Original subtitles

close to the EDG is the fifth studio

album by English progressive rock band

Yes it was released in September

1972 by Atlantic Records yes at that

time consective lead vocalist John

Anderson basist Chris Squire drummer

Bill bruford guitarist Steve how and

keyboardist Rick Wakeman their previous

album fragile was a commercial and

critical success and became their

biggest hit at the time reaching the

number four spot in the US Billboard

charts due in part to the strong rocking

single called roundabout which gained

considerable AirPlay roundabout did not

have the song structure of what might be

considered to be a commercially

successful song yet it still succeeded

earlier in March

1972 yes wrapped up their six-month

fragile tour of the UK and North America

and following this the band booked some

time at ad Vision studios in London to

put down some rough tracks for a

follow-up record although some

arrangements were worked out and put

onto tape at the time none of the tracks

were fully developed the band then began

more focused rehearsals at the uni

Billings School of Dance in Shepherd's

bush in May

1972 to refine material for the new

album by June of that year yes felt that

they had developed songs for the new

album sufficiently well enough and

returned to ad Vision to begin the

recording phase Eddie offer who had

worked with yes since the time in the

word album was assigned as the audio

engine ER and

co-producer close to the

edge Anderson said the band had just

done a huge tour for fragile and we were

quite pleased at how the audiences were

loving the longer pieces that we play

Live roundabout was 8 minutes long

Starship Trooper was nine and heart of

the sunrise was over 11 minutes we were

feeling very powerful like we could do

anything

and also being a lover of classical

music Anderson was listening to calus's

Fifth Symphony at this time and said

that the long symphonic piece consisting

of several movements was an influence in

the writing of the new Grand and

ambitious title track and while touring

for the fragile album Anderson was

reading a novel called sidarthur written

by German novelist Herman hes in which

the main character named sidarthur

undertook a lifelong spiritual journey

of

self-discovery after a lifetime of

experiences sidarthur eventually found

wisdom his own personal meaning and true

spiritual enlightenment Anderson decided

to Loosely draw upon the conceptual

theme of Enlightenment and

self-discovery from the novel in his

lyrical writings for the for movement

piece close to the edge and more

drawings from novels relating to the

theme of Enlightenment were to follow of

course the song which developed

consisted the four movements which took

up all the space on side

one the solid time of

change in the book The River helps sarur

find the path to Enlightenment Anderson

said the river leads you to the ocean

all the paths lead you to the Divine so

the idea was that as human beings we are

close to the edge the edge of

realization Steve how said one of my

songs at the time had the line close to

the edge down by a river which actually

referred to where I was living next to

the river temps in the introduction we

hear a combination of keyboards like

percussion bird singing and water

flowing to represent the natural and

spiritual environment of the river and

its surroundings as described in the

novel of sidarthur in the story The

River gives life as all living things

depend on water I'm going to show some

footage from the yes songs film in this

video which as you may recall doesn't

have great audio quality I've therefore

decided to use a better quality audio

from the yes songs album and have tried

to manually sync both the video and

audio to create a new composite as the

two parts are from different

performances there are a few minor

synchronization issues but it's the best

I do and if you're familiar with the

film yes songs you will recall the

imagery of microscopic Aquatic Life

forms which appeared during this song to

illustrate that the river is in fact

teeming with life early in the book

sidarthur rejects the spiritual world

and enters the material world and for a

while he leads a rich life of sin in the

city after some time however he realizes

he has led a life which is not

fulfilling and one which will not lead

to True Enlightenment he then visits the

river with a great sense of guilt with

the intention of drowning himself in the

song these thoughts coincide with the

cacophony of poly tile and poly rhythmic

chaos this section developed following a

suggestion from Anderson for the band to

play an improvised chaotic Jam in this

Furious change we hear a roar sounding

and frenetic guitar lead by Steve how in

a d harmonic minor scale initially a

slow ascending Baseline by Chris Squire

some aggressive percussion work by

bruford and a rapidly ascending keyboard

riff by Rick Wakeman

[Music]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

sidara has been told that he will hear

many Sounds by the river he stands on

the River Bank stares into the water

closes his eyes and intends to slip

towards death but suddenly hears a

sacred sound which is a Sonic

representation of the Divine the sacred

syllable awakens his spirit makes him

realize the foolishness of his actions

and compels him to retreat to

Safety in the novel The Sound om is

heard but in the song we hear the

syllable followed by

[Music]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Music]

and

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

d

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

n

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Music]

