Most albums are made to purely entertain a target audience. Even albums that take years to make, carefully and intricately made, every last second of its creator’s life being consumed by the exhaustion that making a great album causes.
In the end, most artists, successful or unsuccessful, try to appeal to everybody. With that being said, one thing that all of the best albums have in common is that their creators are not trying to appeal to anyone, and the goal of their project is to make a statement.
Yes is one of the original progressive rock pioneers. Their discography is commonly ranked as one of the best, usually in the same conversation with other legendary bands such as Pink Floyd and King Crimson. Forming in 1968, the London group found early success with top five charting albums The Yes Album and Fragile.
In their early works, Yes had already built a solid foundation, experimenting with combinations of classical and traditional rock music. However, beginning with Fragile, Yes had leaned more on creating incredibly groovy atmospheres, commonly shifting from an energetic sound to more of a dulcet one.
After showing flashes of their future renowned sound, the band decided to fully embrace them with their 1972 deemed masterpiece Close to the Edge.
It definitely was an unexpected turn to say the least, as Yes had just found lots of charting success with their more traditional sounding material.
Now, with the most attention they’ve ever gotten, they released one of the experimental and compelling albums of the 1970s. Despite the band’s new direction, Close to the Edge proved to be yet another chart success in their catalogue.
The music in Close to the Edge is really unlike any album I’ve ever heard.
I’ve listened to lots of progressive rock, and yes there’s still no album that quite does what Yes does on this. For an album with such strange patterns, it goes without saying that the making of this album was definitely a difficult one. Frontman Jon Anderson stated that “It was like being on the edge of insanity at times, but the result was something extraordinary.”
The band knew that they’d created a classic, with the keyboardist Rick Wakeman claiming that “It’s a remarkable piece of work…we were firing on all cylinders.” With so many people including the band itself saying Close to the Edge was an incredible project, I definitely agree.
There are only three songs on the album, clocking in at thirty-seven minutes long in total. Despite the length of the tracks, this album experience offers a unique and refreshing atmosphere due to its hypnotizing and groovy instrumentation.
I think my favorite thing about this album in general is the bass. Bassist Chris Squire’s performance on Close to the Edge is easily one of the most impressive performances that have ever blessed my ears.
The first track, titled “Close to the Edge: I. The Solid Time of Change / II. Total Mass Retain / III. I Get Up I Get Down / IV. Seasons of Man,” despite its daunting name, is inarguably one of the single best songs of all time. It constantly changes in sound and tone and it’s stuffed with great vocals, fantastic bass, and other variations of musical insanity.
The second song is called “And You and I,” and while I think it is the weakest of the three, it’s still an amazing transitional track between two mammoth ones. While it is a step down from one of the greatest songs ever, “And You and I” still features all of the things that makes Yes so great, just to a lesser extent. In a way it reminds me of “Roundabout” with its tone shifts and large musical diversity.
Finally, the last track, “Siberian Khatru,” may just be my favorite.
It is not even half as long as the title track, but in its eight-minute time frame it accomplishes so much. The vocals sound like they came from a different planet and the bass is literally pure insanity. Climaxed by a final incredible solo from guitarist Steve Howe, Close to the Edge comes to an end.
Throughout the thirty-seven minute runtime, Close to the Edge proves that a very experimental album can still succeed in a multitude of ways. Yes struck big with this album, and to this day it’s recognized as a modern day masterpiece.
All in all, I believe that music is life. That does not particularly mean that music is the only thing that is important to me, though. Family always comes first, especially when a family member’s life is at risk.
Phil Valerio is a family member of mine, and he is actually the one who recommended I listen to this album. Valerio is recovering from a recent kidney transplant, a testament to his toughness and bravery. Thank you Phil Valerio, thank you all.
