Close to the Edge (Yes album)
Close to the Edge is the fifth studio album by the English progressive rock band Yes. It was released on Atlantic Records (Atlantic K 50012) in September 1972. It reached No. 4 on the UK Albums Chart[1] and No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard 200[2] (Atlantic SD 7244) during a chart stay of 32 weeks. In the Netherlands it reached No. 1 on the Dutch album charts[3], the only Yes album to do so.
History and content
According to co-composer Jon Anderson, the title track is inspired by Hermann Hesse's book Siddhartha. The song tracks 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. Bruford says in his autobiography that he came up with the title to describe the state of the band itself, as he had with its predecessor Fragile. He left the line-up after completion of the recording in order to play with King Crimson, which led to Yes finding ex-Plastic Ono Band Alan White to replace him before starting a new U.S. tour.
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. This came up many times later in songs like "The Revealing Science of God", "Going for the One", "To Be Over", and "Rhythm of Love".
This album set a trend for Yes of structuring an album around a single epic song. Here the centerpiece is the song "Close to the Edge". Later Yes albums that follow this pattern are Relayer (which features "The Gates of Delirium"), Going for the One (which features "Awaken"), Talk (which features "Endless Dream") and Fly from Here, off of the album of the same name.
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.
Reception
A special promotional only, white label, "banded for airplay" version of the LP was sent to U.S. radio stations in 1972. It has the title track broken up into shorter segments. This was done to try to increase radio exposure as most radio stations did not want to air an 18 minute song. Most of the segments were in the range of 3 to 5 minutes and all were marked on the record to assist disc jockeys.
In the Q & Mojo Classic Special Edition Pink Floyd & The Story of Prog Rock, the album came No. 3 in its list of "40 Cosmic Rock Albums".[8] It is also 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 No. 67 in their (Reader's Choice) list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Albums of All Time. As of 17 December 2010, it is ranked as the 72nd greatest album of all time on Rate Your Music.
Reissue
Rhino Records issued a remastered and expanded version of Close to the Edge on 26 August 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").
Track listing
- Tracks 1–3 Published By Rondor Music & Yessongs.
| Writer(s) |
| 1. |
"Close to the Edge"
- "The Solid Time of Change"
- "Total Mass Retain"
- "I Get Up, I Get Down"
- "Seasons of Man"
|
Jon Anderson, Steve Howe |
18:43 |
| 2. |
"And You and I"
- "Cord of Life"
- "Eclipse"
- "The Preacher the Teacher"
- "Apocalypse"
|
Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Bill Bruford, Chris Squire |
10:08 |
| 3. |
"Siberian Khatru" |
Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman |
8:55 |
| Writer(s) |
| 4. |
"America" (single version) |
Paul Simon |
4:12 |
| 5. |
"Total Mass Retain" (single version) |
Jon Anderson, Steve Howe |
3:21 |
| 6. |
"And You and I" (alternate version) |
Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Bill Bruford, Chris Squire |
10:17 |
| 7. |
"Siberia" (studio run-through of "Siberian Khatru") |
Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman |
9:19 |
Personnel
Charts
Singles
| Year |
Single |
Chart |
Position |
| 1972 |
"And You and I (Part II, Eclipse)" |
Billboard Pop Singles |
42[9] |
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
- Close to the Edge, CD booklet essay, Mike Tiano, 2003
- "Top Pop Albums 1955–2001", Joel Whitburn, c. 2002
- Musical Analysis from YesWorld
References
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