Seas the of your disce re your to

the

all ch

against

[Music]

the mus of theong take

away away my Bri away close to the edge

my

not right away not right

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

away line around the changes of the

Sumer reaching out to call the color of

the

sky down a

moment morning faster than we

see getting over all the time I had to

wear it leaving all the

changes

behind find

[Music]

out down theend by the corner

close to the edge just like

real

SE I get

up I get

down now it's all

[Music]

over total mass retain Anderson said the

following about this section we've laid

the foundation of where we're going to

go and now we're into the second part

this is about the relaxation of life and

being close to the edge of realization

of our Universal experiences that's what

the song is starting to explain

everything will come to you the idea is

that life is an ongoing journey and you

have to enjoy it this is the shortest of

four sections of close to the edge

lasting just over 2 minutes and it

begins with an astonishing rhythmic

Groove featuring Squire and bruford in a

syncopated 44 time signature

[Music]

[Music]

my

[Music]

eyes the

for to see the m to close to Over the

Sea the S

[Music]

toose by river close to the edge by the

[Music]

[Applause]

corner the

[Music]

some take away the St

memory the journey takes you all the way

[Music]

the come

my the

side to side we he the M

rain the

[Music]

end I get

up I get

[Music]

n

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

that

[Music]

I get up I get

down this is the most beautiful of the

four movements which is exceedingly

expressive and superbly arranged it

opens with dreamy ambient melron strings

and a sitar played by how which both

soon fade drips of water can also be

heard suggesting the natural setting of

a

cave Anderson said I'm a big fan of the

Beach Boys and the association Steve and

I were working on this and at one point

he said I have this other song and I

said well start singing it and he

[Music]

went theame for

theci of

[Music]

when I heard that I said wait that's

going to be perfect you start singing

that with Chris and then I'll sing my

part we'll have an answer back thing

[Music]

oh

[Music]

you could clearly see the Ling

[Music]

people

stisi 200 women watch one woman

cry toate

[Music]

I

get I get

down I get

up I get

down charge of who is there charge of

[Music]

meind I

truth is written

[Music]

all

[Music]

I get

down I get

I get

down get

[Music]

up get down

[Music]

[Music]

get

up get

down get

up I get down

oh

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

w

[Music]

seasons of

man musically the peace builds to a

final chorus and then Fades to the

sounds of nature as heard in the

beginning so the song ends the same way

as it began as we hear the sounds of

birds and water running in a river and

by the end of the conclusion section

seasons of man sidarthur has found the

knowledge and the enlightenment that he

sought as we hear lyrics such as

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

get

[Music]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

w

[Applause]

[Music]

oh

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

the time

between to the

scate seems space between the

Fus of

Love Time

[Applause]

[Music]

soci party to the

man

SP

around my

[Music]

on the hill we Bu The Silence of

the to

winess we reach our mement in between

the close to the edge

by down at the End

by J

[Music]

fall go to the Sea right to the you

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Music]

let's also have a look at a manuscript

which shows some of the many time

signature changes in this section which

he may not have been aware of

[Music]

BL you I

get I get

[Music]

side two of the vinyl LP begins with the

song and you and I which originated as a

a more folk orientated Song in four

sections its style and themes were

worked on by how bruford and Squire and

is the only track on the album which

credits bruford and Squire as

writers cord of

Life Anderson wrote the lyrics in this

song to represent a meeting with the

Divine so you and I refers to the Divine

and I Anderson said he preferred the

sound of and you and I to just you and I

so this is what we hear again we have

four movements and the song opens with

the court of life section beginning with

an okay from Steve how after which he

placed some harmonics on his 12 string

acoustic guitar this moment was not

originally part of the song but offered

liked it and persuaded the band to keep

it in after this mini intro how settles

into a more defined pattern featuring

slow and bright guitar

notes

run okay

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

Squire then adds a few thumping low

dnotes in time with bruford's Kick Drum

followed by the tinkle of a triangle

queing how to introduce the first verse

in 3 four time with a simple pattern of

d g and a major chords this is soon

complemented by Wakeman playing a

pleasant Melody on the mini Moog

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

a man see the moment answers to the

dream

[Music]

[Applause]

stay in the flowers da sing all

the as a foundation left to create the

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

spiral with

CH Forest sight the sound the space

[Applause]

