-

CLOSE TO THE EDGE

-

I was never a huge fan of prog rock back in the 70’s but I did develop a taste for a lot of it later on. Without a doubt King Crimson is one of my all time favorite bands though I do not know much about what they did before Starless and Bible Black. For the most part I liked Emerson Lake and Palmer’s Tarkus and Brain Salad Surgery and their FM hits but found some of their other stuff irritating to listen to all the way through.. I also like what I heard of the old Genesis with Peter Gabrielle, especially The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway and Selling England By the Pound (one of my all time favorite albums.) But no doubt the album that lit my fire for this type of music long before I knew what it was called was Close to the Edge by Yes. I was given the alum on vinyl as a gift back around 1975 when all I listened to was Led Zeppelin and Paul McCartney. I was sort of freaked out by it and put it away for a year or so. When I was in college I dug it back out of my collection after digesting Fragile and I was swept away little by little until it became, as well, one of my all time favorite albums and one I still listen to. Most recently I played it over my MP3 player while on a bus traveling through the jungles near Burma and Laos and it was a most suitable soundtrack.

-

I believe it was Yes’ fourth or fifth album (I am not sure where Yesterdays fits in chronologically) and there is no question that it was a zenith for the band at the time. I always found those first two albums pretty forgettable except for the song Time and a Word. Steve Howe came aboard for The Yes Album and brought the band to life with his myriad of guitar styles and Rick Wakeman and his classically influenced keyboard sound joined for Fragile, the album that contained the band’s bread and butter song Roundabout. I am not aware of any other prog rock band having a hit song of the scale of Roundabout (I do not consider post Gabrielle Genesis prog rock) and therefore crossing successfully over a tad into mainstream rock.But what they did with Close to the Edge sent the message that they were not going to be (at that time anyway) anymore of an FM station band than King Crimson or Genesis.

-

The album is deserving of all the praise it gets and equally deserving of the criticism. The album is both grand and pompous but accessible in a way many such albums are not (including Yes’ next two concept albums Tales from Topographic Oceans and Relayer.) The album consists of only three songs. The title song does something Yes does a lot better than most bands who try it do and that is to fill an entire album side (an average of about twenty minutes) with one song. The song moves through various sections while maintaining a musical theme that is either beautiful or obnoxious to the listener depending on their listening abilities. I am proud to belong to the club that finds it simply beautiful. The first eleven minutes structured around Howe’s guitar are immortal. Anderson’s Siddartha style lyrics come into full bloom while Wakeman is pretty low key until after the middle section where he comes in with church organs and then timeless synthesizer work.

-

-

Close to the Edge

-

The next two songs are mini epics as well. With And You and I the center again becomes Howe and his acoustic guitar, but the band performs flawlessly and again Anderson’s trademark falsetto voice and lyrics are in pure form. The album closes with the song the band would open with for years to come (mixed with Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite) Siberian Khatru, and it is simply a steady driving hard rock song with virtuoso twists and turns. Any fan of prog rock must own this album. Hard to believe this was recorded in 1972. It is also hard to believe, giving popular music trends, that this album reached number three on the charts in the States and stayed there for thirty two weeks,without ever having any airtime on FM radio stations (no doubt due to the songs extended lengths) except maybe on those old “midnight album” shows.

=

Even more surprising is that their follow up album Tales from Topographic Oceans reached number six in the States (#1 in the UK) and stayed there for twenty seven weeks. It was a double album with only four epic and abstract songs. A record company probably would not even touch an album like this now. Close to the Edge was a watermark but change was in the air as well as drummer Bill Bruford left to join King Crimson, supposedly in part due to conflicts in the studio that developed while recording the album. He would be replaced by American drummer Alan White who while a good drummer was not in the same league as Bruford (for better or worse) and after two more fantastic albums the band began to produce some albums that simply lacked the vision and scope they seemed to have tapped into during this period. I lost interest after Going for the One and Tormato and have not listened to much they did after those albums. Some people swear that Relayer is the best Yes album ever (and it is a great album with great cover art) but I disagree and feel Close to the Edge is it. I feel the album works well with Topographic Oceans and the three albums combined mark a moment when the band climbed the mountain and “viewed the silence of the valley.”

=

=

TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS

=

After writing a lengthy opinion of Yes’ Close to the Edge it got me thinking of the other two albums that followed right on the heels of that prog-rock classic and while still in the mood I decided to comment briefly on them. I also spent some time trying to find some nice Roger Dean prints to post but as of yet cannot. All I can find are tiny reproductions that are for prints that are for sale and so I need to search some fan sites later and post some reproductions of this great fantasy artist whose career and vision became symbiotically entwined with Yes’. Tales from Topographic Oceans is the only one of the three albums I do not have with me here in China except on MP3s I got from a bittorrent site. I regret not buying this before I left the States. It was released in 1974 and while similar to Close to the Edge it is also a distinct and extremely unique musical statement in the Yes catalog. It is a double album consisting of only four songs, one song per side and I will be honest, after all these years I still have not developed a liking for the second song, The Remembering, enough to dissect it. But I am very drawn into the other three songs although I am not sure what I can say about them as they are so dense and complicated and abstract.

