Close To The Edge is a qunitesential prog rock album from 1972. The band Yes is one of the most famous progressive rock bands of the time. In my own opinion it is safe to say that most of their discography from the early 70's is some of the strongest out of all prog rock bands.

It is easy to argue that Close To The Edge is Yes's best album. It is apparent to me that many bands of the time were experimenting with very long songs, kind of like concpet albums. These long style songs serve as a bit of a "look what we can do", they explore many different musical vibes througout and to me are the stars of each bands album. The title track on the Close To The Edge album is this for Yes. It is very much a magnum opus and is my favourite Yes song for its grandure and pomp at the same time as its melancholic natural flow. It is a little under 20 minutes long and does not dissapoint at any moment.

I used to be a "musician", I just played the saxophone for a little while in high school, but I am not an expert on music theory or anything like that, so do not expect any in depth musicology analysis. Some of the sounds in Close To The Edge are really unique, I especially like the beginning. The start of the song begins with a crescendo into a very anxious sounding mix of instruments. I love it, the messy-ness and scrambling feeling that the band creates is super cool and one of the reasons I always can come back to Yes and this song in particular to be surprised by the feelings they can conjure. The song transitions into a much more smooth sound in an epic transition. All the transitions between sections in this piece are so cool. It is really, really, really easy to just let this song wash over you. But is equally as fun to actually listen to the song. It can be fun to pick out an instrument and just listen to that one, they all do funky and unique things. Often I can just listen to the relentless-ness of the drums or the delerious-ness of the bass. This song is a master piece due to how easy it is to enjoy it in so many ways.

There are some really interesting sounds too, like some synthesized sounds. I do not remember where I heard this, but if you notice some sounds that kind of crescendo into a loud "bop" sound, I think it is a chord played on a piano in reverse. Keep an ear out for it!

But yeah, the flow of the song is really something to marvel at and I think with a lot of prog songs/albums by Yes, they really achieve some special flow. It is so easy to let the song wash over you and zone out. It can be really nice background music, you can be listening for one second and zone out, then upon re-entering the song you can really be transported to a new place. Despite me saying that it is "background" music and "so boring" that you can let it wash over you, I think there are also a lot of really cool hooks that can seriously stay in your head for a long time. The band, from what I understand was quite musically smart - with their theory I mean, and they definetly knew how to right catch pop tunes as they did in the 80's. So I think it makes sense that some parts of the song can be addicting.

I think that there is a lot someone could say about the lyrics to Close To The Edge, but I dont really know what to say. I know that Yes did a lot of religious inspired lyrics in some of thier other albums, but also some songs were just the opposite and lyrics that were more "fun" and less "deep and meaningful", like some songs you could analyse for an english essay, but some are just cool songs with cool lyrics. At least that is my understanding. Some of the other songs in this album definity fit into the "it just sounds cool" lyric style. But I have the feeling that the lyrics in Close To The Edge have some meaning. I have no doubt that you could likely find some fan that has indeed written a much more detailed report than this that discusses the lyrics of the song. But the lyrics just sound cool to me anyway. This is something I think I do for a lot of music. I just dont listen to the words. I like listening to the emothion, the sound and the melody of the singer much more than the meaning of the words. I think this is why I like Yes so much. The lyrics, although having meaning, can feel like a compliment to the music, where as pop style songs have a feeling where the music is a compliment to the lyrics.

This song and this album were a gateway into me discovering more prog style rock, so I will always love it for that. It is very approachable and Yes is pretty mainstream for prog rock. Close To The Edge is really a magnum opus song, being amazing in its sound, but not prohibitevely complicated or complex. If you are looking for an introduction to the band this is the album to start with I think. I will always love this song for what it opened me up to. thorughout my time listening to this style of music, I have never been bored with this song and it is always refreshing to hear.

The next song on the album is titled And You And I. It is pretty long as well! a bit over 10 minutes, but again it is a really nice song. There is uniqueness in each of its sections. It a bit more of a happy song, but contains some seriously overwhelming, cool and serious feels. Close To The Edge can leave a bit of a sad or depressed feeling, but this song induces more awe and a bit more of a happy ending to me. The parts of the song with acoustic guitar seem to have some sort of childlike awe feeling. I think that is a decent way of expressing how this song makes me feel, it gives me feelings of rememberence of things that have happened.

Again, I am not really sure of the lyrics of this song, but I think they have some meaning, the title seems to be such that it conveys some emotion. But they flow so well and they are fun. But, this song is a more than adequate follow up to Close To The Edge. It does not compromise on grandure and is going to leave some really catchy riffs in your head. As opposed to Close To The Edge, where you can just let the whole song wash over you. And You And I will draw you back in with heavier parts and leave you to relax in lighter parts. Its a bit more of a yoyo than Close To The Edge.

Next is Siberian Khatru. Apparently Khatru means "as you wish in Yemeni", I am not sure what it really has to do with the song, but Siberian Khatru is a really cool song. It is a really fun follow up to And You And I. It is distinct in its sounds, but still fits in with the feel of the album. The song is a lot more upbeat and fun. It gives a very cohesive band feel, a bit more jam-y than the last two songs, but less deep-cut-y.

So all in all this is a fantastic album, it was really one of my introductory listens to progressive rock. When ive grown tired of other bands, or other albums, I can always come back to Close To The Edge to get me in the spirit of prog again. It really has everything you want, or everything I want, from a prog album. It's a fan favourite and a favourite in the prog community too I'm pretty sure. I will always love this album for being on of my first prog experiences.

Cheers, Marcus