September 13, 1972 - Close To The Edge

A couple months since my last release, and about a year since the amazing "Fragile", Yes released their fifth album called "Close To The Edge" on September 13, 1972. With the same line-up as last album, Yes looked to really recreate their live sound and even built a little stage in Advision Studios. They also wrote long, progressive epics with this album containing only 3 songs, the shortest of which is 8-and-a-half minutes. It was a very difficult album to record with tensions among the band, and drummer Bill Bruford would end up quitting after the recording was finished. It's sad to hear that this line-up will have only made two albums together, but the last one was phenomenal, what will this one sound like? Let's dive in!

Yes joins the club of progressive rockers who have made one song take up a whole side of a record, with the near 19-minute "Close To The Edge". It's broken down into four parts, and it opens with birds chirping and trippy Mellotron by Rick Wakeman. After about a minute of that it moves into a crazy part with lots of super fast keyboards and guitar by Steve Howe. Chris Squire is playing some great bass, Bruford's drums are great as well, and this is a fantastic way to start the song! We finally get lyrics as the second part begins as Anderson sings quickly and sounds great as usual. Cool bass by Squire carries this part and allows the guitar and keyboards to play some cool stuff. The song really slows down for the third part as it gets very quiet and we hear slow, trippy keyboards. Anderson sings one part and Howe and Squire sing together on their own bit in another interesting part as Anderson gets progressively louder. This leads to some epic church organs by Wakeman that sound awesome! He also plays synthesizer overtop of the organ, which leads right into the fourth and final part. A cool new synth riff takes off with quick drumming by Bruford keeping pace. Wakeman plays a pretty sweet synth solo, and then we hear a medley of all the previous parts in a nicely done part. The song ends as it began, with Mellotron and birds chirping. It had a fantastic opening, a little slow in the middle, but lots more great stuff at the end as Yes are fully embracing their progressiveness.

Side two begins with the 10-minute "And You And I" which has a slow guitar opening by Howe. Some cool synths by Wakeman take the lead and Anderson sings really well. There's a slow instrumental part led by various keyboards and one more verse. We're back to the slow guitar again, which leads into cool synths and verse like before. No big solos though in this fairly tame song. The last song on the album has a bit more bite to it, called "Siberian Khatru". It has an awesome opening part with great contributions from everyone, and that really understates how good these guys are playing. A super catchy and great guitar riff carries the verse, as we hear the trio of Anderson, Howe and Squire singing together. The latter plays some great bass as well and we also hear Howe play the electric sitar. Wakeman had his turn with some cool keyboards, now Howe is on electric guitar. This song just never lets up! They play a cool wordless vocal part that breaks up all the great instrumental stuff. Howe plays a cool guitar solo overtop of everything else that sounds pretty great and it goes right until the finish as the song fades out mid solo. Boo to stopping songs mid-solo! He clearly wasn't done, let the awesomeness continue! Still, a great song with a lot of great stuff jammed into those 9 minutes.

That is the end of "Close To The Edge" and not surprisingly, this line-up of Yes has made another great album. The title track is slow on parts, but mostly pretty good and "Siberian Khatru" is my favourite song off this one. "And You And I" is good song for sure, but it's lacking that spark that is ever-present on some of their other stuff. Speaking of, how does this compare with their previous work? I think this album easily passes both of their first two efforts, but it's a tougher question when it comes to "The Yes Album". They are both really great albums, and it's very close, but I give the nod to their third album, making "Close To The Edge" their third best album (in my opinion). "Fragile" remains the benchmark for excellence, and without Bruford what will the next Yes album be like? I will there to listen when they make it happen.