GRE between

thect behind the face

[Applause]

of coming quickly to terms of all

expression

L emotion revealed is the

[Music]

ocean oh

she with

you

[Music]

ohes tell you watching the world

all

of what you

for and you

[Music]

and and you and we for

reasons to

eclipse in this section we hear how

playing a pedal steel guitar with

Distortion and a heavy delay creating a

swooping swooning effect which colors

the passage with what feels like

emotional highs and lows Anderson then

sings a passion loaded vocal based on

the chord pattern in the verse this time

in a higher register he ends his

performance in a thrilling fashion

Wakeman then takes over with a grand

return to the main theme gently giving

way to how who repeats the opening of

peggos that now serve as the transition

to the third movement

[Music]

oh

[Music]

oh

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

expression moce is the ocean

[Music]

of life with you

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

the preacher the

teacher Anderson said it goes to a

completely different song and Fe

Steve is a magical guitar player and he

could switch to a new style so easily I

said to him it's got to have a real

country feel to it he knew just what to

do the section ends up with the

words

[Music]

expression

the emotion r as the ocean

[Music]

a clear up good J morning evening nights

with you

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

Prat upon the color

ofed of

[Music]

the there be noy we shall

certify political s remain will

die Reach Out T forward taste begin to

[Music]

enter I listen hard but could not

see like temp change

out the preach all

to tr to be show the in the end be with

the

truth in his

[Music]

eyes the

[Music]

[Applause]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

turn to

[Music]

expression aare

of Lights with you

oh

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Music]

apocalypse this is a brief closing

passage in which we hear the final verse

sung to a slightly different Melody

while how doubles on acoustic and Sly

guitar

it's a fitting ending that leaves us

feeling warm and

content and you and I CL crushing the

ship of the

morning and you and I climb over

the and you and I clim clear towards the

movement and you and I call over by the

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

Anderson said katru means as you wish in

Yemen an Arabian dialect when we were

working on it I kept singing the word

over and over again even though I had no

idea what it meant I asked somebody to

look it up for me and when they told me

the meaning it worked for the song the

idea is that Siberia is so far away and

it was like No Man's Land so the thought

was that life still happens there as it

does here in the song The Mysterious

land mass is only mentioned in a single

line and is only repeated

[Music]

once as for the other half of the title

the word katru makes only one brief

appearance green reveal the art spoken

true

[Music]

so Iberian katru is pretty much a

straightforward rock song which

developed from an idea Anderson had on

an acoustic guitar the song was often

used as an opening number at concerts

and at just over 9 Minutes in length

Siberian katru seems like a short song

on this album it also features a brief

what might be initially considered to be

a left of center bar sounding harsy cord

solo from Wakeman at just over the 3

minute Mark in what is a strong rocking

track but it sounds just perfect

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

I also really like the section in which

we hear a return to the lyrics of blue

tail tailly heard briefly earlier in the

song it is based upon two chords which

are a minor third apart which is an

interval often used in film music to

create a feeling of suspense Anderson

adds a very simple Melody line over the

progression to create what I think is a

mesmerizing moment in the song

[Music]

[Music]

cover

Moon as one

changes

Soul

m

Christian

changer hold our savior

[Music]

turn the song has interesting riffs

themes Bridges and a section of vocal

chants

[Music]

[Music]

