CLOSE TO THE EDGE

Thank god for the bonus material. It gave me a thrill to rehear this record for the first time. This is of course a prog classic. Released in progs finest hour. It is however a very flawed classic. The lyrics do not bear examination and that could also true- fully be said about much of the arrangement. However truthfully the whole is greater than any one part and this record sounds very nice. The title track takes up one full side of the vinyl release, after a nod to the dawn chores, the track races along at quite a pace. There are plenty of hooks despite the rather frantic and supremely confident muso explorations. Its a pop song of course but it is only later that you realise it. We then hit something of a lull and this is a weakness of prog that sometimes the songs are just to long. The I get up I get down section is really turgid and has dated very poorly, however once we are over this hump its full speed ahead to the end of the song. This part confirms the suspicion that its a pop song in reality. This part has massive amounts of reverb on it and spent a day in the bin at one point before being spliced back on. A brave move and live they would turn the reverb up to reproduce this rather odd sound. The 2nd side has the best track Siberian Khatru (8:57) but first we must sit through the pleasant and you and I. Siberian Khatru has everything that is great about yes and none of the downside it is by far the tightest cut on this and maybe any Yes record it is a perfect 10. There what more can you add, Frankly I hate Yes not for this record but for everything that came after. Bloated and ugly Yes was the first prog band to become seriously uncool. This LP is bright and refreshing, their next record Tales from Topographic oceans almost single handed destroyed prog. Perhaps it was inevitable that in its finest moment prog was sowing the seeds of its own destruction.