Tracks
- Close to the Edge
- And You and I
- Siberian Khatru
Close to the Edge is an impenetrable album. The music is progressive rock. It's a concept album—obviously. Fortunately, for the band, they are able to come up with enough "concept" to avoid adding filler.
Like all progressive rock albums, this one suffers from self-indulgence. Beautiful, elaborate, complex and technical music is created to support a supposed revelation of profound and life-altering truth, but which makes little sense, either logically or lyrically. Either that or I'm too dimwitted to appreciate the truth within. Ultimately, this is music which is created to serve itself.
This is a good album musically, though. Unlike a lot of prog rock, the music doesn't assault the listener. This album features prog rock at its best, so it should be on the 1001 Albums list.
All three songs are quite good. I prefer the last two over the first, though.
★★★★★★★★★☆
Tracks
- Roundabout
- Cans and Brahms (Extracts from Brahms' 4th Symphony in E Minor, Third Movement)
- We Have Heaven
- South Side of the Sky
- Five Per Cent for Nothing
- Long Distance Runaround
- The Fish (schindleria praematurus)
- Mood for a Day
- Heart of the Sunrise
Fragile is a brawny album. The music is progressive rock. The album is focused on virtuosity, speed, synchronicity and volume.
Roundabout, South Side of the Sky and Heart of the Sunrise are the meat of the album, totaling more than half the running time of the album. The remaining six songs are centered on one member of the band playing a solo. It's an interesting idea, but it pushes aside the idea of an album as a unified concept or a series of related concepts.
This is an outstanding album. The three main songs are the templates for future progressive rock bands. It's worth listening to and one prof rock album that definitely belongs in a serious album collector's collection. It also deserves to be on the 1001 Albums list, since it really carves out the territory where prog rock rules.
All the songs are good. A Day in the Life of a Tree is the odd man out. The stand outs are: Roundabout, South Side of the Sky and Heart of the Sunrise.
★★★★★★★★★☆
Tracks
- Yours Is No Disgrace
- The Clap
- Starship Trooper
- I've Seen All Good People
- A Venture
- Perpetual Change
The Yes Album is an intense album. The music is progressive rock. It's a busy mix of bass, guitar, drums and keyboards with each musician doing his utmost to make the most of his instrument.
The music on most of the songs have a grand, epic-scale quality to them. The songs are long, the music is loud and full, the music is constantly being played at breakneck speed and in kind of lock step.
The music has an jaw-dropping quality at first, but it fails to deliver after listening a few more times. By then, it feels like an exercise in self-indulgence. The lyrics are vague and puzzling.
The album is uneven. There are three epic sounding prog rock songs and then some lighter hard rock songs. The two kinds just don't mix well.
I like the album, but less so than when I first heard it long ago. I think it's worth listening to mainly because it's one of the first definitive prog rock albums. Thus, it should be on the 1001 Albums list.
Most of the songs are good. I think the stand outs are: Yours Is No Disgrace, Starship Trooper and I've Seen All Good People.
★★★★★★★☆☆☆
