Editing Close to the Edge (section)

== Reception and legacy ==
{{Music ratings
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1Score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref name=AllMusic>{{AllMusic |class=album |id=r22455 |tab=review |first=Dave |last=Thompson |accessdate=18 March 2004 }}</ref>
| rev2 = ''[[Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies|Christgau's Record Guide]]''
| rev2Score = C+<ref name="CG">{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|year=1981|title=[[Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies]]|publisher=[[Ticknor & Fields]]|isbn=089919026X|chapter=Consumer Guide '70s: Y|chapter-url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_chap.php?k=Y&bk=70|access-date=9 March 2019}}</ref>
| rev3 = ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]''
| rev3Score = 9.0/10<ref name=pitchfork>{{cite web |website=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]] |date=8 February 2004 |first1=Chris |last1=Dahlen |first2=Dominque |last2=Leon |first3=Joe |last3=Tangari |title=Yes ''The Yes Album'' / ''Fragile'' / ''Close to the Edge'' / ''Tales from Topographic Oceans'' / ''Relayer'' / ''Going for the One'' / ''Tormato'' / ''Drama'' / ''90125'' > Album Reviews  |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/11869-the-yes-album-fragile-close-to-the-edge-tales-from-topographic-oceans-relayer-going-for-the-one-tormato-drama-90125/|access-date=5 April 2005 }}</ref>
| rev4 = ''[[PopMatters]]''
| rev4Score = 7/10<ref>{{Cite web |last=Webb |first=Peter Thomas |date=2025-03-18 |title=Yes' Close to the Edge Appears in a New Super Deluxe Edition |url=https://www.popmatters.com/yes-close-to-the-edge |access-date=2025-05-18 |website=[[PopMatters]] |language=en-US}}</ref>
| rev5 = ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' (1972)
| rev5Score = (favorable)<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[Rolling Stone]] |issue=121 |date=9 November 1972 |first=Richard |last=Cromelin |title=Yes ''Close to the Edge'' > Album Review |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/yes/albums/album/260563/review/6067858/close_to_the_edge |access-date=4 March 2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061214071332/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/yes/albums/album/260563/review/6067858/close_to_the_edge |archive-date=14 December 2006 }}</ref>
| rev6 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide|The Rolling Stone Record Guide]]'' (1979)
| rev6Score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref>[[Dave Marsh|Marsh, Dave]]; Swenson, John (Editors). ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', 1st edition, Random House/Rolling Stone Press, 1979, p. 424.</ref>
| rev7 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]'' (2004)
| rev7score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="Cross">{{cite book|last=Cross|first=Charles R.|author-link=Charles R. Cross|editor1-last=Brackett|editor1-first=Nathan|editor2-last=Hoard|editor2-first=Christian|title=[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide|The New Rolling Stone Album Guide]]|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]]|edition=4th|year=2004|isbn=0-7432-0169-8|chapter=Yes|pages=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/895 895]}}</ref>
| rev8 = The Daily Vault
| rev8Score = A<ref name=vault>{{cite web |url= http://dailyvault.com/toc.php5?review=1769 |title=The Daily Vault Music Reviews : Close to the Edge |first=Jason |last=Warburg |work=dailyvault.com |year=2019 |access-date=29 January 2019}}</ref>
| rev9 = ''[[The Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]''
| rev9Score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Larkin|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Larkin|title=Encyclopedia of Popular Music|year=2007|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|edition=4th|isbn=978-0195313734|title-link=Encyclopedia of Popular Music}}</ref>
| rev10 = ''[[Under the Radar (magazine)|Under the Radar]]''
| rev10Score = {{rating|10|10}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Davis |first=Hays |date=March 17, 2025 |title=Close to the Edge (Super Deluxe Edition) |url=https://www.undertheradarmag.com/reviews/close_to_the_edge_super_deluxe_edition_yes |access-date=2025-05-18 |website=[[Under the Radar (magazine)|Under the Radar]] |language=en}}</ref>
}}
''Close to the Edge'' received favourable reviews among critics at the time of release in magazines and newspapers. ''[[New Musical Express]]'' printed a more mixed review from [[Ian MacDonald]] on 2 September 1972. He thought the group were "not just close to the edge, they've gone right over it", though they "played their God-damned guts out" on the album which he called "an attempt to overwhelm us which resulted in only unmemorable meaninglessness". MacDonald concluded: "On every level but the ordinary aesthetic one, it's one of the most remarkable records pop has yet produced".<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Meaningless magnificence from Yes?|first=Ian|last=MacDonald|date=2 September 1972|magazine=NME|page=15|via=ProQuest}}</ref> American music magazine ''[[Cashbox (magazine)|Cashbox]]'' hailed the album as "a recording masterpiece".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Archive-Cash-Box-IDX/70s/1972/Cash-Box-1972-09-23-OCR-Page-0024.pdf|title=Album Reviews|magazine=Cashbox|date=23 September 1972|page=24|access-date=27 September 2021}}</ref> In a positive review, ''Billboard'' selected the album in its weekly "Billboard Pick" feature, noting that Yes had "progressed to the point where they are light years beyond their emulators, proving to be no mere flash in the pan. The sound tapestries they weave are dainty fragments, glimpses of destinies yet to be formed, times that fade like dew drops in the blurriness of desires half-remembered. All involved deserve praise and thanks, this being not a mere audio experience, transcending the medium it brings all senses into play."<ref>{{Cite news|magazine=Billboard|date=7 October 1972|title=Billboard Pick: Pop: YES: Close to the Edge}}</ref>

