Best of the 70's: Close to the Edge by Yes

What I have learned in doing this walk through the 70's is that I'm not a very big prog rock fan.  This album comes in at number 42 on the Best of the 70's list. 

When I reviewed Fragile by Yes, I talked about it being a good introductory album for progressive rock and I stick with that.  Close to the Edge on the other hand is for the person who wants to delve into the depths of prog rock.  This is the masterwork of Yes.  It opens with a 20 minute suite that is put together similar to how a piece of classical music is constructed. 

Yes will soon be overshadowed on this list by another prog rock band, Pink Floyd, but in many ways these groups are not comparable.  A band like Rush follows much more in the wake of Yes than they do Pink Floyd.  Yes was known for their musicality, their abilities much like Rush would be, where Pink Floyd is more focused on the mood the emotion of what they are constructing. 

If you are ever in the mood to really go deep into progressive rock, then throw this one on and remind yourself it came out almost 40 years ago.

Following the Rhapsody rating method I give it 1 out of 5 stars for Just OK.