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Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava.

Part 3 of an occasional series. #1 is here. #2 is here.

“Close to the Edge,” as performed by Yes on the classic album of the same title from 1972. Written by Jon Anderson & Steve Howe.

1- “The Solid Time of Change” (the sections of this piece are named after the 4 sections of “Close to the Edge.”)

When I was a kid I was passionately into exploring Art & Art history. Before 3rd grade started, the school asked students if they wanted to learn an instrument. For some unknown reason my best friend at the time, Doug, chose trombone. Not to be left out, I did, too. Huh? A serious accident just before school began that year forced me to miss the first 3 months of lessons. This included all the basics on the instrument and how to read Music! The teacher refused to go back or help me make up what I missed. Somehow, I managed to go on and play in every group, orchestra, and band from grade 3 through high school graduation without knowing how to read Music¹. And, no one ever found out! I was first in line when the high school marching band entered the stadium for Saturday football games. It was quite a feeling not knowing for certain if anyone was behind me. Also, while on the soccer team, I once got kicked in the face, which made me unable to play the trombone. The band teacher refused to let me miss a game because they needed my spot in the formations on the field.

As a high school junior, Doug announced he was starting a band, Already a loner, I could already feel myself being cut off. I decided to take up bass and another friend of ours, Rich, transferred from clarinet to drums. It turns out Doug was very into Blues (Robert Johnson, BB King, Muddy Waters…great stuff). Having delved into Music, I began casting a typically wide net. I quickly discovered Jazz, which I found much more interesting for a bassist (I thought, unfairly selling the Blues short. Actually, I had discovered Jazz years earlier, but I’ll save that story for another time.) While I explored Jazz, and he, Blues, Doug and I did agree on the English band Cream. He, an Eric Clapton fan, and me a big fan of the exceptional, late bassist Jack Bruce (who went on to make his own mark in Jazz and experimental Music after Cream). 

The 12-bar structure of the Blues felt limiting to me at the time (yes, short-sighted. Hey, I was 15.). This led me to explore further. I discovered the so-called “Progressive” bands- Genesis, with Peter Gabriel (I saw them on their first U.S. tour after Foxtrot was released.), the amazing and sadly overlooked Gentle Giant, and Yes. I fell so hard under the spell of Yes that it felt unescapable at the time. The amazing bassist, Chris Squire, became the focus of my listening with his unique sound on the Rickenbacker 4001 bass. I managed somehow to get one in beautiful cherry red. 

My LP worn out, I replaced it with this copy of the 1st release on CD. The striking background gradient for the cover Art by Roger Dean reminds me of Ed Ruscha’s Bouncing Marbles, Bouncing Apple, Bouncing Olive, from 1969, just three years earlier. Coincidence? Hmmm…

2- “Total Mass Retain”

“A dewdrop can exalt us like the music of the sun”*

The peak of Yes’s brilliance for me (which many Yes fans will challenge) remains their epic, Close to the Edge, from 1972. Its 18 minutes and 50 seconds filling the entirety of Side 1 of the now classic album of the same name. Even Genesis, who were fond of stretching and breaking the limits of the traditional song-form hadn’t as yet gone that far. One of the peak Musical monuments of the 70s, earning the awe of all the Musicians I knew, it’s in a bit of eclipse these days. Singer Jon Anderson has said he co-wrote Close to the Edge (with guitarist Steve Howe) with Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha, a novel loosely based on the life of the Buddha, in mind. I read it around the time the album came out and it inspired me to check out Eastern Philosophy for the first time. In it, Siddhartha achieves an enlightenment while sitting along the banks of a river. “Close to the edge, down by a river,” the chorus goes.

“Two million people barely satisfy
Two hundred women watch one woman cry, too late
In charge of who is there in charge of me
Do I look on blindly and say I see the way?”*

Along the way, it’s mystical lyrics seem to cover a lot of ground, from war to inequality to the duality of life (“I get up, I get down”), to spiritual awakening.

“A seasoned witch could call you from the depths of your disgrace
And rearrange your liver to the solid mental grace.”*

Reaching your “higher self” by way of your liver, considered the seat of emotions in the middle ages (according to an annotation on genius.com)- “The Solid Time of Change”, the title of  section 1 of “Close to the Edge” indeed. Somehow, in spite of everything going on in the world, it all comes back to mastering ones self, is my take. No wonder it took almost 19 minutes to get it all in!

In 1975, I left the Manhattan School of Music to join a band and wound up going on the road with them for 5 years. When I first joined, they were covering Yes, among others. That was always a show-stopper. People couldn’t believe we were covering them. We did “Roundabout” and  “I’ve Seen All Good People.” Along the way, Yes covers have largely disappointed me. Perhaps it’s because I realized the shortcomings in my own performances. Even post-1972 Yes disappointed me compared to what had come before. Why?

Yes, c.1971-2, in their greatest iteration in my opinion. Clockwise from upper left, Jon Anderson (vocals), Bill Bruford (drums & percussion), Eddy Offord (producer), Steve Howe (guitars & vocals), Chris Squire (bass & vocals), and Rick Wakeman (keyboards) Photographed, presumably, at the Close to the Edge recording sessions as seen in the booklet.

