • "Apocalypse"  
Anderson/Bruford/Howe/Squire 10:08
3. "Siberian Khatru"   Anderson/Howe/Wakeman 8:55
Bonus tracks (2003 reissue)
# Title Writer(s) Length
4. "America" (single version) Simon 4:12
5. "Total Mass Retain" (single version) Anderson/Howe 3:21
6. "And You and I" (alternate version) Anderson/Bruford/Howe/Squire 10:17
7. "Siberia" (studio run-through of "Siberian Khatru") Anderson/Howe/Wakeman 9:19

Personnel

Charts

Year Chart Position
1972 Billboard Pop Albums 3

Singles

Year Single Chart Position
1972 "And You and I" Billboard Pop Singles 42

Certifications

Organization Level Date
RIAA (US) Gold 30 October 1972
CRIA (Canada) Gold 1 December 1976
CRIA (Canada) Platinum 1 December 1977
BPI (UK) Gold 5 December 1984
BPI (UK) Platinum 5 December 1984

Reissues

Year Company Medium
1982 MFSL LP (original master recording)
1986 Atlantic CD
1994 Atlantic CD (remastered)
2001 JPN CD (limited edition)
2003 Rhino CD (remastered with bonus tracks)

Sources

Notes


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Album Review. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Close to the Edge" Read more