YES "Close To The Edge" UK 1st PRESS TEXTURED A1/B1
£
83
$
110
£ 83
Sold For
May 9, 2011
Sold Date
Apr 29, 2011
Start Date
£ 24
Start price
11
Number Of Bids
Great Britain
Country Of Seller
eBay
Auctioned at
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Description
YES "Close To The Edge" UK 1st PRESS TEXTURED A1/B1
ONE OF THE RAREST ALBUMS IN THE YES CATALOGUE - EX+
YESClose To The Edge
ORIGINAL UK ATLANTIC (K 50012) FIRST PRESSING (September 1972) OF YES' STUNNING "Close To The Edge" LP - ONE OF THE GREATEST PROG MASTERPIECES
THIS COPY HAS THE INCREDIBLY RARE AND EXTREMELY HARD TO FIND VERY FIRST A1/B1 MATRIX, EARLIEST FULLY TEXTURED SLEEVE AND FIRST GREEN LYRIC INNER (WITH NO PRINTERS CREDITS)
AND IT PLAYS BEAUTIFULLY THROUGHOUT WITH VERY LITTLE TO FAULT (please see detailed audio assessment below)
PRESSED ON QUALITY MID/HEAVYWEIGHT VINYL (much heavier than later issues) WITH THE ATLANTIC ORANGE/GREEN LABELS WHICH HAVE THE CHARACTERISTIC OF THE ORANGE COLOUR BEING MORE OF A RICH BRICK RED THAN THE LATER BRIGHT ORANGE
MATRIX: K 50012 A1 / K 50012 B1
THE RECORD IS HOUSED IN THE ORIGINAL SOFT BACKED MATT AND TEXTURED (INSIDE AND OUTSIDE) GATEFOLD SLEEVE WHICH HAS A FACTORY SEALED LEFT SIDE EDGE
COMPLETE WITH THE FIRST ISSUE GREEN LYRIC INNER SLEEVE WHICH IS COMPLETELY SQUARE (NO OPENING THUMB NOTCH) AND HAS NO PRINTERS CREDITS UNDERNEATH THE CATALOGUE NUMBER
With 1971's Fragile having left Yes poised quivering on the brink of what friend and foe acknowledged was the peak of the band's achievement, Close to the Edge was never going to be an easy album to make.
Drummer Bill Bruford was already shifting restlessly against Jon Anderson's increasingly mystic/mystifying lyricism, while contemporary reports of the recording sessions depicted bandmate Rick Wakeman, too, as little more than an observer to the vast tapestry that Anderson, Steve Howe, and Chris Squire were creating.
For it was vast. Close to the Edge comprised just three tracks, the epic "And You and I" and "Siberian Khatru," plus a side-long title track that represented the musical, lyrical, and sonic culmination of all that Yes had worked toward over the past five years.
Close to the Edge would make the Top Five on both sides of the Atlantic, dispatch Yes on the longest tour of its career so far and, if hindsight be the guide, launch the band on a downward swing that only disintegration, rebuilding, and a savage change of direction would cure.
The latter, however, was still to come. In 1972, Close to the Edge was a flawless masterpiece.
NOTES ON THE CREATION:
Close To The Edge may sound like the most carefully conceived of concept albums, but its creation owed more to chance and deft tape editing.
Yes’s method of working up new material at the time involved everyone playing live in the rehearsal studio until the music either ground to a halt or someone made a mistake. The band would then go back a few bars and start again. With the tapes rolling, Eddie Offord or the tape operator would be feverishly taking notes. Thus the title piece was patched together from possibly 30 or 40 edits. According to Rick Wakeman, the take of the closing session had to be retrieved from a dustbin full of tape after Offord, working all-night on the master, had spliced the wrong edit. “When we finally found the right section we were horrified because the sound did not match, there was lots more echo,” Wakeman recalls. “But after a few listens it seemed to work, sort of opened the music out, so we reproduced it live.”
