#511363 - 03/28/04 03:50 PM
"Close To The Edge"
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maarvold
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"Close To The Edge" by Yes, released [presumably] in 1972: a REMARKABLE achievement from my POV. How about listing some other no-holds-barred, soul-feeding titles?
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#511364 - 03/28/04 03:53 PM
Re: "Close To The Edge"
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Griffinator
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I just bought the CD remaster of that album yesterday. They really did a fine job of NOT screwing up the original. Plus, the cover of "America" was a great bonus track.
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#511365 - 03/28/04 03:59 PM
Re: "Close To The Edge"
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dsykes
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Most recently for me, Dylan's "Love and Theft"
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#511366 - 03/28/04 04:06 PM
Re: "Close To The Edge"
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Bill@Welcome Home Studios
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Originally posted by maarvold:
"Close To The Edge" by Yes, released [presumably] in 1972: a REMARKABLE achievement from my POV. How about listing some other no-holds-barred, soul-feeding titles?
Bill
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#511367 - 03/28/04 04:07 PM
Re: "Close To The Edge"
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Bill@Welcome Home Studios
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Originally posted by bpark@prorec.com:
Piles of them. But if you like that "Art Rock" style, "Foxtrot" (Genesis) and "Burning for You" (the Strawbs) comes to mind.
Bill[/QB]
Bill
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#511368 - 03/28/04 04:32 PM
Re: "Close To The Edge"
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maarvold
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But if you like that "Art Rock" style...
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#511369 - 03/28/04 05:04 PM
Re: "Close To The Edge"
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Griffinator
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In the same vein, I would forward Dream Theater's Metropolis Pt 2: Scenes from a Memory as just such a soul-moving magnum opus.
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#511370 - 03/28/04 06:14 PM
Re: "Close To The Edge"
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BOOKUMDANO
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For me, as far as perfect Yes production/engineering/total vibe goes, it's "Awaken" and "Gates of Delirium". And to think.. those guys are still packing stadiums.
I hated Yes in 1970 when friends first played some of Time & Word and "Yes album" to me. I particularly disliked what I heard as completely idiotic lyrics. Couldn't understand why a lot of my friends liked them. A radio dj friend of mine kept on me in the fall of 71.."ya gotta go see em, ya gotta go see em". So I did, not expecting much.
I don't know what happened. The concert was incredible, the songs clicked in a different way to me, most of "Fragile" was played that night, and I became an enthusiastic fan. I used to go see them play at least twice a year after that first encounter.
I still think Yes lyrics are idiotic and I wish Jon wouldn't have used the words "sun" and "source" in every third song, but on the other hand, after thirty five years of them being together, it just wouldn't be right for the lyrics to be any different than they are. The recordings still hold up for me and I still like the two songs I mentioned the best of all of them.
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#511371 - 03/28/04 06:41 PM
Re: "Close To The Edge"
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Griffinator
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Ten true summers we'll be there and laughing too
What's idiotic about that line?
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#511372 - 03/28/04 07:45 PM
Re: "Close To The Edge"
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sign
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I am a big YES fan from the beginning in 1968.
Have you seen the 'Symphonic' DVD, recorded in Amsterdam 2001?
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#511373 - 03/28/04 07:45 PM
Re: "Close To The Edge"
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henryrobinett
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I loved the band and this album in particular. Never have been much given to lyrics so I can't comment. But I saw the band only once during their Close To The Edge tour. I think they played that entire record.
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#511374 - 03/28/04 07:47 PM
Re: "Close To The Edge"
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Griffinator
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Nope, gotta re-emphasize this point.
This is such a beautiful piece of poetry - how can you say it's idiotic?
Love comes to you and you follow
Lose one on to the heart of the sunrise
SHARP-DISTANCE
How can the wind with its arms
All around me
Lost on a wave and then after
Dream on on to the heart of the sunrise
SHARP-DISTANCE
How can the wind with so many around me
Lost in the city
Lost in their eyes as you hurry by
Counting the broken ties they decide
Love comes to you and then after
Dream on on to the heart of the sunrise
Lost on a wave that you're dreaming
Dram on on to the heart of the sunrise
SHARP-DISTANCE
How can the wind with its arms all around
Me
SHARP-DISTANCE
How can the wind with so many around me
I feel lost in the city
Lost in their eyes as you hurry by
Counting the broken ties they decided
Straightt light moving and removing
SHARPNESS of the colour sun shine
Straight light searching all the meanings
Of the song
Long last treatment of the telling that
Relates to all the words sung
Dreamer easy in the chair that really fits
You
Love comes to you and then after
Dream on on to the heart of the sunrise
SHARP-DISTANCE
How can the sun with its arms all around
Me
SHARP-DISTANCE
How can the wind with so many around me
I feel lost in the city
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#511375 - 03/28/04 10:56 PM
Re: "Close To The Edge"
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BOOKUMDANO
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Ahh..the symphonic live dvd is incredible! The orchestra treatment of Gates of Delirium and others is just great. The surround mix is great, the video production is great. I just wish Rick had been with them on that tour three years ago.
