Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Yes
Label: Atlantic Records
Release: 1972
Length: 37:51
Rating: 5/5
‘Fragile’ (1972) gave Yes a solid creative foundation, and with it they stepped into their most prolific period. Yes kept building on that foundation. Stronger and more confident than ever, they decided to go for their first real epic poem. The title track, that is, which is built from four parts. You may think I’m a little (or a lot) nuts, but some records just don’t lend themselves to analytical pigeonholing. Well, I’m clearly beyond help, because lately Yes are going totally overboard in my head. And “Close to the Edge” is one of those records where this review ends up as a mix of sober logic (poetry, music through feeling and mind) and the unconscious (switching off, as Veselko would put it). Sure, Eastern philosophy is no foundation to build a life on in the West, but still, the thoughts it passes along, combined with the exceptional “Yes-compositions”, are outstanding. As long as you don’t abuse those thoughts or become their slave, everything just clicks.
The first part of the title epic is The Solid Time Of Change. Birdsong, a jazzy intro (you know Mahavishnu Orchestra, but this is still far from that), the intensity grows from moment to moment, and Yes hit a hellish speed. Where everyone else sees the horizon, Yes see even further, because they always look beyond it. That’s Yes for you! The peak of the wild improvisational twisting melts into a closing ‘crescendo’! Boom!!! The atmosphere flips, a whole new world opens up! Now we’re swaying on the Con-Tiki of Peru’s first settlers on the waves of the ocean’s eternal blue. The electric sitar kicks in, Jon’s angelic vocal enters, the sky opens up. We’re outside! Close to the purpose, just a little more, I step around the nearest corner to see where the hell the purpose even is? Why am I here? Here we are, here is logic and time. It’s matter we try to go for the throat of, like rabid dogs, and expose. Isn’t it all illusion, is it even worth wasting time hunting for whys and becauses? Mentally, and as a result vibrationally, we’re trapped in Total Mass Retain (part two). Seasons Of Man (part four) reveals the constant focus of every single individual, craving the absolute final triumph of total control over all the matter around them. But paradoxically, it’s exactly that control that pulls people away from their purpose. The big finale of the 18-plus-minute epic is bathed in full light. If we follow the verses, the man finally looks down freely from the mountaintop into the valley and watches the helplessness of its solid form, which keeps regenerating itself through a ‘mind drive’ to live life in the past. Down there they worship the dead, mourn them, blame each other for something that already happened, follow the principle of ‘an eye for an eye’, bloody national banners wave and wave. Let them walk right past the purpose, they’re so close already, just a little more, and yet so far. The closing verses of Seasons Of Man bear witness to the realization that love is above all. The final circle of the one who has found their purpose is complete.
The second song, And You And I, is really a song of celebration. Jon Anderson’s heartfelt, soulful vocal will carry you there, giving the song its special stamp through an unobtrusive weaving of the gentle palette of colorful collages of the Yes sound. Siberian Khatru. A proper rocker, with a bit of this and a bit of that, built in a totally idiosyncratic way, punchy yet artfully adorned with all the essential Yes ingredients. From the Hendrix-style intro (right, Steve?), to his steel pedal guitar, Wakeman’s baroque harpsichord and the constant exuberance of the flexible rhythm line, which doesn’t ask anything in advance and just soaks up the moment it’s in. What chemistry!
‘Close To The Edge’ radiates the band’s extraordinary intellect. Intellect? Hell, didn’t I just say Yes don’t think much when they create? They’re just an honest medium. Well, let’s put it this way. The formula of think as little as possible and be spontaneous worked flawlessly for Yes! When your feet take root and your hands touch the sun. The absolute dominance of boundless spontaneity, and with it the freedom of musical creation, is the real ticket into a one-of-a-kind world called ‘Yesworld’!
Lineup
Jon Anderson – vocals
Chris Squire – bass guitar and vocals
Rick Wakeman – keyboards
Bill Bruford – drums
Steve Howe – guitar and vocals
Production
Eddie Oford
Tracklist
1. Close To The Edge (18:50)
2. And You And I (10:09)
3. Siberian Khatru (8:57)
