2 YES — CLOSE TO THE EDGE
Some facts:
Close to the Edge was released on 13th September 1972 as Atlantic Records SD7244. It was the band’s fifth album and was a critical and popular success, reaching the Top 5 of album charts in both the UK and USA.
There are three pieces on the album: the side-long title suite and two long multi-part songs on Side 2.
The cover was designed by Roger Dean and has the first appearance of the Yes logo. The inside of the gatefold is a Roger Dean fantasy landscape.
Some arty-farty stuff I wrote about the music ages ago:
‘Siberian Khatru’
First there is a mountain then a mountaineer. You stretch sinew, pant and gasp to glimpse new vistas, embrace the thrill of being out of your depth. But you are no mere adrenalin junkie; there is also the topography of the soul. The feminine does not alarm you. With purposeful step you look forwards and upwards to the high country; there is a rhythm and perhaps a martial beat, but it is your own. At the summit you pause, enthralled as much by your own potency as the sky that bleeds into heaven.
‘And You And I’
For you, astral traveller, dreams carry wisdom and reality is a waking dream. Connection is all. The cord of life that resides in your organic centre pulses with the life of the planet. “I and thou”. Voices join in an ecstatic chorus that honours both Gaia and sensual entwining. You are willing to move through the angles of the eternal triangle: pilgrim, preacher, teacher. You reach out to others and answer earth’s call.
‘Close To The Edge’
Having avoided the simplistic and often inaccurate banalities of much rock ‘criticism’ of progressive music, you are willing to sit down and have a go at something different. Recognising your own preconceptions – we all view the world through coloured lenses – but unwilling to be limited by them, you have given yourself permission to enjoy music for music’s sake. Incongruities are permissible; the world isn’t linear.
Perhaps you have some background in Western composed music and are undaunted by an extended suite that is suggestive of sonata structure. Maybe you just like the idea of a journey of more than three steps and have noticed a quiet calling to adventure like Spring’s germinating quiver at the end of inert Winter.
You sense that openness is cousin to innocence. You are the Mole leaving home without his overcoat, Bilbo stepping out his front door, Pooh venturing into the Hundred Acre Wood. You know that this is an expotition not a migration. Ramones and Machine Head will always be there for you.
The opening creeps forward like the heart of a sunrise. Birdsong and noise, nature and technology: a dichotomy that will unfold over the next twenty minutes. Suddenly the instruments crash: four soloists simultaneously clamouring for your attention, swooping and diving like seagulls after a thrown morsel. They screech and snap but never collide, an exquisite chaos that is exhilarating and just a little frightening. At 2 minutes a rich ‘Ahhh!’ of a voice bursting through; there is humanity here. Four minutes in and the lyric journey begins, the quest unfolds…
Coda:
Close to the Edge sits high on my list of all-time favourite albums. I thrill to its virtuosity, admire its ambition, expand with its mysticism, forgive its silliness, embrace its humanity and delight in its complexity. It is without doubt one of the finest progressive rock albums of all time.
Final 72 FROM ’72 post tomorrow!
vinylconnection.com.au 
Hell, yeah, one of my favorites too. Though I did come to Yes in ’73 and ending up buying “Yessongs” on sale. It had all of this and most of the previous two albums at a bargain price!
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High fives, Rick. Yessongs was my first Yes acquisition too. Still love it!
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Same here on the Yessongs. And still I find it odd and notable that given my generation, I entered via the MTV era through 90125, even bought 9012 “live,” then worked backwards. Good on them I say for finding a way to reach new audiences perhaps in the early 80s. Hard to swallow maybe if you come at it from the other direction, but there you go.
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I mean after all, it can happen.
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It can happen to everyone eventually. (Or so I’m told)
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Yes, it can happen to you, it can happen to me….
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Aw just LEAVE IT. Ha!
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Sometimes when people Leave It, there are the Owner of a Lonely Heart.
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STOP!