As far as Jon's lyrics, I don't think all of them are idiotic...just a lot of them. Some of them work for me, some don't. In my opinion, over the course of 35 years, Jon could have picked a lot more variety of words, even if the intent was to write from "his cosmic mind" as he once sang.
But..... it doesn't really matter. At this point in time, I don't really wish that they had done anything differently than the way it's gone down. The lyrics are okay the way they are. I like the band no matter what. In fact, I'm probably one of the few who even like Topographic Oceans..well, not side 3 very much.
Yes started when the Beatles were still around and they're still selling out huge venues all over the world, including here. They look healthy and their playing is still very strong. That's just not a common thing. I have no gripe with anything they do.
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#511376 - 03/29/04 05:55 AM
Re: "Close To The Edge"
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natpub
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Tales from the Topographic Ocean - YES
Relayer - Gates of Delerium - YES
Olias of Sunhillo - Jon Anderson
Lamb Lays Down on Broadway - PG & Genesis
Selling England by the Pound - "
Foxtrot - "
2112 - Rush
Dark Side & Animals both - PF
Kate Bush - Red Shoes
Kate Bush - Kick Inside
dems some
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#511377 - 03/29/04 07:20 AM
Re: "Close To The Edge"
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sign
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Originally posted by BOOKUMDANO:
Ahh..the symphonic live dvd is incredible! The orchestra treatment of Gates of Delirium and others is just great. The surround mix is great, the video production is great. I just wish Rick had been with them on that tour three years ago.
I've been to many YES concerts, last year in Rotterdam, Rick came up with a Korg Jupiter? and he sounded plain bad, thin and ugly. The piano sound was bad, the Hammond sound was even worse and there are no words to dicribe his Mellotron substitute. He should be ashamed.
Tom had (a.o)a Yamaha AN1X with his own patches and as you can hear in the Symphonic DVD, his sounds are okay. He also is a very good player and a dynamic person on stage.
YES is one of the greatest bands ever.
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#511378 - 03/29/04 09:36 AM
Re: "Close To The Edge"
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John Sayers
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Yeah it was "Fragile" that did it for me too.
As a young engineer at the time it was the production that caught my attention. It was a different sound to the Elton John/Beatles sound around at the time with lush rich low end.
Fragile was exactly that - fragile - the sounds were all top end orientated and the low end was hardly there, yet when put on the standard home stereo of the time with the speakers in opposite corners of the room and the bass and treble wound full bore and the loudness control on it sounded magnificient 
That production style became very British IMO for quite some time. Trevor Horn epitomised it later on.
Very different from the warm smooth US sound, your best trademark IMO.
Hey,let's not forget the wonderful artwork
cheers
john
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#511379 - 03/29/04 11:07 AM
Re: "Close To The Edge"
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Bill@Welcome Home Studios
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I sneared at Yes until a bass player friend of mine sat me down and forced me to listen to the live "YesSongs". When I found out that they could play that stuff live, that made a real difference to me, and I went back and checked out the rest of the catalog.
Bill
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#511380 - 03/29/04 04:32 PM
Re: "Close To The Edge"
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jdunn
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Hey, Genesis heads. I like 'Supper's Ready' too, but I don't think the studio version does it justice. Get the box set that has the entire Shrine Auditorium Lamb show. On one of the discs, there's a fantastic version of 'Supper's Ready', complete with one of Gabriel's weird, dry intro stories. Starts with, "Old Henry, walked past the pet shop". Great stuff!
The remaster of 'Seconds Out' is good too. There's a nice jam out of 'I Know What I Like'. Yeah, it's Phil on vocals, but the live band is smokin' at this point, and that's also got an excellent Supper's.
While we're on the classical rock subject, has anyone ever heard 'The Green Album' by Eddie Jobson/Zinc. It's got Gary Green from Gentle Giant on guitar, and I dig it. There's an excellent CD master on the One Way Records, CEMA Capitol Special Markets label. Check it out. Has lots of that phat Yamaha CS-80 synth, some vocoder on one track, and an acoustic piano solo too.
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#511381 - 03/29/04 06:19 PM
Re: "Close To The Edge"
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maarvold
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Steely Dan's "Gaucho"--in my opinion, this album is their masterpiece. FABULOUS sonics , more relaxed and hipper than "AJA", simultaneously lush and (in a way) stark, impeccably tracked, mixed and mastered, this album satisfies in much the same way as the very best coke did (back in those days). The price tag for this cd should have been $100.
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#511382 - 03/29/04 07:55 PM
Re: "Close To The Edge"
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sign
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Funny how taste can differ, I don't like SD at all.
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#511383 - 03/29/04 09:13 PM
Re: "Close To The Edge"
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garysjo
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Hmm, I loved "Aja" but thought "Gaucho" was clinical as hell.
