Out of the bottom of the pile: Yes-"Close to the Edge"

rontalsaurus · #1 05-10-2006, 09:05 AM

I dug this one out of the bottom of the pile yesterday,(metaphorically, I have an iPod now). Such a good album. I had forgotten how good it was. There's still a twinge of some of the cheesier stuff that Yes does with some of their harmonies and synth work, but all-in-all this album is tits!

Peter McFerrin · #2 05-10-2006, 09:22 AM

I think "Mutant Enemy" would be an awesome band name, and not just for prog.

Close to the Edge is over the edge for me as far as cheesiness goes. The Yes Album and especially Fragile have the same wonderful dynamics and sparkling melodies without quite as much ludicrousness about them. I can understand why Bill Bruford left Yes after this album and joined the Krautrock-meets-Canterbury incarnation of King Crimson.

rontalsaurus · #3 05-10-2006, 09:45 AM

While I think there are some great tracks on Fragile, I think there's a lot of crap on that album as well. Roundabout and Long Distance/epilogue are great, but much of the rest of the album doesn't do anything at all for me.

I haven't heard any King Crimson before. I've been meaning to, but haven't gotten around to it. I have a limited time span that I can listen to prog. After a day or two I get sick of it and find it overly pretentious and walk away from it for a few months.
I always figured King Crimson would be cheesy, but I know I should give it a chance.
Any recommendations on albums?

Philbiker · #4 05-10-2006, 10:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rontalsaurus

I haven't heard any King Crimson before. I've been meaning to, but haven't gotten around to it.
.....

Any recommendations on albums?

Discipline. Thrak.

tZer · #5 05-10-2006, 10:34 AM

I always loved "Close to the Edge" and used to be able to easily disregard the 'cheese factor' in much of the album until one day...

I was at work and decided to play my little Yes CD, quietly in my cube. I was mindlessly grooving along, not really paying attention to much and that extended organ solo comes on. Well, Mr. Wakeman is just playing and playing and playing and... Suddenly a voice from the back of the room shouts, "I can't take it! Could you turn that off, please?" It sort of snapped me into reality. Instead of mindlessly accepting everything that Yes threw on that album, I now actually was listening to it as a 'listener' and not as a musician - and boy, was it too much!

Mind you, that was the extended organ solo... I still think Chris Squier is pretty much flawless and has yet to play a note that I don't like.

rontalsaurus · #6 05-10-2006, 10:36 AM

Yeah, they're definitely a musician's band. If I wasn't into listening to jams I'd hate it...but as Deadhead first and foremost, I actually find a lot of their music pretty succinct!

Kink Rimson · #7 05-10-2006, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tZer

I always loved "Close to the Edge" and used to be able to easily disregard the 'cheese factor' in much of the album until one day...

I was at work and decided to play my little Yes CD, quietly in my cube. I was mindlessly grooving along, not really paying attention to much and that extended organ solo comes on. Well, Mr. Wakeman is just playing and playing and playing and... Suddenly a voice from the back of the room shouts, "I can't take it! Could you turn that off, please?" It sort of snapped me into reality. Instead of mindlessly accepting everything that Yes threw on that album, I now actually was listening to it as a 'listener' and not as a musician - and boy, was it too much!

Mind you, that was the extended organ solo... I still think Chris Squier is pretty much flawless and has yet to play a note that I don't like.

Funny story, reminds me of the Art room's communal tape deck when I was at school...

ctbass · #8 05-10-2006, 02:21 PM

I have never related the word cheesey with the Fragile/Close to the Edge era of YES. I not everyone has different tastes but am surprised to hear that on this site. At the time they came out, these albums were amazing and still hold up. IMHO.

Peter McFerrin · #9 05-10-2006, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Philbiker

Discipline. Thrak.

Add Red to this list, if you're making it for someone who's on a Yes kick. Red is the best of the three albums produced by the aforementioned "Kraut-meets-Canterbury" incarnation of King Crimson. Yes never had the ability to just plain ROCK THE F*** OUT the way Crimson did.

tZer · #10 05-10-2006, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ctbass

...At the time they came out, these albums were amazing... IMHO.

So were leisure suits...

blast_tyrant · #11 05-10-2006, 03:43 PM

Loved "Close To The Edge" when it came out. A few years later, I was given the first Ramones album, which then made Yes "cheesy". Now I've dusted off the Yes and love it again.

Peter McFerrin · #12 05-10-2006, 04:09 PM

Yes was always cheesy, when you place them in context. Close to the Edge came out the same year as the Stooges' Raw Power and year after Bowie's Ziggy Stardust.

Not that they didn't have their incredible moments. The "in and around the lake" part of "Roundabout," for example, is just pure genius.

Twistad · #13 05-10-2006, 04:42 PM

Close to the edge was probably my first prog album and it remains one of my favorite. I'm pretty sure it's the album i've listened to the most.

I don't find anything cheesy in this album, i mean if i want some Yes cheesyness, i look for their later albums.

Peter McFerrin · #14 05-10-2006, 04:47 PM

Here's a question: does anyone else here like Drama? I love that album because it does the prog-meets-post-punk thing so well. It would fit in very well with, say, my Magazine albums.

Der Bluten Kat · #15 05-10-2006, 04:57 PM

yea i wouldn't call king crimson cheesy at all... more like bad***

Peter McFerrin · #16 05-10-2006, 05:13 PM

Well, King Crimson's first three albums did have some serious cheese going on. I don't think In the Court... and In the Wake of Poseidon have aged well at all (except for "21st Century Schizoid Man," obviously), and the less said about Lizard the better. Once Fripp got away from the symphonic prog sound, the band's output improved markedly: Islands, while meandering at times, is an excellent album and a nice median point between capital-P Prog and the art-metal sound of the '72-'74 Crimson lineup.

Kink Rimson · #17 05-11-2006, 03:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter McFerrin

Well, King Crimson's first three albums did have some serious cheese going on. I don't think In the Court... and In the Wake of Poseidon have aged well at all (except for "21st Century Schizoid Man," obviously), and the less said about Lizard the better. Once Fripp got away from the symphonic prog sound, the band's output improved markedly: Islands, while meandering at times, is an excellent album and a nice median point between capital-P Prog and the art-metal sound of the '72-'74 Crimson lineup.

I quite like Lizard...

Peter McFerrin · #18 05-11-2006, 06:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kink Rimson

I quite like Lizard...

You, my limey friend, may be an army of one.

KJung · #19 05-11-2006, 06:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ctbass

I have never related the word cheesey with the Fragile/Close to the Edge era of YES. I not everyone has different tastes but am surprised to hear that on this site. At the time they came out, these albums were amazing and still hold up. IMHO.

+1 While I try to keep current in my listening and not get stuck always 'looking back', I did recently purchase the Yes CD remasters, including 'Close to the Edge'. IMO, it still sounds stunning, and the remasters make it even better. Of course, the whole prog rock thing can sound ponderous and overblown, but Squire's bass tone from 30 years ago sounds better to me than 95% of the current recordings today.

Squire is the player that turned me onto having both treble definition and good, punchy bottom at the same time. Interestingly, I found my later fascination with Marcus Miller's tone directly related to the Squire tone. To me, he defines modern bass sound that still holds up today.

Philbiker · #20 05-11-2006, 06:44 AM

When I think of "cheezy" music from that era I think of the Cowsills and the Osmonds and The Fifth Dimension. Balloon rides notwithstanding, I'm not sure your definition of "cheese" when related to music is the same as mine.