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Yes - Close to the Edge CD (album) cover

CLOSE TO THE EDGE

Yes

 

Symphonic Prog

4.68 | 5054 ratings

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endlessepic
5 stars Ok Ok Ok. I admit. This is a masterpiece. I didnt really expect it to be as good as heralded but alas, it is. This has stood the test of time. I bought this cd just because of all the hooplah about it and wanted to see if any of it was true. On first listen I thought "Ya, it's talented but I'm not convinced" second and third listens revealed more depth and appreciation for the structures and now I "liked" the album alot although I still thought some of Jon Andersons vocals and the harmonys were overdone and annoying. After a while I realized, this was prog rock at its finest, up there with the likes of "Brian Salad Surgery" and "Octopus" I cannot say enough about how well this is done, I love structured prog songs (as of right now my three faves are 3 very structured bands ELP YES and Gentle Giant) and this was a great example of it. I am only 16 so I wasnt here when this came out but now I know why it is still such a classic. Fantastic!

Close To The Edge - I still think the main melody line where Jon starts singing is kind of annoying but the rest of it is great ("A time in which to...etc" it gets old). But the rest of it is great and so well tied together. The hammond solo around 15:00 is AWESOME, I pulled on the freeway one day and went a bit to much over the speed limit because this thing was rocking so well. I love the church organ as well, and the angelic "I get up" part is beautiful.

And You and I - Excellant song, kind of folk-symphonic prog. The harmonys on this one are top notch and I love the overall sound of it.

Siberian Khatru - Rocking riff, the instrumental part is so good! Steve Howe does some hardcore soloing on this one and the interplay between bass and guitar and hammond is awesome. I have always respected Steve Howe because he and I have a mutual obsession with Chet Atkins but this really brought my view of him as a guitarist up big time! Awesome prog rock.

The bonus tracks are pretty cool but dont compare to the main three, but I wont detract for that because the original album only consisted of the first three.

I am convinced!

endlessepic | 5/5 |

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