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#511384 - 03/29/04 10:45 PM
Re: "Close To The Edge"
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clusterchord
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In fact, I'm probably one of the few who even like Topographic Oceans..well, not side 3 very much.
other stuff of this magnitude, if i had to pick a few:
Genesis: Lamb Lies Down On Broad way (album)
Genesis: Supper's Ready
Genesis: Eleventh Earl Of Mar
Mike Oldfield: Ommadawn
Dead Can Dance: Within The Realm Of Dying Sun
Tangerine Dream: Force Majeure
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#511385 - 03/29/04 10:46 PM
Re: "Close To The Edge"
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Bill@Welcome Home Studios
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Originally posted by garysjo:
Hmm, I loved "Aja" but thought "Gaucho" was clinical as hell.
Bill
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#511386 - 03/29/04 11:43 PM
Re: "Close To The Edge"
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jdunn
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The Royal Scam has long been my favorite. When they played 'The Caves of Altamira' at Universal Ampitheatre recently, I was very vocal in my approval of song selection, while some other people in the audience were saying, "Yeah, that song was alright I guess".
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#511387 - 03/30/04 03:55 AM
Re: "Close To The Edge"
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natpub
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We shouldn't leave out ELP. Some great contributions to music history from them.
KT
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#511388 - 03/30/04 04:16 AM
Re: "Close To The Edge"
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d gauss
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hmmmm.... gonna get slammed for this i'm sure, but i seem to remember yes (and beatles) engineer geoff emerick saying that "close to the edge" was an edited nightmare. something like an edit every 2 bars on the multitrack.....
-d. gauss
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#511389 - 03/30/04 11:55 AM
Re: "Close To The Edge"
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BOOKUMDANO
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No hmm or slamming needed...it's true that Yes' long pieces were and are recorded in sections with lots of edits. They don't write or record those twenty minute works in one stretch and that applies to the old Eddie Offord engineering days as well as now. I don't believe Geoff Emerick has ever been involved with the band.
There was a really good (long) article in R-E-P years ago about the making of the "Going For the One" album and the Yes recording process in general. It discussed how Yes songs ususally started with an idea like a two or three minute song by Jon on guitar (or sometimes Jon and Steve). They'd use that idea in a group meeting to discuss and chart out a basic section map for the arrangement. Then they'd record bass, drums, reference guitar, one song section at a time...not knowing for sure if each section would be used or how each section was going to seque in an out of the other sections ...which wouldn't be figured out until overdubbing was started. As a starting point, safeties were made of the tapes and then the sections would be roughly spliced together to create the overall basic track. Then overdubbing started with usually a first round of guitars for a week or so. Then a week or so of keyboard overdubbing. Final solos would be left until the arrangement structure was tested out and approved by everyone. As the arrangement and recording took shape, ideas would come up for arrangement changes or differing ideas on how to splice the sections. Some recorded parts would be dumped as sections were re-timed or spliced at different places...or newly thought up sections recorded and integrated into the overall piece.
In the case of "Awaken" on "Going For the One", an entire 7 minute (or whatever it is) section of glockenspiel/bell tree hits were put in the middle of the song (similar concept to what the Beatles did on Day In the Life when they recorded Mal counting to thirty (?) during the section of the song they hadn't yet figured out). This section was for Rick to fill in with some sort of keyboard part. The only new keyboard around at that point was the new Moog Polymoog which was used for a bit, but then the decision was made to record a pipe organ for the part. The only pipe organ avaiable where the band was in Switzerland was at some cathedral so they rigged up an elablorate phone line system to record the part at the cathedral and pipe the signal to the studio. When that section was completed, the band moved on to the next section. If you listen closely to that section of "Awaken", you can hear the glockenspiel/bell tree just sort of fade out as the splice for the next section takes over. I'm sure that with that kind of recording process, the splices became more frequent and more precise as any particular song really started to take shape.
I'm sure that Yes could have really made great use of Protools (or my vote Nuendo) back in the early days. All that physical splicing certainly must have been a nightmare.
When I read that R-E-P article years ago, I thought it would be real interesting for Yes to put out a book someday, detailing their recording process on various albums. I would find that as interesting to read as the great "Beatles Sessions" book.
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#511392 - 04/02/04 07:44 PM
Re: "Close To The Edge"
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Derry
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Yes has had some great material over the years, no matter how they went about the writing/recording process. But if you are looking for Prog Rock classics my votes are:
ELP "Brain Salad Surgery" (Tocatta and Karn Evil 9 are masterpieces)
ELP "Trilogy" (Incredibly under rated)
Genesis "Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" (Takes many listenings, but well worth it.)
I have seen both bands perform most of these live, and they are even more dynamic than the studio versions.
Last but certainly not least, the perfect blend of rock and classical. ELP "Pictures at an Exibition" Live with the orchestra. Power, beauty, WOW! I saw it 3 nights in a row at Madison Square Garden and it left a lump in my throat every time.
Thanks for letting me put my 2 cents worth in.
Derry
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to the DVD discussed earlier. I have enjoyed it alot!