how plays two solos one after Rick

Wakeman's Harps record solo on a steel

lap guitar in the studio recording and

the other at the end of the song in the

latter how purposely played the closing

solo without being able to hear what it

sounded like as an experiment when the

band listened to the playback they

thought it was weird but suitably

interesting and the solo was included

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

it is difficult to overstate the

greatness of this album and its impact

on the progressive rock community and I

believe that all three songs are

remarkably cohesive and hang together

flawlessly Anderson and Hal were the

main creative drivers for the direction

the album was to take while Squire took

a lead role in helping offered with the

production yes could have continued with

a successful formula which created The

Fragile album but andison in particular

wanted to keep things moving keep

expanding and keep developing musically

before long it became clear that the

song close to the edge was going to be

very different as the developing

complexity of this track challenge

members like no previous work and on

several occasions the arrangements that

yes began to assemble were so intricate

that they had been forgotten by the time

of the band's next session for this

reason the band began to tape their

rehearsal sessions yes continued to

record the song Sometimes in sections

less than 1 minute in length though they

still had no ending for it then once the

sections were assembled the band had to

learn to play the composite musical

array for follow-up live work the

recording of This song Alone took 2

months at advision and was an exhausting

experience for all involved a typical

day for the recording of the album

comprised of Steve how arriving first to

Chin his guitars wakan would then arrive

at about 10 a.m. bruford would then turn

up and find out that Squire was late

again then John Anderson would arrive

and some planning would begin for the

day Squire would be the last to arrive

early in the afternoon and then would go

and tune his base so the band were lucky

to start playing by midafternoon

Wakeman later elaborated on some aspects

of the recording Squire's approach could

be a source of much frustration and

tension Chris would play and then want

to redo the whole thing we'd go but

we're happy with what was played so he'd

fuss around and redo everything and

often so then I'd go up to the pub

around the corner and come back at 10 or

11: p.m. and Chris was still doing his

bass part again with Steve and John

trying to egg him on Wakeman mentioned

the following about the mixing at the

end of the day it got so compressed it

didn't matter who pressed or twiddled

what everyone was listening only to

their own part and not the overall thing

not thinking about the finished product

there was tension in the making of the

album which was likened by bruford as

like having five people trying to write

a novel together yet despite the

difficult working environment the

completed album was exceptional yes

succeeded in attaining their ambition to

record an indulgent sidelong epic

without any padding and also delivered

two other superb tracks a progress Rock

to deliver the master stroke of close to

the edge so let's talk about the artwork

now close to the edge was packaged with

a gatefold sleeve designed and

illustrated by Roger Dean who previously

designed the cover for fragile it marked

the first appearance of the band's

bubble logo type placed on top of a

simple front cover design of a linear

color gradient from black to

green dean sketched the new logo during

during a train journey from London to

Brighton after having an idea that the

three letters could be put together in

an interesting way he gained the

inspiration for the album's artwork

during a visit to Hast Stacks a tall

Hill in The Lakes District he took a

photograph at its Summit and observed

the many towns surrounding it I was

imagining this lake is something grander

he then had the idea to present a

drawing of a waterfall constantly

refreshing itself pouring from all sides

of the lake in this way Dean helped to

elevate the mystical ideas and

imaginative music of yes with his

artwork which depicted Landscapes of

idilic and exotic fantasy close the edge

was released in September

1972 6 weeks into the band 72 to 73

World Tour to promote the album it

became their biggest commercial success

since their formation reaching the

number three spot in the the us at a

time when prog rock was pretty much

mainstream

music Perfection is something which is

not possible or is it the Yes album and

fragile are both great albums but a

little uneven in places but I'm hard

pressed to find a floor in the close to

the edge album from the mysterious intro

that sounds like you're approaching an

Uncharted island in the midst of your

imagination to the fascinating interplay

between Squire and how as Siberian katru

Fades away this album achieved what all

Progressive bands have probably thought

impossible an incredible Masterpiece

that has held up for over 50 years now

and I think it will still be revered in

100 years time and

Beyond I wish we could again see another

Revolution like close to the edge and

other classic prog rock albums of the

early

1970s some of which I'll speak about in

this series but I don't think it's going

to happen so what makes this album so

good musically well that's hard to put

into words my initial response is that

for this album yes had just the right

combination of Melodies rhythms riffs

soundscapes stunning musicianship

creativity and song structures with

music that didn't over repeat it just

all flowed perfectly and it just has the

spark this album is the 1972 High

Watermark of the genre and was perhaps

yes's finest Hour Bru had found close to

the edge a particularly difficult

experience to write and record calling

the process torturous and Incredibly

unpleasant Squire's lateness was an

issue but after recording five Studio

albums with the band beginning with

their self-titled 1969 debut bruford

felt that he had progress rest as far as

he could with yes so the gleaming

Triumph of close to the edge was

somewhat tarnished for many of us by

bruford's decision to leave and join

what would become the L tongues in aspic

lineup of King Crimson bruford said so

then I knew I needed a breath of fresh

air and left the group bruford found

King Crimson attractive because they

were more open to

improvisation bruford said surprise us

go ahead let's improvise

terrific upon advising yes of his

intention to leave the band bruford said

I was terrifically flattered and

gratified that they wanted me to stay

but on the other hand John understood

exactly the people have to do what they

have to do he took the artistic line

which was very sweet of him you must do

what you must do we're all very sad it's

been fantastic but if you have to do

this

then go ahead bruford was also leaving

the band at their creative Peak which I

think was a bold

move his replacement was Alan white who

had been part of John Lenin's plastic

Ono band white was given 3 days notice

of the offer and only had one full

rehearsal with the band prior to the

tour beginning on July 30

1972 how said the following about

bruford's drumming he didn't have two

bass drums and six rototoms and so on he

had the basic kit but the thing was that

was his art the basic kit is all you

need and he made that work in a

wonderful way because he didn't see

himself as a rock drummer so much his

drumming is outlandish it sounds

straight 44 but listen to the way he

adds that extra snare that's Bill's

genius so this is my take on close the

edge I've really enjoyed presenting this

video on this fabulous album and I hope

you've enjoyed watching it too my name

is Tom and I look forward to seeing you

next

[Music]

time

C and we reach our m in between

the close to the edge

[Music]

the

end

Jesus

fall the SE

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

I

[Applause]

get I

[Applause]

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

h