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RoyFairbank 
Forum Senior Member
Joined: January 07 2008
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 Topic: What's So Great 'Bout "Close To The Edge?"
Posted: February 22 2010 at 18:15 |
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What's So Great 'Bout Close To The Edge? (ITS RANKED #1, AND WAS APPARENTLY VOTED GREATEST ALBUM EVER ON THIS SITE IN 2006)
Listening to it, it is obviously a well done album by a great band, but what is the purpose of Close to The Edge that so distinguishes it, what am I supposed to get from it that is so special?
WARNING RUNNING WRITING: I know from Selling England By the Pound (to go to down the list) that Society is falling apart at the seams thanks to a loss of culture, I understand each story and mood that goes into it, and the magical sense of hoplessness of the bad- but adequately lyriced Firth of Fifth, the absurdity of trying to be tough and the corruption of everyone expressed in the nations youth from The Battle of Epping Forest etc. I know from Wish You Were Here that we grow up to be F'ed and lose all our friends and have cold isolation from everyone because its an F'ing machine people! and I know from Thick As A Brick that the newspaper had a headline like that and I know from Foxtrot that the aliens are going to find nothing cuz were all gonna extinct ourselves and that history obliterates glory and I know from the Dark Side of The Moon that sanity is a construction to mask terrible hurt and conflict that we experience and I know from In the Court of the Crimson King that the 21st century sucks really bad and CLOSE TO THE EDGE IS RANKED HIGHER THAN ALL OF THEM!
Edited by RoyFairbank - February 22 2010 at 19:53
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Slartibartfast
Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator / In Memoriam
Joined: April 29 2006
Location: Atlantais
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Points: 29630
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Posted: February 22 2010 at 18:19 |
Oooh, oooh, oooh: because it's close to the edge and the others fell off? 
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Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened... 
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topofsm
Forum Senior Member
Joined: August 17 2008
Location: Arizona, USA
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Points: 1698
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Posted: February 22 2010 at 18:31 |
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I like other albums more than Close to the Edge. But everybody else says it's the best. So I must be missing something.
Or it's overrated. That must be it. Cause I don't like CTTE as much.
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Finnforest
Special Collaborator
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Joined: February 03 2007
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Posted: February 22 2010 at 18:33 |
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Any Colour You Like
Prog Reviewer
Joined: May 15 2009
Status: Offline
Points: 12294
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Posted: February 22 2010 at 18:42 |
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Uh.
Why does this thread exist. I personally think Up The Downstair is better than Close to the Edge. But no one else cares, so I deal with it.
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stonebeard
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Joined: May 27 2005
Location: NE Indiana
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Posted: February 22 2010 at 18:42 |
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Are you talking about the album or the song?
"And You And I" is quite possibly the best Yes song, and "Siberian Khatru" is really fun. "Close to the Edge" has a lot to offer, is fun, interesting and all that, but not quite as good as those two.
And I lol'd at this part: " it is simply undefinable in any further way (a musical blob). Relayer is a cool, jazzy electronic Jam"
I'd say Relayer is miles more unfocused as an album than CTTE.
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Petrovsk Mizinski
Prog Reviewer
Joined: December 24 2007
Location: Ukraine
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Points: 25210
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Posted: February 22 2010 at 18:49 |
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More of a fan of Isis' album Oceanic than CTTE if I must say so myself
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Alberto Muñoz
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Joined: July 26 2006
Location: Mexico
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Points: 3577
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Posted: February 22 2010 at 18:55 |
CTTE one of the masterpieces of prog rock, lyrics inspired in the Herman Hesse Book Siddartha.
I recommend to you to read this:
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TheGazzardian
Prog Reviewer
Joined: August 11 2009
Location: Canada
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Points: 8844
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Posted: February 22 2010 at 18:57 |
I don't get what your post is about, but if you're really curious about what Close to the Edge is about, I'd help you out, but I'm still trying to figure out what a Khatru is.
If you're really, really curious, google "Close to the edge" interpretation. The first result I got was:
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RoyFairbank
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Joined: January 07 2008
Location: Somewhere
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Posted: February 22 2010 at 19:07 |
 Alberto Muñoz wrote:
CTTE one of the masterpieces of prog rock, lyrics inspired in the Herman Hesse Book Siddartha.
I recommend to you to read this:
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This is good. I'll read this in depth
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thellama73
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Posted: February 22 2010 at 19:15 |
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Well, I'm afraid I can't help much as far as interpretation goes, and Yes is not one of my favorite bands, but I find Close to the Edge to be far more melodic and uplifting than Relayer, which I actually can't stand. There is beauty in CTTE (the whole album.) Wakeman's synths are at their bubbly best, Squire thumps along cheerfully, Bruford tap-tap-tapparoos those drums like crazy and Howe tunes his guitar, using harmonics.
What can I say, I like it.
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RoyFairbank
Forum Senior Member
Joined: January 07 2008
Location: Somewhere
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Points: 1072
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Posted: February 22 2010 at 19:17 |
TheGazzardian wrote:
I don't get what your post is about, but if you're really curious about what Close to the Edge is about, I'd help you out, but I'm still trying to figure out what a Khatru is.
