Line up: Chris Squire: Bass
Jon Anderson: Vocals
Bill Bruford: Drums
Steve Howe: Guitar
Rick Wakeman: Keyboard
Well, this is it folks, this is about as good as it gets. Music doesn't get much more beautiful than this. I can only imagine the pressure that must have been put on Yes to create a worthy follow up to the highly successful, masterful work that Fragile was, and boy did they deliver. First things first, I feel the need to make a bit of a disclaimer since this probably is my favorite album of all-time, and is about as close as I feel the album format will ever come to perfection. Also, I hold And You and I tied as my favorite piece of music ever written (Gorecki's third symphony holds the other spot.) So, with an album so personal to me and close to my heart, it is impossible to be subjective, and it's just a terrible chore for me to find anything negative to say about this album, so please excuse my mindless gushing as I review what I would probably describe as my favorite album of all-time.
The first thing that Close to the Edge seems to have going for it is the time of its release. Progressive rock was booming in 1972. Genesis released the incredible Foxtrot. Gentle Giant released their conceptual masterwork Three Friends as well as Octopus,(seriously, the fact that they managed to release both of these albums in one year baffles me.) Jethro Tull released Thick as a Brick. Also, in addition, the Italian prog scene was producing a number of gems as well, as Banco del Mutuo Soccorso released Darwin, PFM released Per Un Amico, and Le Orme released Uomo di Pezza. The krautrock scene was at its top game as well, but I think my point has been sufficiently made: 1972 was a great time to be alive for music lovers, and especially for prog fans.
As was in fashion at the time, Close to the Edge features a mere three tracks, each of an extended length. Kicking off the album is the eighteen minute title track, split into four parts. The first part, titled The Solid Time of Change, opens off with the sound of birds chirping, growing louder for a while before entering into a somewhat chaotic instrumental opening, with some cleverly laid vocal breaks. The vocal lines kick in after a couple minutes, and the song remains somewhat heavier for a while, laying down the main themes of the piece, as well as alluding to some themes which will appear later on. The second section, Total Mass Retain, features the themes used on the first but develops them a bit further. It's all pretty technical up to this point, with catchy vocal lines, a great chorus, and a big, grooving bass line with some classic Howe type of riffing over top.
It's not until the third section of the title track, I Get Up, I Get Down that the piece
really takes a big dynamic shift. The group takes their time shifting gears, allowing for a more atmospheric transition section going into the main theme of arguably the entire piece. This is the softer, more subdued section, with tightly layered harmonies, rich and evocative lyrics, and an unforgettably beautiful main melody. This is also probably for me THE definitive Jon Anderson moment, his control over the build up is so well done, as he carries the main melody up higher and higher, until he reaches the top of the octave, just at the same moment as Wakeman enters in on an incredibly huge sounding pipe organ, creating waves and waves of sound that I feel grant me the permission to use the word euphoric.
The piece transitions back into the main opening theme with the forth section, titled Seasons of Man, as Wakeman plays an excellent organ solo over top, and eventually the main vocal line from before comes back in, closing the piece off several minutes later with a recap of the original chorus. I really don't have much of a clue as to what the lyrics are about...I've heard Anderson state that the closing chorus is about a dream that he once had. And I could indeed see the lyrics of the piece as trying to evoke a warm, dreamlike type of feeling. If anything, I would encourage people to do their own research, and to ultimately decide what the piece means to them, as I don't think that even Anderson really has a concrete answer to the meaning of most of his lyrics. I could of course be wrong, but that's just my speculation.
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| The beautiful Roger Dean painting that appears on the inside of the gatefold vinyl |
The next piece, And You and I, is for me, the high point of the bands entire career. I believe that this piece is the ultimate love song, not necessarily in depicting love from a man to a woman, or vice versa, but just of love in general, and how it progresses and matures over a lifetime. By my interpretation, it is thus also about life in general. Just like the title track, And You and I is split into four different sections. The first section, Cord of Life, starts off with a brilliant acoustic guitar theme from Howe, and an excellent, though brief moog solo from Wakeman. Anderson quickly begins the main vocal line, a gorgeous melody with even more brilliant lyrics. I believe that this first section is about the newfound discovery of love in the beginning of ones life, and the excitement, energy and innocence that comes with it. Lyrics such as "Watching the world, watching us go by," and particularly the opening lyric: "A man conceived a moment's answer to the dream," seem to point towards a youthful sense of life and of course, love. The second section, Eclipse, contains some of my favorite moments of any recorded piece of music I've heard. The lyrics are reprised from the original section, but to me signify the maturity of these emotions and of the narrators love. This is about the type of love that grows and matures with age.
The third section, The Preacher, The Teacher, I feel is about the love maturing into old age. This section is probably the most cryptic, but I think that it's meaning is still pretty clear, especially in the lyric: "In the end we'll agree, we'll accept, we'll immortalize, that the truth of the man maturing in his eyes." To me this is about having lived through much of life, being much more wise and less naive, yet love still growing deeper, more mature, and more meaningful. This is also the final section of the piece to include the lyric: "All complete in the sight of seeds of life with you," which appears in each of the first three sections, and is probably the most important lyric of the song...Which brings us to the final section, Apocalypse, which I believe to be about death. But since the narrator of the piece has lived a full, meaningful life, and has experienced love on such a deep level, he welcomes death and sees it as the ultimate end, or continuation of love. The final lyric: "And you and I called over valleys of endless seas," is a poignant and beautiful look at death, and at how love can ultimately be the fulfillment of life, once we reach those final moments.
The final song on the album, Siberian Kahtru, is a bit more straight forward in terms of its format, since it is not laid out in multiple sections like the first two pieces. In spite of this it is still a highly nuanced and challenging piece of music. It is far more upbeat, grooving harder than anything on the album so far, and closing the album off on more of a light hearted, high energy note. This is also quite a technical piece, and features some excellent playing by all members of the band. I'm not going to bother going into detail on the lyrics here, simply because I believe them to have no particular meaning. This is very much Anderson bringing back the whole "random imagery" idea I talked about earlier to the absolute peak of its randomness. In any case, Siberian Kahtru is an exciting, and highly satisfying way to finish off the album.
As I stated earlier, since this is what I would generally describe as my favorite album of all-time, it is really just impossible to be at all subjective. So I apologize for my lack of subjectivity; but I really do think that this is about as good as the album format will ever get. I view the concept of "the album," as just another form of music, not unlike a sonata, concerto, or an etude. And I think that Yes made the absolute best utilization of the idea of "the album" on Close to the Edge that has been made of it to date.
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| Close to the Edge is the last Yes album to feature the talents of drummer Bill Bruford |
Unfortunately, this is one of only two Yes albums to feature what I consider to be the ultimate Yes lineup, as Bruford would soon step aside to pursue a (fantastic) career with King Crimson. Alan White did a great job replacing him, but Bruford...well, he's Bruford. I'll talk more about Alan White in the next review.
I realize that I kind of contradicted myself earlier in this review when I stated that "I don't think that even Anderson really has a concrete answer to the meaning of most of his lyrics," and then went on to describe what I believe And You and I to mean in great detail. So I apologize for the slight hypocrisy on my end. But I have put quite a bit of thought into the meaning of And You and I, and since the piece really does mean quite a bit to me, I wanted to go a bit more in depth. I also believe that this piece does have a stronger meaning than a lot of other Yes songs, which are just more random lyrically.
Anyways, if I haven't been clear enough throughout this review, I am quite obsessed with this album, and finding any fault in it is just a huge chore for me. This really is about as good as it gets...
See my rating below:
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