For all the “amateurism and shamateurism” that Brufford, the soon to depart drummer later complained of, Close To The Edge still holds together impressively as a work of sustained creativity and inspired playing.
Today, the title track stands as a landmark prog concept masterpiece which is arguably, unrivalled
Side 1: Close To The Edge
Side 2: And You And I / Siberian Khatru
LABELS: Clean, bright and unmarked labels with some spindles on Side Two but hardly any on Side One - EXCELLENT+ /EXCELLENT
VINYL Visual: The vinyl surfaces retain their original deep glossy sheen with just some light and superficial hairlines - theses have no audio consequence - the playback is superb - EXCELLENT+
VINYL Audio: Stunning sound throughout - crystal clear, sharp and bright with a strong loud cut. On my one careful play-check at loud volume there are no major audio issues of note - no scratches, no loud clicks or pops and barely any surface noise - just a tiny amount on the run-in groove leading to the quiet waterfall fade-in of 'Close To The Edge' and a similar amount on the quiet beginning of 'And You And I', but very, very minor. And a handful of light (non continuous) background 'ticks' on the quiet middle section of 'And You And I' but again, these are very, very minor and are nothing I found at all intrusive on play-grading this masterpiece. Critically graded a very strong EXCELLENT+ for audio - this is a very, very fine copy indeed
SLEEVE: The soft-backed matt gatefold sleeve is textured on both the outer and inner surfaces with a leather-like finish and unlike most of these delicate sleeves I have seen this one has very little rubbing - just a little showing as ring on the back and a smaller amount on the front. The edges and spine are crisp with very little wear - all spine text is clear and bold (with possibly a little 'touching-up' to the green colour) and the inside is clean and fresh. Overall, a fine example critically graded VERY GOOD++
INNER SLEEVE: This original first issue inner is made of a thinner paper and is more delicate than later issues. It also has perfectly square edges unlike later issues which have a semi circular notch on the opening edge. Another difference is the omission of any printers credits underneath the catalogue number (please see close-up photos). Unfortunately there is a 7cm split to the top edge but otherwise, it is clean and unmarked - VERY GOOD
PLEASE HAVE A LOOK AT MY PICTURES - I USUALLY TAKE QUITE A FEW SO YOU CAN GET A CLEAR INDICATION OF EVERY DETAIL OF THE ITEM
I HAVE UPLOADED AS MANY AS I CAN BUT I WOULD BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO SUPPLY ANY ADDITIONAL PHOTOS ON REQUEST
PLEASE CHECK OUT MY OTHER AUCTIONS FOR MORE RARE AND COLLECTABLE VINYL
AND PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO CONTACT ME WITH ANY QUERIES YOU MAY HAVE
THANKS FOR LOOKING, CHEERS
PLEASE REFER TO MY 'ABOUT ME' PAGE FOR MORE DETAILED INFO ON MY PLAY-GRADING, EQUIPMENT USED, P&P etc
ALL RECORDS ARE PROFESSIONALLY CLEANED BEFORE DISPATCH AND PACKAGED WITH THE VINYL OUTSIDE OF THE SLEEVE TO PREVENT ANY 'KNIFING' DURING TRANSIT.
A PROTECTIVE POLY SLEEVE, NEW INNER WITH NAGAOKA ANTI-STATIC LINER, QUALITY BOX (NOT ENVELOPE) MAILER AND STIFFENERS ARE ALWAYS USED TO ENSURE THAT YOUR RECORD ARRIVES SAFELY
POST & PACKING
UK: 1st Class: £4.00 (recorded delivery)
EUROPE: Airmail: £11.00 (International Signed For delivery with tracking)
INTERNATIONAL: Airmail: £15.00 (International Signed For delivery with tracking)
UK bidders: PayPal or Cheque
INTERNATIONAL bidders: PayPal ONLY
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435 (GS 6.1 (435))
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