Close to the Edge
What's it all about? "A seasoned witch could call you from the depths of your disgrace / And rearrange your liver to the solid mental grace." Actually, it really doesn't matter. Later they would fragment and lose focus, but here is Yes functioning for once in the band's tortuous career as an organic unit, and individual elements--such asJon Anderson's trippy lyrics--are less important than the whole. EvenRick Wakeman's Rachmaninoff-for-Hammond-organ excesses work in context, compensated for bySteve Howe's amazingly fluid guitar (equal partsCharlie ChristianandChet Atkins), in turn counterbalanced byChris Squire's behemoth Rickenbacker bass andBill Bruford's jazzy drumming. This is rock music informed by the improvisational spirit of jazz and allied with the grandiosity of the classics. Love it or hate it,Close to the Edgeis the definitive prog album. --Mark Walker