REVIEW: "Close to the Edge" by Yes

Close to the Edge
by Yes
(Rhino/WEA, 2003/1972)
5 stars out of 5

A group as longlasting and as successful as Yes is bound to have a career filled with many lofty highlights and acheivements, and Yes has indeed scaled the heights often, both artistically and commercially.

With CLOSE TO THE EDGE from 1972, Yes was hitting on all cylinders with the Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe, and Squire lineup in their prime in every way--as musicians, as songwriters, as arrangers, as vocalists, and as a team. Words fail when trying to adequately describe this CD (without slipping into mindless cliches or hyperbole). It's mindblowing. Thrilling. Cinematic. Expansive. Daring. Melodic. Tornadic. A velvet covered brick.

Though it did not spawn radio hits like its predecessors, THE YES ALBUM and FRAGILE, it gives us three tracks of lasting beauty, power, and relevance. Many Yes fans consider this the band's penultimate work. It's stunning to consider that the band created this album so quickly after FRAGILE (a masterwork in its own right). Rarely can one find artists who are as prolific and trailblazing and stellar at the same time.

The epic title track, "Close to the Edge," is a cornucopia of sounds and moods, an explosion of nature draped in pastoral passages of tranquility. Rick Wakeman, keyboardist extraordinnaire has an absolute field day on this track, leading the fearsome charge of instrumental virtuosity displayed by the whole band.

My favorite Yes song of all-time is the lovely "And You and I," a lovely, folky piece that builds into a symphonic rush and stays with you long after it fades away. The third and final song is an oft-overlooked gem that has held up incredibly well over the decades; it's a rocker called "Siberian Khatru," and features some fine fretwork from the ever-incredible Steve Howe.

CLOSE TO THE EDGE was the perfect balance between the band's melodic and compositional strengths with their more daring, progressive explorations. With later studio albums TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS and RELAYER, Yes may have gone over the edge a bit. But Yes has never been boring, pedestrian, or safe, and on this CD, they reward the listener with one of the richest experiences in the history of rock and roll.

With this 2003 re-mastered release of CLOSE TO THE EDGE, Rhino/WEA has hit a home run, revamping and improving the sound dramatically as well as the packaging. Plus, we get the single version of Yes's endearingly manic take on Simon & Garfunkel's "America," and two other alternate takes of songs, plus a single condensation of the title song's "Total Mass Retain" passage.

This is a must for every serious fan of progressive rock!