I love music, especially Yes music, so I apologise for the lengthy review. It's actually less of a review of this release, which is horrendous, and more about my experience with all the digital versions of this album.
It's always been my belief that every single digital version of this album is nothing like the complete and final work that Yes actually recorded. I mean this album has never sounded good on any CD. I know from some sections of later Yes (Awaken for example) and Steve Howe's solo albums (Turbulence comes to mind as well as the Grand Scheme of Things) how incredible and complex their arrangements could be. But I'm talking about very brief instances where you really have to bust your eardrums and play with the balance in the speakers/headphones to have any chance of hearing these intricate details (Even for the newer releases like howe's solo albums, oddly enough). But in places it is definitely there.
Also Eddie Offord, the producer has stated in a NFTE interview that when the overdubs went on to these songs it would sound like a symphony/wall of music. Steve Howe has also said that the overdubbing on Tales From Topographic Oceans was enormous - you certainly can't hear it. I think what we hear on all the digital releases of this album (as well as other yes and possibly other prog albums) so far is essentially the backing tracks to what was probably one of the greatest achievements in 20th century music. Seriously. Consider this comment from Patrik Moraz the keyboardist for Yes during the Relayer period :
"Jon actually led me through the compositions and through the core of the arrangement and the construction of most of the themes of 'The Gates of Delirium,' which were composed by the time I came in. Not all of it was complete, but everything was in his head. I think he had the plan for the whole symphony. It was like a symphony. In the world of rock 'n' roll, although very influenced by The Beatles and the English music scene at the time, I always acquaint Yes with what Stravinsky would have done as a rock musician. Yes music has that kind of symphonic approach and arrangement. The sophistication of the orchestration is absolutely staggering. "
Consider especially the last sentence. He is talking about yes arrangements in general, and this is a guy who knows what he's talking about when it comes to music. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris for God's sake.
Over the last couple of decades there have been countless reviews of this album describing it as incredibly complex, featuring arrangements that popular music had never seen before and would likely never see again. And you know what, that's probably correct. But how on earth would anybody know listening to any digital version of this album (Including this one)? I have every single digital version of this album ever released and there is no musically significant difference between them at all. The the majority of the title track (with the exception of the introduction which I think is also incredibly incomplete) is basically a some fills on guitar, a few block organ chords and ONE NOTE that is repeated in the pre-chorus section by Rick Wakeman. I mean really, can you believe that 5 of the greatest musicians in popular music at the time would consider this album as we hear it one of their greatest achievements? All the evidence suggests otherwise.
What's incredible to me is just about everybody who reviews this album classifies it as complex and well arranged, based obviously on its reputation and not what they are hearing. The level of self-deception of people on the Steve Hoffman forums (for example) is just mind-boggling. There is no difference between the actual musical content on this remaster as any of the others AT ALL. People are raving about the detail captured from the master tape and all that garbage, believe me, it simply is not there. I mean I've spent hundreds of hours listening to this music, and I can guarantee it is for all intents and purposes identical to prior releases. I challenge anyone to point out any musical details present here that are absent in other versions. I simply cannot believe that the master tape was used in this mastering, either that or Hoffman really did a horrendous job.
The particularly bothersome thing about this release is that I, like many others out there was expecting a fresh perspective on this album, after all, it is an audiophile release. Steve Hoffman and Audio Fidelity should be absolutely ashamed for releasing this, but in a way how can you blame them, there are hundreds of audiofools out there who clearly have to convince themselves that there is anything worthwhile about this remaster. One very telling remark by one someone on the thread discussing this album on the Hoffman site said something like (I'm paraphrasing) "now I can hear things I couldn't hear before..like Chris Squire's mandolin like tremolo (really quite redundant to calll it mandolin tremolo) in the intro." Seriously.... What's particularly funny about this is that it is one of the few things that's actually happening in the track at this point, and naturally, it's as clear as day on any of the other CDs.
So after all that negativity, here's some good news. I do believe we have a chance to hear this music true to what was on the master tape, and that is on vinyl. However, there is one catch, you have to find the right pressing. I own about 10 vinyl pressings of CTTE (all 1972 originals) and they all sound different. Truth be told many of them don't sound THAT different to any of the digital releases, however on one of them I notice a couple of things.
First in the title track during the "down at the edge, round by the corner" sectioned I was stunned to hear a harmony part that was completely absent on any other version I had heard before, I just jumped out at me. Another amazing moment was during the intro to And You And I, just before the lyrics begin; when Steve Howe starts strumming that chord sequence, but for a brief moment the soundstage doubled in size and there was what seemed to be a beautifully complex orchestration of acoustic guitars (and probably other stringed instruments and maybe keyboards too), then dissapointingly, just as soon as the soundstage opened up it closed again. So at this stage I had still not found the right pressing, though I began to realise (with great happiness) that my initial suspicions about this album were correct.
I recently came across a website called Better Records, founded by a guy called Tom Port, who sells premium pressings he calls hot stamper records (records that for one reason or another are significantly better than regular pressings). As Tom explains on his site, the pressing of vinyl is process that involves many processes and for a record to sound good many things have had to have gone right. He happened to have a close to the edge hot stamper for sale and I bought it (he has a money back guarantee that if it doesn't sound amazing you can send back the LP for a full refund)
My turntable setup is incredibly modest and he has a disclaimer stating that you need the correct set up in order to hear this album sound amazing. When I played the hot stamper on my system it lacked those wow moments that the other, noisier, inferior pressings had, but I think this was simply to do with my set up.
Once I upgrade my system, Close to The Edge will finally reveal itself in all its magnificence. There is another copy for sale on the site at the moment, BTW, if anyone is interested.
Sorry for this horrendously long rant but this album and yes music in general is something I feel strongly about and I feel we have been deprived of something very special for a very long time.
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