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Yeah, for sure. 90125 was a challenge at first, but now a fondly valued member of the Yes discography. I even like quite a lot of Big Generator! But this period is without doubt ‘classic Yes’, nicht war?
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Team Prog Represent, Woo Hoo! When I did the best classic prog album series years ago, it came down to a final between this one and “Tarkus.” I went with “Tarkus” after a long tie-breaker process. I’m a weird Yes fan, I acknowledge, in that I utterly and completely adore Side Two of this album . . . . but I can kinda take or leave sizable chunks of Side One. The crux is that I’m not a big Wakeman fan. I missed Tony Kaye’s monstrous droning organ riffs, and didn’t ever really warm to Rick’s more rapid-fire/synth-based approaches. I also adore Moraz’ jazzier approach on “Relayer.” I’ve probably said it here before, but the real deep magic of Yes for me is what happens when Howe and Squire play together, and what they do on Side Two here is among the very best thing that their long collaborations ever produced, hands down. Beautiful, powerful stuff.
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I think the flash vs feel schism is significant. Though I can’t help pointing out that there were few flashier keyboard wizards than Keith Emerson! With you on Relayer, too.
Next year is a problem, if I go on with this absurd series. There is *so* much progressive rock in 1973 that I’m considering splitting it off into a separate series. But that then kind of defeats the object of an ‘all comers’ approach to 73 favourites. Got a few weeks to sort that out in my head, but ideas welcome, JES.
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Well, having written a 33,000-word essay on the best classic prog, I certainly get that there’s enough there to justify its own series. But I really like what you do with the ALL-IN aspect of this series. Maybe you just need to establish some “buckets” with maximum capacity so no one flavor/genre drowns out the others. And, yeah, Emmo certainly could get widdly . . . but then he was also stabbing Hammond organs with knives and making a lot of really ugly noises, while Rick’s stuff (to me) tends to feel very fussy and correct.
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Look at it from the bright side, Bruce – you got one more spot! 🙂
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True! Though with well over 300 titles to choose from, perhaps 173 from ’73 might be easier. I could just post photos. 🤣
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It surely does look like a formidable project! Selfishly, I’m looking forward to it. Once again, I bet I’ll learn about artists I’ve never heard of before, including more German acts!
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Hope so!
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This is my favourite album ever, so IMO it’s one place too low.
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Ha! It was a major tussle, Graham. For a week or two I was going to have a tie!
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“Fragile” is my favorite Yes LP.
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And you are far from alone in that. Great record.
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Very nice to see Yes here, one of the few prog rock bands I warmed to. “Siberian Khatru” is a really great tune. Also very appropriate to have an album titled “Close to the Edge” in the no. 2 position! 🙂
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Ah, excellent observation. Does that mean that tomorrow we’ll see “Over the Edge”? 🤔
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Ha! Or go over the top? With something German? 🙂
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I just sent a pic of this album (no bullshit) to Big Earl (son) saying if he was a good boy that he would be getting this record one day. He replied that he “Would try”
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Any son who lives up to that offer is OK by me, CB. (As is the Dad who makes the promise)
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Thanks . This album is pretty OK also. In fact you are in the ‘OK Club’
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🤜🤛🏼
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I probably shouldn’t admit this to such a devout Yes fan, but after buying Fragile (first LP ever purchased) and wearing it out, I drifted away and didn’t tune back in until 90215 in 1983. I’m ready to give Close To The Edge its due on my walk later this afternoon…love my noise cancelling headphones! (Didn’t the Yes logo appear on the Fragile album art?)
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Kind of. It’s a ‘work-in-progress’ version. The characteristic y-snaking-into-s hasn’t quite gelled, but you can see the idea forming. The Fragile lettering is more angular, with sharp edges. You can see it clearly in this post:
I’ll stop now, I’m boring even myself. 😆
Enjoy your walk.
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“The opening creeps forward like the heart of a sunrise”. 🧐
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