Close to the Edge
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Close to the Edge is an album by British progressive rock band Yes. Recording ended in June 1972 just as drummer Bill Bruford suddenly left the line-up, and the album was released on Atlantic Records in September 1972. Close To The Edge is widely regarded as one of progressive rock's seminal moments and a masterpiece. It reached #4 in the UK and a career high of #3 in the US.
Track listing
- Close to the Edge (18:41)
- The Solid Time of Change
- Total Mass Retain
- I Get Up I Get Down
- Seasons of Man Missing image
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(song sample - 176K)
- And You And I (10:07)
- Cord of Life
- Eclipse
- The Preacher The Teacher
- Apocalypse
- Siberian Khatru (8:55)
Commentary
This album set a trend for Yes of including a single epic song significantly longer than the others which was followed in the later albums Relayer (which featured "The Gates of Delirium") and Going for the One (1977) (which featured "Awaken").
The religious influences introduced by Jon Anderson which later formed the basis of Tales from Topographic Oceans are already evident in the music and lyrics of all three tracks on Close To The Edge. Renewal and repetition are other main themes; the title track starts and finishes with the same sound effects of running water and birds and in "Siberian Khatru" there is the repetition of two-word phrases.
According to the band's official website, Yesworld (http://www.yesworld.com), the song is inspired by Hermann Hesse's book Siddhartha, an explaination which can cast the cryptic and mysterious lyrics in a new light, tracking the awakening of Hesse's character "close to the edge" of a river (and, symbolically, of the serial lifetimes of his soul) where he experiences a spiritual awakening.
External Links
- Lyrics' analysis (http://www.yhwh.com/ctte.htm)
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