Close to the Edge | Loppylugs

Submitted by Jon Taylor on 14 February 2013 - 10:51pm

Cover:

Artist:

Yes

album-ID:

a_29

Nationality:

Year:

1 972

Release-year:

0000

Num-of-tracks:

Track-listing:

Close to the Edge*And You and I*Siberian Khatru

Length-in-mins:

Nominator:

Bean

meeting-ID:

m_12

Now-num:

Spotify-URL:

5NPJKLsI5mCfe4yXIOfKtj

Grooveshark-URL:

Close+To+The+Edge/1292771

Short-title:

closeToEdge

nominator-ID:

u_3

Meeting-date:

Thursday, 26 June 2008

MusicBrainz-URL:

5a59b948-1961-32ff-80d9-e970c7d4ebe9

Wikipedia-URL:

Close_to_the_Edge_(Yes_album)

Spotify-link-type:

album

Discogs-URL:

Yes-Close-To-The-Edge/master/35006

Allmusic-URL:

close-to-the-edge-mw0000692219

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reviewers-IDs data

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65

reviewed by

Neil Hornsey

A mostly enjoyable listen, complex enough to be a challenge but tuneful enough to sign along to at times. For many this is a love it or hate it sound, but for me it can be decent enough background stuff, irritating at times but mostly worthwhile.
58

reviewed by

Glyn Lewis

Blue-tail/ tail-fly/ mover in time/ der-de-der der-de-der-durr

2

3

This is very much the archetypal Yes release with their famous line-up and their long, largely instrumental, progressive rock pieces in place. Personally, I never really felt it was a particularly pleasurable experience listening to this phase of their output and I can't say I've really warmed to it over time. It's music that is impressive and it is also varied, but sometimes too deliberately so - they seem to throw in a lot of passages and musical ideas that don't seem to necessarily sit well together, even though I've probably heard this stuff enough times that it should seem to make sense to me anyway.

The sound they make together feels somewhat unbalanced tonally: Jon Anderson obviously sings up high, Chris Squire fiddles around on his bass high up on the fretboard pretty often and everyone else is up there too, even the drums are a bit light on bass. Jon Anderson's singing really isn't something I've ever enjoyed, it just lacks range - warmth and depth are missing. The lyrics get just plain silly sometimes and are all a bit too obtuse and poetic for me. Rick Wakeman's keyboard's don't really add the colour and atmosphere that they should. The organ sounds, particularly, are very much of that era, although he does play a super mad fast solo when the occasion arises and it does.

When it gets a bit more folk / acoustic, like the opening to And You And I, then the balance of sounds feels like it makes a bit more sense. Steve Howe adds great touches with his guitar and there are interesting ideas in all the songs. Overall, though, it does feel a bit trapped in its time.
46

reviewed by

Paul Salman

I have tried hard to like this album and indeed in places it impresses but taken as a whole it doesn't do anything for me.
44

reviewed by

Richard Norbury