Before their follow-up to Close to the Edge, Tales From Topographic Oceans, their extraordinary drummer, Bill Bruford, left the band. He’s reported to have said in an interview when asked why he left, “After Close to the Edge, what was left to do?” The rhythm section of he and Squire were something the likes of which I had never heard before- even in Jazz. Together, they were masters of the odd time signatures (time signatures in other than 4/4. Much of Close to the Edge is in 6.), locked in step while finding unexpected syncopations at every turn that left every other rock band of the time (except Gentle Giant) behind, even impressing Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page in the process. I regret to this day never having gotten to hear Bruford and Squire together with Yes. (I saw Yes shortly after Tales From Topographic Oceans came out with Alan White on drums, and Bruford with King Crimson in Atlantic City when they recorded the album of the same name). Bill Bruford went on to play with a number of great bands, including Genesis, before forming his own small jazz group, Earthworks, which toured and recorded extensively.

3- “I Get Up, I Get Down”

“Close to the edge, round by the corner.
Close to the edge, just by the river.
Seasons will pass you by.
I get up, I get down.”*

So, to say I was EXTREMELY impressed when I came across this video of Band Geek and Chris Clark (from Brand X) covering Close to the Edge, the album in its entirety(!), is to put it mildly. (Though this piece is focused on the “song,” which is track 1 on the album, ending around 17:50 on the video above. Then, “And You And I,” and “Siberian Khatru” follow “Close” completing the album.) Regarding that track, Band Geek or Band Geeks are they are alternatively known, not only have managed to transcribe the entire piece (and album)- no mean feat given how incredibly hard it is to hear the parts when the Music gets dense (or, they found someone who has), they perform it with superb expertise & total faithfulness to the original. Listening carefully to every part, every detail sounds there to me. When I was playing covers, we always “made the song our own,” putting our own spin on it. Still, in Music this complex, playing it faithfully is akin to what Classical Musicians do in their performances of Music by the great composers, referred to as “playing it as written,” which is what Band Geek are doing here. In fact, shortly after Close to the Edge came out, I told a Musician friend of mine that in 50 years orchestras would be playing Yes. They did, and it happened earlier!

Bassist/producer Richie Castellano’s comment on why they did this says in part- “We are hardcore Yes fans and this video is not about conquering a song or doing it better than anyone. It’s about the joy of indulging our inner teenagers and being lucky enough to get the opportunity to play our favorite music.” With all the hours I spent in my room trying playing along to Yes, then playing some of their Music on stage, I can certainly relate to that. My hat is off to them- Ann Marie Nacchio (vocals), Chris Clark (keyboards), Andy Grazaino (guitar & vocals), Richie Castellano (bass & vocals), Andy Ascolese (drums & vocals) and Jarret Pressman (Foley FX).

A comment I read somewhere said that “Yes without Jon Anderson is karaoke.” Given various incarnations of Yes over the years that included him, then didn’t, it’s hard to argue with that, though singer Ann Marie Nacchio more than holds her own in very deep water. It turns out that Jon Anderson heard the Band Geek cover and was also suitably impressed. So impressed, he rang them up(!), and he and Band Geek went out on tour(!!), as you can hear here in this audience recording from Baltimore, May 6, 2023 (the video starts at 2:00 after the excerpt from Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite which Yes always used to introduce their concerts)-

4- “Seasons of man”

I gradually lost interest in my favorite rock band at the time after Bruford left. Genesis’s The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway came out in 1974, a year after 1973’s Topographic Oceans. Lamb has become my favorite rock album of all-time. So, hearing Jon with Band Geek brings me back to the Yes I love since drummer Andy Ascolese does a terrific job of recreating Bill Bruford’s singular drum parts.

Not only has Band Geek mastered Close to the Edge, but Yours Is No Disgrace, Perpetual Change, Heart of the Sunrise, I’ve Seen All Good People, and Roundabout, among others from the classic Yes catalog they performed live with Jon Anderson in this two+ hour concert, part of their 2023 tour. Getting Jon Anderson’s blessing & approval, backed up with his in-person collaboration (at 79 at the time), says it all. Band Geek were living the dream every young musician/Yes fan had as a kid in their room…And? Making us all damn proud.

“Now that it’s all over and done
Called to the seed, right to the sun
Now that you find, now that you’re whole
Seasons will pass you by
I get up, I get down
I get up, I get down”*

“Close to the Edge” is Music for all seasons. Band Geek is paying Yes forward. Great Music has no expiration date.

*-Soundtrack for this piece is “Close to the Edge,” written by Steve Howe & Jon Anderson, performed by Band Geek, above.

Previous installments in this occasional series may be found here- #1, Ricki Lee Jones’s “Last Chance Texaco,” is here. #2, Steely Dan’s “Deacon Blues,” the theme of NighthawkNYC.com, is here.

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You can also support it by buying Art, Art & Photography books, and Music from my collection! Art & Books may be found here. Music here and here.

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