Album Club: Close to the Edge - Yes
Discussed on June 14, 2026. Picked by Chris.
Song Ratings
| # | Song | Jim | Chris |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | Starter | Starter |
| 2 | And You and I: I. Cord of Life / II. Eclipse / III. The Preacher the Teacher / IV. Apocalypse | Bench | Bench |
| 3 | Siberian Khatru | — | Cut |
| Legend: Starter = would start a playlist | Bench = solid | Cut = would skip |
Jim’s Notes
- One of the great Yes albums.
- The organ part during the I Get Up I Get Down portion of Close to the Edge is kinda jarring to me but otherwise one of the best songs to take up the entire A side of a rock album.
- Not picking a cut because all 3 songs are very good to great and I cannot see dropping any of them.
- Yes lyrics often don’t make sense. I’m looking at you: “We hear the total mass retain.” Yeah, it’s all metaphors but WTF?!?
Chris’s Notes
Cutting a song from this album is a bit silly, so think of this is as a forced ranking. The album is perfect as it is.
Side 1 is addicting: great hooks, ear worm lyrics, lyrical beauty. Julie just finished Siddhartha and I read a few years ago. Spending more time parsing the lyrics.
Siberian Khatru is fine - lacking finesse of rest of the album. More organ-progressive than I like.
