Close to the Edge is the fifth studio album by the English progressive rock band Yes, released on 13 September 1972 by Atlantic Records. Following a tour in support of their previous album, Fragile, Yes returned to Advision Studios in London to record their next album. Produced by the band and audio engineer Eddy Offord, the album consists of three tracks: "Close to the Edge" on side one; "And You and I" and "Siberian Khatru" on side two. When recording for the album finished, drummer Bill Bruford, frustrated by the band's style and laborious recording in the studio, left to join King Crimson.
Close to the Edge became the band's greatest commercial success at the time of its release, reaching number 3 on the Billboard 200 in the United States and number 4 on the UK Albums Chart. Yes supported the album with their 1972–73 world tour, their biggest since their formation. A two-part edit of "And You and I" released in the United States reached number 42 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Close to the Edge was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in 1998 for shipments of over one million copies. It was reissued in 1994, 2003, and 2013, the latter included unreleased tracks and a new stereo and 5.1 surround sound mix by Steven Wilson. Critical reception was mixed on release, though the album is retrospectively regarded as one of the band's best works, and a landmark recording in progressive rock.
By 1972, Yes had stabilised with a line-up of lead vocalist Jon Anderson, bassist Chris Squire, drummer Bill Bruford, guitarist Steve Howe, and keyboardist Rick Wakeman. In March 1972, they wrapped their six-month 1971–72 tour of the UK and North America to support their previous album, Fragile (1971). On 1 and 2 February 1972, during one of the tour's rest periods, the band booked time at Advision Studios in London to put down some tracks they had developed for their next album, Close to the Edge. After a short break from touring, they took another break before they entered rehearsals at the Una Billings School of Dance in Shepherd's Bush in May. They prepared some material during this time and proceeded to record it, though none of the tracks were fully written at the rehearsal stage, leaving the group to devise the rest of the songs in the studio and learning to play them through afterwards. On several occasions the arrangements that the group had started to assemble were so complex that they were forgotten by the time the next day's session began. This led to the start of having each rehearsal put on tape for future reference. Bruford devised the album's title to reflect the state of the band at the time.
By June 1972, Yes had relocated to Advision Studios to record Close to the Edge. Eddy Offord, who had worked with Yes since Time and a Word (1970) and mixed their sound on the Fragile tour, assumed his role as audio engineer and producer, sharing his production duties with each member of the band. Having worked on the band's sound on tour, Offord wished to recreate the high feeling the band had on nights when they performed well inside the studio. To attempt this, he got their road crew to construct a large stage in the recording studio for the band to perform on, thus enabling Bruford's drums to resonate with the wooden platform and making the group sound "more live". The studio also housed a booth-like structure constructed of wooden boards which Howe performed in to further enhance his sound. During the recording, the band decided to use a particular take for a track, but realised the studio's cleaner had put the tape in the rubbish. A scramble in the bins outside the studio ensued, and the missing piece was found and inserted into the master.
During their month of recording, Melody Maker reporter and band biographer Chris Welch visited the studio to observe the recording progress. Welch described a stressful atmosphere, coupled with "outbursts of anarchy" from Bruford, Howe and Wakeman and disagreement from each member after one mix of a song section was complete. Welch sensed the band were not a cohesive unit, with Anderson and Howe the only ones who knew what direction the album was to take, leaving the rest adding bits and pieces "to a vast jigsaw of sound", to which Squire and Offord were the two who helped put their idea into shape. Wakeman and Bruford, to Welch, remained "innocent bystanders" in the matter. In one instance, Welch arrived at the studio to hear a preview of a completed passage that took several days of round the clock work to produce. He heard a dull thud, to find Offord had fallen asleep on top of the mixing console from exhaustion, "leaving music from the spinning tape deck blaring at an intolerable level".
Bruford found Close to the Edge particularly difficult to write and record with the rest of the band, calling the process torturous and like "climbing Mount Everest". He became frustrated with the band's happy, diatonic music and favoured more jazz-oriented and improvisational compositions. This became an issue with the group's way of composing and recording, as each section of a track was played through and discussed section by section. Bruford said: "Every instrument was up for democratic election, and everybody had to run an election campaign on every issue. It was horrible, it was incredibly unpleasant, and unbelievably hard work. Squire became a growing source of discontent for Bruford, citing his frequent lateness for rehearsals and his way of working. In one instance, Bruford fell asleep on a sofa in the studio control room while Squire was "poring over a couple of knobs on the [mixing] desk" to determine how much equalisation should be applied to his bass tracks, only to wake up several hours later, finding Squire "in the same place, still considering the relative position of the two knobs". Bruford was constantly encouraged by Anderson to write, something he felt grateful for years later, but by the time recording was complete, he felt he had done his best on Close to the Edge and could not offer better arrangements. "So then I knew I needed a breath of fresh air", and left the group.
