Close to the Edge is the fifth studio album by English progressive rock band Yes. It was released on 8 September 1972 by Atlantic Records, and is their last album of the 1970s to feature their original drummer Bill Bruford. After scoring a commercial and critical hit with Fragile and touring the album, Yes regrouped to prepare material for a follow-up, ideas for which had been put down some months before. The album's centrepiece is the 18-minute title track, with themes and lyrics inspired by the Herman Hesse novel Siddhartha. Side two contains two non-conceptual tracks, the folk-inspired "And You and I" and the comparatively straightforward rocker "Siberian Khatru". Bruford found the album particularly laborious to make, which culminated in his decision to quit the band after it was recorded, to join King Crimson.
Close to the Edge became the band's greatest commercial success at the time of release. It peaked at No. 4 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 3 on the Billboard 200 in the United States, the highest position Yes has reached on the latter chart. A two-part edit of "And You and I" was released in the US which reached No. 42 on the Billboard Hot 100. Yes supported the album with their 1972–1973 world tour which comprised over 90 dates and marked the debut of drummer Alan White, who replaced Bruford three days before the tour started. Close to the Edge was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in 1998 for selling one million copies. It was reissued in 1994, 2003, and 2013; the latter includes previously unreleased tracks and new stereo and 5.1 surround sound mixes by Steven Wilson.
In 2020, Close to the Edge was ranked at #445 on Rolling Stones list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Background
By 1972, Yes had settled with a line-up of lead vocalist Jon Anderson, bassist Chris Squire, drummer Bill Bruford, guitarist Steve Howe, and keyboardist Rick Wakeman. In March 1972, they wrapped their six-month Fragile Tour of the UK and North America to support their fourth album, Fragile (1971). The album became their biggest commercial and critical hit since their formation, helped by the track "Roundabout" receiving considerable airplay on American radio. On 1 and 2 February 1972, during one of the tour's rest periods, the band booked time at Advision Studios in London to put down some tracks for a follow-up record. When touring finished, they took another break before they entered rehearsals at the Una Billings School of Dance in Shepherd's Bush in May 1972. Although some arrangements were worked out and put onto tape during this time, none of the tracks were fully written at this stage, leaving the group to devise the rest of the songs in the studio and learn to play them through afterwards. On several occasions the arrangements that Yes had started to assemble were so complex that they were forgotten by the time the next day's session began. This caused the band to record each rehearsal for future reference. Bruford devised the album's title to reflect the state of the band at the time.
Recording
By June 1972, Yes had worked out songs for the album and returned to Advision to record it. Eddy Offord, who had worked with Yes since Time and a Word (1970) and had mixed their live sound on the Fragile tour, assumed his role as audio engineer and producer, sharing his production duties with the band. Having worked on the band's live sound, Offord wished to recreate, in the studio, the high feeling the band had on nights when they performed well in concert. To attempt this, he got their road crew to construct a large stage in the studio for the band to perform on; he noted that Bruford's drums resonated with the wooden platform and made the band sound "more live". The studio also housed a booth-like structure constructed of wooden boards which Howe performed in to enhance his sound further. In one incident, the band decided to use a particular take for a track, but realised that the studio's cleaning staff had put the tape in the rubbish. A scramble in the bins outside the studio ensued, and the missing piece was found and inserted into the master. Around halfway through recording, Anderson decided to walk home from the studio after one exhausting session ended at dawn. He broke down in tears upon arriving, because he decided that he could "officially call myself a musician now", and wrote it on the occupation section of his passport which he had previously left blank until that point.