Close To The Edge
by Yes

Album
Close To The Edge by Yes
Year: 1972
Release date: 1972-09-13
Overall rank: 86th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
85/100 (from 1,502 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 5 albums of 1972 (4th)
Award Top 50 albums of of the 1970s (24th)
Award Top 100 albums of all time (86th)

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Yes bestography

Close To The Edge is ranked as the best album by Yes.

Yes album bestography « Higher ranked
- This album (86th)
Close To The Edge Lower ranked (273rd) »
Fragile

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

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Close To The Edge track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 90 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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#
Track
Rating/Comments
1.
Track pick (920 - 467 votes)
Close To The Edge: The Solid Time Of Change / Total Mass Retain / I Get Up, I Get Down / Seasons Of Man
Average Rating: 92 (467 votes)Comments: View 11
2.
Track pick (890 - 400 votes)
And You And I: Cord Of Life / Eclipse / The Preacher The Teacher / Apocalypse
Average Rating: 89 (400 votes)Comments: View 4
3.
Track pick (880 - 382 votes)
Siberian Khatru
Average Rating: 88 (382 votes)Comments: View 4

Track pick (1000 - 100 votes) Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.

Close To The Edge rankings

Close To The Edge rankings summary
Overall rank: 86th | 1970s rank: 24th | 1972 rank: 4th  Overall chart history
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings).Help Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 3 hours ago)

Close To The Edge collection

Close To The Edge ratings

Average Rating: 
85/100 (from 1,502 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 3 ratings for this album.  | Show all 1,502 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
100/100
 !		09/05/2026 01:54 zexen47  Ratings distribution  18381/100
 
90/100
 !		08/31/2026 22:04 ikeguy  Ratings distribution  4586/100
 
80/100
 !		08/31/2026 14:09 DommeDamian  Ratings distribution  7,74648/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 1% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 85.4/100, a mean average of 84.3/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 85.5/100. The standard deviation for this album is 15.6.


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Close To The Edge favourites

Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite  | Show all 381 members

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Forum mentions

This album has been referenced 220 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From BestEverAlbums 3 days ago in Chart of the day (#5438): By luigybetis
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by luigybetis () 1. by (2015) 2. (1977) 3. by by (1975) 5. by by (2015) 7. (1997) 10. by by (1973) 12. (2005) 13. by (1996) 14. by by (1969) 16. by by (1995) 18. by (1968) 19. by (2018) 20. by (1969) 21. by (2003) 23. by (2017) 24. by by by by…”
View forum post →

From matterhornrider 09/13/2026 15:28 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
“Release date: 1972-09-13 (54th Year Anniversary)”
View forum post →

From BestEverAlbums 09/06/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5427): By StreakyNuno
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by StreakyNuno () 1. by (1973) 2. by (1975) 3. by (1967) 4. by (1972) 5. by by (1967) 7. by (2004) 9. by (1977) 11. (1977) 12. by (1979) 13. by (1966) 14. (1982) 15. (1989) 16. by (1988) 17. (1986) 18. by by (2020) 22. by (1985) 23. by (1997)…”
View forum post →

View all forum mentions

Close To The Edge comments

Showing latest 5 comments | Show all 122 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)
Rating:  
95/100
From 05/06/2026 10:13 | #314332
Prog rock at its best. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Rating:  
85/100
From 02/27/2026 18:27 | #313362
A great follow up to their last two albums with another perfect progressive rock album. I enjoy how they combined elements of classical music, pop, and jazz. Musically this is stunning with the experimentation and creativity truly flowing from the band. Buckle-up when listening because of the highs, it makes this a must listen even for those not fans of this genre. (Edited)
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Rating:  
75/100
From 12/16/2025 21:55 | #312163
Prog's an interesting genre as there's so many variations. If you needed to explain a concise definition and what typical prog may be, this album would be the perfect example. I find albums like this do seem to take multiple listens before gelling with though. This is one that does have the right mix and blend of melody v's complexity. (Edited)
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Rating:  
35/100
From 08/14/2025 10:31 | #310525
Siberian Khatru is a good track, the first track I'm not a huge fan of, especially the beginning. generally I don't like this long-form style of prog rock (Edited)
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Rating:  
70/100
From 01/27/2025 10:13 | #307256
This comment is beneath your viewing threshold.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -5 votes (0 helpful | 5 unhelpful)
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Best Albums of  1972
1. The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars by David Bowie
2. Exile On Main St. by The Rolling Stones
3. Pink Moon by Nick Drake
4. Close To The Edge by Yes
5. Harvest by Neil Young
6. Transformer by Lou Reed
7. Machine Head by Deep Purple
8. Ege Bamyası by Can
9. Thick As A Brick by Jethro Tull
10. Foxtrot by Genesis