If you're really, really curious, google "Close to the edge" interpretation. The first result I got was:
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Interesting! I take it as given that something which has to be overly-rationalized is engaged in a certain amount of hiding. Look: Two tear drops across the canvas
ocean spray in streaks down the chalkboard
surrounded by the metallic pulse of night
brace myself to receive the final wordsee? anyone can write nonsense lyrics. Bob Dylan became a master of it by 1965. I think alot of these bands took after him.
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Equality 7-2521
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Joined: August 11 2005
Location: Philly
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Points: 15784
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Posted: February 22 2010 at 19:24 |
Why does the album need a purpose? I'm pretty sure the purpose of the album was for the band to express themselves in a format that they enjoy. If you don't like it move on with your life. Albums, lyrics, whatever don't need meaning to be valid or even enjoyed.
The lyrics sound cool. The images are cool. Or maybe the fact that they make no sense is cool. Who cares?
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"One had to be a Newton to notice that the moon is falling, when everyone sees that it doesn't fall. "
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RoyFairbank
Forum Senior Member
Joined: January 07 2008
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Posted: February 22 2010 at 19:42 |
Equality 7-2521 wrote:
Why does the album need a purpose? I'm pretty sure the purpose of the album was for the band to express themselves in a format that they enjoy. If you don't like it move on with your life. Albums, lyrics, whatever don't need meaning to be valid or even enjoyed.
The lyrics sound cool. The images are cool. Or maybe the fact that they make no sense is cool. Who cares? |
  "Or maybe the fact they make no sense is cool" I don't have a come back for that! I think this is the problem with ART in general - I mean, look at Avant-Garde ANYTHING, lines of red on white, blue circles in a black field... statue of a triangle... So when we come to Avant-Garde (sic?) rock, Is that simply what they were doing? Obviously its WAY BETTER than pop music, and I like the album more than most albums on this Earth, but is it really saying anything or just fooling with my head? Everyone should listen to Desolation Row by Bob Dylan- then you know when someone is fooling with your head and knows it. In his case he had been writing clear-cut lyrics before he started suddenly writing crap. Dave Van Ronk said That whole artistic mystique is one of the great traps
of this business, because down that road lies unintelligibility. Dylan
has a lot to answer for there, because after a while he discovered that
he could get away with anything—he was Bob Dylan and people would take
whatever he wrote on faith. So he could do something like "All Along
the Watchtower," which is simply a mistake from the title on down: a
watchtower is not a road or a wall, and you can't go along it.
EDIT NOTE: I cleaned up the first post, removing the references to Relayer to avoid confusion. For those who missed it, I said Relayer is a seriously cool Jam album with a hard groovin' electronic edge to it and I think its better than Close to Edge. The papers are in order, you may pass!
Edited by RoyFairbank - February 22 2010 at 19:57
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JLocke
Prog Reviewer
Joined: November 18 2007
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Points: 4900
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Posted: February 22 2010 at 19:47 |
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You're not alone. CttE is one of the most overrated albums in Prog history, in my view, Although, as has been pointed out before, EVERYTHING is overrated, really. Everybody has his or her own take on it, and worrying about why you don't 'get' something is unnecessary, to say the least. If you want to like it better, then listen to it more, and it may eventually grow on you. Though, I am in complete agreement with you when you say you much prefer Relayer. It's my favorite Yes album by miles.
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The Pessimist
Prog Reviewer
Joined: June 13 2007
Location: United Kingdom
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Points: 3834
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Posted: February 22 2010 at 19:56 |
Petrovsk Mizinski wrote:
More of a fan of Isis' album Oceanic than CTTE if I must say so myself
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SNAP.
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"Market value is irrelevant to intrinsic value."
Arnold Schoenberg
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J-Man
Prog Reviewer
Joined: August 07 2008
Location: Philadelphia,PA
Status: Offline
Points: 7826
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Posted: February 22 2010 at 20:12 |
What's So Great 'Bout Close To The Edge?
Everything. Absolutely Everything. 
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The T
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: October 16 2006
Location: FL, USA
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Posted: February 22 2010 at 20:20 |
The album is a fairly decent attempt at writing true symphonic rock... It has its merit... Whether one likes it or not.
It's a good album anyway. Not the holy grail for me as it is for many, but good. Above (well above) average...
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ProgressiveAttic
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Joined: April 05 2008
Location: .
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Posted: February 22 2010 at 20:20 |
J-Man wrote:
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What's So Great 'Bout Close To The Edge?Everything. Absolutely Everything.
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Agreed!!!
Although I do prefer Tales from Topographic Oceans and Relayer....
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Michael's Sonic Kaleidoscope Mondays 5:00pm EST(re-runs Thursdays 3:00pm) @ Delicious Agony Progressive Rock Radio(http://www.deliciousagony.com) 
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Johnnytuba
Forum Senior Member
Joined: January 02 2009
Location: New York
Status: Offline
Points: 377
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Posted: February 22 2010 at 20:36 |
JLocke wrote:
You're not alone. CttE is one of the most overrated albums in Prog history, in my view, Although, as has been pointed out before, EVERYTHING is overrated, really. Everybody has his or her own take on it, and worrying about why you don't 'get' something is unnecessary, to say the least. If you want to like it better, then listen to it more, and it may eventually grow on you. Though, I am in complete agreement with you when you say you much prefer Relayer. It's my favorite Yes album by miles. |
Agreed about Relayer. IMO, Yes's best album!
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"The things that we're concealing, will never let us grow.
Time will do its healing, you've got to let it go.
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What's So Great 'Bout "Close To The Edge?"
