Close to the Edge |
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Released: September 13, 1972 Peak: 3 US, 4 UK, 7 CN, 21 AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.3 UK, 1.3 world (includes US and UK) Genre: progressive rock |
Tracks:Click on a song title for more details.
Total Running Time: 37:56 Other Songs from This Era:
The Players:
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Rating: 3.696 out of 5.00 (average of 16 ratings)
Quotable:“A flawless masterpiece” – Dave Thompson, AllMusic.comAwards:(Click on award to learn more).
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About the Album:In 1972, Yes were coming off the one-two punch of The Yes Album and Fragile, albums which gave the band its most long-lasting album-rock classics with songs like “Roundabout” and “I’ve Seen All Good People.” The band were now “quivering on the brink of what friend and foe acknowledged was the peak of the band’s achievement.” WK The band responded with the definitive progressive rock album, Close to the Edge. It wasn’t an easy album to make. Drummer Bill Bruford, who considered the writing and recording of the album to be torturous, came up with the album title as a reflection of the band’s state at the time. WK He “was already shifting restlessly against Jon Anderson’s increasingly mystic/ mystifying lyricism, while contemporary reports of the recording sessions depicted bandmate Rick Wakeman, too, as little more than an observer to the vast tapestry that Anderson, Steve Howe, and Chris Squire were creating.” AM Bruford left the band after the album, joining King Crimson. The results, however, “represented the musical, lyrical, and sonic culmination of all that Yes had worked toward over the past five years.” AM The album was a top-5 hit in the US and UK and “dispatch[ed] Yes on the longest tour of its career so far and, if hindsight be the guide, launch[ed] the band on a downward swing that only disintegration, rebuilding, and a savage change of direction would cure. The latter, however, was still to come. In 1972, Close to the Edge was a flawless masterpiece.” AM ReissueThe 2003 Rhino reissue adds the single version of Simon & Garfunkel’s “America,” the single edit of “Total Mass Retain,” an alternate version of “And You and I,” and an alternate version of “Siberian Khatru” known as “Siberia.”The SongsHere’s a breakdown of each of the individual songs. |
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AmericaYes |
Writer(s): Paul Simon Released: single (6/7/1972), Yes Years (box set, 1991), In a Word (box set, 2002), Ultimate Yes: The 35th Anniversary Collection (U.S. version, 2003), Yes Singles (compilation, 2023) B-side: Total Mass Retain Peak: 46 BB, 44 CB, 38 HR, 16 CL, 8 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 4.61 streaming About the Song:In between the Fragile and Close to the Edge albums, Yes released a cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s “America” as a single.
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Close to the EdgeYes |
Writer(s): Jon Anderson, Steve Howe Released: “Total Mass Retain” as a B-side of “America,” (6/7/1972), Close to the Edge (1972), Classic Yes (compilation, 1981), In a Word (box set, 2002) Peak: 10 CL, 15 DF (“Total Mass Retain”) Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 9.31 streaming About the Song:This eighteen-minute-plus title cut is broken into four parts: (a) “The Solid Time of Change,” (b) “Total Mass Retain, (c) “I Get Up, I Get Down,” (d) “Seasons of Man.”Anderson was inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, German novelist Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha, and Jean Sibelius’ sixth and seventh symphonies. Howe had composed a song called “Close to the Edge” a few years earlier about the longest day of the year and he and Anderson joined their ideas. An excerpt of the song, “Total Mass Retain,” was released as the B-side to the band’s cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s “America.” |
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And You and IYes |
Writer(s): Jon Anderson, Bill Bruford, Chris Squire, Steve Howe Released: single (10/28/1972), Close to the Edge (1972), Classic Yes (compilation, 1981), Yes Story (compilation, 1992), Ultimate Yes: The 35th Anniversary Collection (U.S. version, 2003), Ultimate Yes: The 35th Anniversary Collection (compilation, UK version, 2003), Yes Singles (compilation, 2023) Peak: 42 BB, 32 CB, 32 HR, 9 CR, 9 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 9.01 streaming |
Awards:(Click on award to learn more).
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About the Song:The full ten-minute version was presented in four parts: (a) “Cord of Life,” (b) “Eclipse,” (c) “The Preacher, the Teacher,” and (d) “Apocalypse.”The song was originally a more folk-oriented song. When they tested it on tour, Jon Anderson gave it the working title of “The Protest Song.” Anderson later considered the song similar to a hymn. An edited version of the song was released as a single, just missing out on the top 40 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. “Typically, Yes songs are so open to interpretation that they could be about anything. This blending of sundry Christian and eastern creation myths, however, remains one of the band’s most powerfully focused.” DT
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Siberian KhatruYes |
Writer(s): Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman Released: Close to the Edge (1972), In a Word (box set, 2002), Ultimate Yes: The 35th Anniversary Collection (U.S. version, 2003), Ultimate Yes: The 35th Anniversary Collection (compilation, UK version, 2003) Peak: 17 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 6.57 streaming About the Song:Siberian Khatru grew out of an idea Anderson initiated on an acoustic guitar. Lyrically, he described the song as a collection of “interesting words, though it does relate to the dreams of clear summer days.” WK Anderson claimed “khatru” translated to “as you wish” in the Yemeni dialect of Arabic, but he had no idea what it meant at the time until asking someone to look up its meaning. WK |
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First posted 3/25/2008; last updated 9/21/2025. |
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