Close to the Edge

by

Yes

Edit

I am a huge Yes fan and have been going to their concerts since the 70's and was lucky to see them do this tune a number of times. Close to the edge is one of Yes' best albums, not my favorite, but it has been a mainstay of progressive rock for more than 30 years. Any new fans of the genre should get this new rhino disc and discover progressive rock for what it truly is- thoughtful and intelligent compositions executed by some of the best musicians in rock. However, most of the prospective buyers for this disc are probably seasoned Yes fans who love "close to the edge", know everything about it, and already have this album in one form or another. Most classic rock albums have been out 3 or 4 times... just reissue it and say it's better than ever. As far as the artwork, notes and lyrics go, this is an excellent package- as close as you'll come to the Lp experience in the cd format. That leaves us with the bonus tracks and the sound quality. As mentioned in other reviews, the bonus tracks alone don't really add much of substance- the "And you and I" alternate is ok, Wakeman does some interesting things. The "Siberian" is just what it says, studio run through. As far as the previous versions of this on cd, the rhino is the 3rd time. There was the first version mastered by Barry Diament, a 2nd version done by Joe Gastwirt in the mid 90's and the rhino. I really like the YesYears box Gastwirt did in 1991 which in my opinion has the best sounding version of "Close to the Edge" I've heard on cd, and it also contains the best sounding material from "Fragile" and the "Yes Album" on cd. Yesyears has the best sounding version of the only real bonus track here, "America". To my ears it would be pretty hard for Rhino to outdo the older box set, and they did'nt. Gastwirt had the analog master tapes that were then around 20 years old, but probably still in decent shape, and he did a superb job. The sources for this project were either extremely old analog tapes or digital copies. Many of the tapes from the 70's have not survived well, some had to be "baked" and transfered to digital. Rhino did a very good job, but don't expect sonic miracles- despite their "remastered for better than ever sound" statement. The main difference between this "close to the edge" and the one on YesYears box is the Rhino disc is a bit brighter and very slightly more distorted than the YesYears version (there has since been a second box set, also by rhino). The rhino disc sounds kind of processed to me, like they wanted to make it sound more modern. To make an analogy, the rhino sounds digital, the yesyears more analog. Gastwirts Yesyears box is also more dynamic- Squire's bass and Bruford's drums have more impact. In terms of the spacious middle section, the vocal arrangement sounds more natural and lifelike on the Yesyears set. If you are considering this mainly for the Title tune and you have the Yesyears box, you might want to pass. Otherwise jump on the Rhino. Although now out of print the Yesyears box can be bought used. Try and listen to the 1991 box set if you can.

Rhino has a reputation for quality sound remastering, but they've blown it on the 2007 re-release of "Close To The Edge". The 2003 Rhino remastering that included 4 bonus tracks (this one has none) sounded much better...less hiss and a wider stereo image with less abrasiveness. It appears that this latest version recycles the audio mastered in the '90s, which is unfortunate since the album was a state-of-the-art demonstration of recording studio techniques when it was released in 1972, and it's a much loved benchmark of progressive rock and classic rock.

The selling point of this edition is that it duplicates the artwork from the original Roger Dean-designed LP. Big deal. The 2003 version had all the artwork also, and it doesn't make much difference anyway because you can't read the miniaturized text once it's scaled down to the size of a CD. There is also an older Japanese mini-LP edition of the CD, and that also sounds better than this latest version (and includes readable lyrics).

If I were a member of the band or their recording engineer, I'd be pissed that a shoddy representation of their greatest achievement is what's being currently promoted.