CLOSE TO THE EDGE

Five Stars. What did you expect? Calling this record "excellent" and not referring to it as an essential piece to the wonderful genre that is prog feels like a painful insult. It should be worth noting that by the time this album was released there was barely any ground built on progressive rock. The first self-proclaimed progressive rock record (In The Court Of The Crimson King) had been released only three years ago, in-between 1969 and 1972 there was barely any notable records, as the prog giants were growing in terms of excellence and musical maturity.

The thing is, that many reached their peak in 1972. Many others in 1973. But we're gonna be talking about 1972. Let's recap the bands that peaked in 1972:

All the big three of Italian Progressive Rock peaked in 1972:

- Le Orme (Uomo Di Pezza) - Premiata Forneria Marconi (Per Un Amico) - Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso (Darwin!)

And some of the most infamous British Progressive Rock acts did as well:

- Gentle Giant (Octopus) - Emerson, Lake and Palmer (controversial opinion, I know, I'll talk about it when I review Trilogy) - Jethro Tull (Thick As A Brick) - Yes (*Close To The Edge*)

I have always considered it the best year of prog, some think it's 1973 because of Selling England By The Pound and the legendary Dark Side Of The Moon. Well, opinions are opinions and none of them are wrong.

Yes, as I mentioned before, peaked in 1972. They had previously released two brilliant records that made the progressive rock ground shake. Fragile, in specific launched them to the public eye. Roundabout was a reasonable hit for a progressive rock band. Yet despite these two records being truly brilliant, they're not perfect. Fragile, mentioning it once again, suffers from small interludes that don't add much to the record. The Yes Album is far more consistent but its best tracks are far from being as good as Fragile's.

So in 1972 they released Close To The Edge. The album had no filler, no short tracks. It was made of just three tracks. Three very long ones. It was a bold move yet understandable, in the early 70s the British progressive rock scene was actually far more popular than it is today, so a three track album was going to be noticed by a lot of people.

So, let's speak about the album. What makes Close ToThe Edge an undisputed masterpiece? For me, it comes from a perfect combination and balance between musicianship and musicality. In other words, everything in its right place. No pretentious extensions or repetitive-ness, no unorganized and unnecessary segments in an attempt to make a song look progressive. Everything is where it needs to be.

With three tracks, you can expect some serious lengthy-ness and epics. The album begins with one of the greatest and most quintessential progressive rock songs of all time: The Title-Track.

Close To The Edge is an 18 minute epic divided in three movements, some of these movements reprise/reiterate ideas from previous ones for a sense of connection. The first one begins with the calm noise of singing birds, only to be blasted by an insane short instrumental section where all the musicians shine. This section is amazing and to be fair I don't really want to explain it to you, you should listen it and be amazed by yourself.