Ever since I bought my first Yes album when I was about 16 years
\nold (and, no, kids, it wasn’t
\n90125<\/i>), I’ve noticed that my musical tastes have changed.
\nWhat I used to go nuts over at 16 sometimes seems to be a bit
\nmelodramatic at 31. Add into this the level of distrust I’ve earned
\nfrom the diehard Yes fans (ever since my little treatise on
\nTales From Topographic Oceans<\/i> back in ’97), and you have a
\nsituation where people cringe any time I dust off a Yes album to
\nreview.<\/p>\n
In the case of
\nClose To The Edge<\/i>, Yes’s 1972 release (and final album
\nfeaturing the “classic” lineup of Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris
\nSquire, Rick Wakeman and Bill Bruford), I’m reminded of a line from<\/p>\n
The Simpsons<\/i> after Marge reveals the painting of a naked Mr.
\nBurns: “I know what I hate… and I don’t hate this.”<\/p>\n
Nope. I actually like this album – so much so that I’d easily
\ncall this the best release from Yes’s early ’70s work. Keeping the
\nself-indulgent moments of their style to a minumum, Anderson and
\ncrew tackle a mere three songs but make things sound like a
\nsymphony.<\/p>\n
As much as I don’t like reviewing an album on a track-by-track
\nbasis, it’s hard to not do so when there are only three tracks to
\ndiscuss. The title track, a side-long opus clocking in at 18
\nminutes, does have a few of the “self-indulgent” moments where
\nmusical virtuosity sometimes is presented over the importance of
\nthe actual song. But, to Yes’s credit, this one minor slip occurs
\nright at the beginning of the track – after the nature sound-effect
\nintro, guitarist Howe leads the charge with a solo that just
\ndoesn’t seem to fit the song. Once the opening notes of the main
\nbody of the song begin, though, Yes rarely looks back, and creates
\na powerful song. The energy of this track rises and ebbs at times
\n(I’d have liked a little more energy on the portion I believe was
\nlabeled “I Get Up, I Get Down”), but it’s a natural flow, and
\nbefore you know it, 18 minutes have gone by in the blink of an
\neye.<\/p>\n
If the track “Close To The Edge” shows the potential of Yes at
\nthis stage in their career, the next two tracks absolutely seal the
\ndeal. “And You And I” is a gentle, melodic piece which knows just
\nwhen to throw in the right amount of bombastic energy. The
\ninterplay between Howe’s guitar work and Wakeman’s keyboards (not
\nto mention Anderson’s vocals) is the sweet spot of this work,
\ncreating a harmonious texture that keeps the song flowing.<\/p>\n
The closing track, “Siberian Khatru,” is a mirror image of “And
\nYou And I” in terms of approach, but there is not a single wasted
\nnote on this track – a song which is quite possibly the best one
\nfrom this stage of Yes’s career (albeit overshadowed by “All Good
\nPeople” and “Roundabout”). Again, the chemistry between Howe and
\nWakeman is what really keeps this track flowing, as does the solid
\nrhythmic backbone of Bruford and Squire. The die-hard Yes fans know
\nthis one is a classic – and if there is any track just waiting to
\nbe re-discovered by classic rock radio, this is the one.<\/p>\n
As overindulgent as prog-rock can get, Yes shows on
\nClose To The Edge<\/i> that there was a way to balance musical
\nvirtuosity with pop sensibility, without weakening either. As much
\nas I believe certain Yes albums were overblown in their bombastic
\napproaches,
\nClose To The Edge<\/i> is almost a perfect picture – and even the
\nflaws are minor in comparison.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26051,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5713],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-37461","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-yes","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37461"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37461"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}