=

The underlying theme is some Hindu text and the music shows all sorts of eastern influences. Some percussion sections sound like classical Chinese music. But there are plenty of strains of rock, jazz even a classical guitar section on The Ancient. Anderson’s lyrics are cosmic and fantastic though very abstract (which is okay with me but not with everyone. In fact I tend to find that Anderson’s lyrics from this period are the make or break point for many potential listeners.) His vocal style here often employs two syllable chants and some sections are like mini-mantras. The band is on the mark all the time and compared to what else was being done in 1974 this album is a simply grand and ethereal musical statement. Of course some people could not begin to get it and it is often dismissed by even prog rock enthusiasts as overblown, pompous and simply boring.

=

Two other worthy mentions is the glorious cover art by Roger Dean that opened into a beautiful gatefold and on inside had the lyrics spread out like an ancient scripture. The effect is not the same on a tiny CD cover. Also it is the first album on which American Alan White appears on drums after Bill Bruford left to join King Crimson and create some equally great music there. The only other recordings I am aware White did prior to this epic was some stuff with John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band and that was mostly straightforward twelve bar rock-n-roll. He jumped right into the deepest water imaginable with a band of perfectionists and held his own and then some. A timeless album that you will love with a passion, hate with a greater passion or dismiss as simply unlistenable. But it still sells at a high rate really and reached number six in the US charts then. It seemed once there was almost hope for mankind but we now live in an age were 50 Cent and Avril Lavigne go double platinum while John Lennon is assassinated. I have long ago given hope my friends. I cannot recommend this album for everyone, including most prog rockers, but if you are able to digest it you will not be disappointed. In fact, I am going to go listen to The Remembering over and over until I get it. The problem with this song must be with me and not with such a perfect piece of music as this album truly is.

=

=

RELAYER

=

I have heard Yes fans describe Relayer as either their favorite Yes album or the one they can relate to the least. The music on the album is very distinct from other Yes outings and it seemed to mark the end of a period really. The next couple albums, Going for the One and Tormato, while not bad albums in the least signified a change in direction from Close to the Edge and Tales from Topographic Oceans. Rick Wakeman took a hiatus from the band and Patrick Moraz took over on keyboards and as far as I am concerned he did a great job despite the sometimes vitriolic criticisms I have read of his one album collaboration with the band. The music is less hippified on Relayer than on any other album I have listened to by them and I do not know if this is because of Wakeman’s absence and Moraz’s presence. Most likely it is due to some decision on frontman and visionary Jon Anderson’s part. Like Close to the Edge the album consists of just three songs.

=

The epic Gates of Delirium is a song I have wrestled with all my life and I think my hesitance about calling it the masterpiece it almost could be is due to the long and grating middle section. I understand that given the context of the song this represents the sounds of war and battle. It is mostly percussive in nature and without any vocals. The keyboards and guitar and Chris Squires bass just sound like they are improvising at times. It is not a terrible section of music and the playing is superb in areas except that it all goes on just too long and is sandwiched in between two fine sections of melodic music. Remember that Yes already had five full album side epics behind them by now and they just could have filled the space in better in my opinion. The next two songs make up for the dragging middle section of Delirium and Sound Chaser s one of Yes’ hardest rocking songs. It has a long solo guitar part in the middle that is not over played and shows why Steve Howe is one of the most respected guitar players in rock music. The rest of the song does not fail to deliver the goods either. It is a wild piece of music and not one they would have done with Wakeman on board I feel. The last song To be Over is beautiful and is classic yes. Sounds like Howe is playing a petal steel guitar in parts. The opening sections is one of my favorite parts of all Yes songs.

=

I saw them in Louisville KY in 1976 for this tour and they did great. I saw them a couple years later with Wakeman and I have to confess that I thought the playing was in fact better with Wakeman, but the show with Moraz was great. It had all the props designed by Roger Dean. And speaking of Dean Relayer is one of his best covers ever. Supposedly this was the first time he had heard some of the music prior to painting a cover and after Anderson saw the finished art he changed some of the musical direction. It is a great album but one of the more controversial ones in the Yes catalog. It is a little dark and heavy really and an abrupt departure from the Hindu scripture inspired songs that preceeded it. I would safely say it is my 3rd favorite Yes album and the criticisms I have about it are common ones with fans of the album. It is a special rock album and I would recommend it only to those with a very discerning and elevated taste (and I humbly include myself in that category.)

=

I have to confess after Tormato I lost interest in what Yes was doing. I actually liked 90125 a little but never felt it sounded like Yes without Steve Howe, though Trevor Rabin’s playing was superb. I feel Relayer was their last truly monumental musical statement but I am not a rabid Yes fan really and I may be wrong. I am curious about the ablums Reunion, Keys of Ascension and ABWH but cannot find them in China, so far not even on the web. Definently interested in anything they may have done in the last decade that resembles their early work and I am hesitant to buy the music simply based on those glorious Roger Dean covers. Remember, never judge an album by its cover.

=

A TO Z LIST OF URANIUM CAFE POSTS

-

This entry was posted on Friday, July 25th, 2008 at 2:08 pm and is filed under Music-MP3s . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.