Close to the Edge was packaged with a gatefold sleeve designed and illustrated by Roger Dean, who had also designed the cover for Fragile (1971). It marked the first appearance of the band's iconic logotype, placed on top a simple front cover design of a linear colour gradient from black to green. Dean's logo has been described as a "calligraphed colophon". In his original design, Dean wanted the album to resemble the quality of a gold embossed book. The sleeve includes pictures of the group and Offord that were photographed by Dean and Martyn Adelman, who had played with Squire in the late 1960s as a member of The Syn. Dean wrote the sleeve's text and lyric sheet by hand. On reflection on the album's design, Dean said: "There were a couple of ideas that merged there. It was of a waterfall constantly refreshing itself, pouring from all sides of the lake, but where was the water coming from? I was looking for an image to portray that".
Close to the Edge was released on 13 September 1972, three months into the band's 1972–73 world tour to promote the album. It became their biggest commercial success since their formation, reaching number 3 on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States and number 4 on the UK Albums Chart. In the Netherlands, the album went to number one. The album received 450,000 advanced orders in the United States. On 30 October 1972, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for 500,000 copies sold in the United States. Atlantic Records owner Ahmet Ertegun presented the group with their gold disc award at a restaurant in New York City on 20 November, where their manager, Brian Lane, announced the band's new five-year contract with Atlantic. The album continued to sell, and was certified platinum for one million copies sold on 10 April 1998.
Yes released "And You and I" as a two-part single in the United States in October 1972. In the United Kingdom, the song was released in its entirety with "Roundabout" on its B-side. It peaked at number 42 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the United States for the week of 16 December 1972. A single edit of "Total Mass Retain" was released as the B-side to the group's non-album single, a rendition of "America" made famous by Simon & Garfunkel, released on 17 July 1972.
In 1987, Close to the Edge was reissued by Atlantic Records on CD in the United States and Europe. Another issue of the album was digitally remastered by Joe Gastwirt in 1994. In 2003, the album was reissued again on disc in an expanded and remastered edition by Rhino and Elektra Records. Included were two previously unreleased tracks: an alternate version of "And You and I", an early run-through of "Siberian Khatru", and Yes's 1972 single "America" with its b-side, an edit of "Total Mass Retain".
In 2013, two new editions of the album were released. Steve Hoffman of Audio Fidelity Records conducted a remastering in both CD and Super Audio CD formats. For the Panegyric label, Steven Wilson used the original multi-track recordings to produce a "2013 stereo mix", a 5.1 surround sound mix, and an "original stereo mix" from a flat transfer of the LP, in both a CD and DVD-Audio and CD and Blu-ray Disc package. Bonus tracks include single edits, an early rough mix of "Close to the Edge", and instrumental versions of the album's three tracks.
Once recording for the album was complete, Bruford left the band on 19 July 1972 to join King Crimson. He offered to tour with the band for the remainder of the year, yet Howe wished for him to leave sooner as he no longer had the commitment. Howe later regretted his decision as he would have enjoyed playing the album live with Bruford at the time. His replacement was Alan White of the Plastic Ono Band and Terry Reid's group. As he played on Close to the Edge but left before the subsequent tour, Bruford was obliged by management to share his album royalties with White and claims that Lane enforced a compensation payment of $10,000 from him for leaving. Years later, White agreed to return his share of the royalties upon Bruford's request. White had one full rehearsal with the band prior to the tour's start on 30 July 1972 which saw the band play a total of 95 concerts in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Japan and Australia. The tour ended in April 1973.
The band embarked on their largest yet world tour to promote the album. Lasting from 30 July 1972 until 22 April 1973, and including 95 performances, the tour began at the Dallas Memorial Auditorium, and ended at the West Palm Beach Auditorium in West Palm Beach, Florida. The tour was Alan White's first with the band. Recordings from the tour, both film and audio, were included on the band's 1973 live album, Yessongs. The filmed performance was recorded at the December 1972 shows at the Rainbow Theatre in London.
Track listing
All tracks arranged by Yes.
Side one
1."Close to the Edge"
I. "The Solid Time of Change"
II. "Total Mass Retain"
III. "I Get Up, I Get Down"
IV. "Seasons of Man" Jon Anderson, Steve Howe Anderson, Howe 18:30
Side two
1."And You and I"
I. "Cord of Life"
II. "Eclipse"
III. "The Preacher, the Teacher"
IV. "The Apocalypse" Anderson Anderson; themes by Bill Bruford, Howe (except "Eclipse"), Chris Squire 9:59
2."Siberian Khatru" Anderson Anderson, Howe, Rick Wakeman 8:56
2003 CD bonus tracks
- "America (Single version)" Paul Simon Simon 4:12
- "Total Mass Retain (Single Version)" 3:21
- "And You and I (Alternate Version)" 10:17
- "Siberia (Studio Run-Through of Siberian Khatru)" 9:19