Henry Medoza opened his review for ''[[The San Bernardino Sun]]'' with: "Not since ... ''[[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]]'' has there been one side on an album that expressed such a complete and exciting a musical thought as side one", and thought it presented the group with a new level of sophistication. He praised the group's vocal harmonies and Bruford's "deep irregular bass drum" on the opening of the title track, but picked its third section as the most interesting with the trading vocals, Wakeman's "dream-like" and "powerful" organ playing. Mendoza described side two as more "uninspiring" than the first, but praised the vocals and harmonies on both tracks, noting they sound like its own instrument on "Siberian Khatru".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6602077/yes_close_to_the_edge/|first=Henry|last=Mendoza|title=Soundings – Close to the Edge|newspaper=The San Bernardino Sun|date=28 September 1972|page=47|via=[[Newspapers.com]]|access-date=15 September 2016}}{{free access}}</ref> The ''[[Lubbock Avalanche-Journal]]'' printed another positive review by Jon Clemens. He called the title track a "virtual sound trip", moving "quickly, loudly, in a frenzy" that "contrasts brilliantly" during "I Get Up, I Get Down", and praises the vocals during the section. Clemens thought highly of Howe and Wakeman's interplay throughout, but thought the group's tendency to change tempo frequently risks distracting the listener.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6602046/yes_close_to_the_edge/|first=John|last=Clemens|title=British Group 'Yes' Close to Sounds of Future Rock|newspaper=Lubbock Avalanche-Journal|date=2 November 1972|page=57|via=[[Newspapers.com]]|access-date=15 September 2016}}{{free access}}</ref> For the ''[[San Mateo County Times|San Mateo Times]]'', Peter J. Barsocchini thought the album is "good in concept and performance", with the title track "quite likely the best piece of music" the band had recorded in its career. "And You and I", Barsocchini thought, is "an interesting meshing of acoustic and electronic music" that is "tightly, integrally produced". To him, "Siberian Khatru" was comparable to their ''Fragile'' album that does not further the group's sound like the album's other two cuts do.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6613117/close_to_the_edge_1972/|first=Peter J.|last=Barsocchini|title=Pop Corner – |newspaper=The Times|location=San Mateo, California|date=7 October 1972|page=34|via=[[Newspapers.com]]|access-date=15 September 2016}}{{free access}}</ref>

The album has continued to receive many positive retrospective reviews. In his review for [[AllMusic]], Dave Thompson gave the album five stars out of five, hailing it as a "flawless masterpiece".<ref name="AllMusic" /> Paul Stump's 1997 ''History of Progressive Rock'' asserted that ''Close to the Edge'', with its equal measures of ambition and heartfelt playing, "even today draws grudging respect from Yes's most trenchant critics."<ref>{{cite book |last=Stump |first=Paul |title=The Music's All that Matters: A History of Progressive Rock |date=1997 |publisher=Quartet Books Limited |isbn=0-7043-8036-6 |page=106}}</ref> In a special edition of ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]'' and ''[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]'' magazines published in 2005, ''Close to the Edge'' came in at number 3 in its 40 Cosmic Rock Albums list.<ref>''Q Classic: Pink Floyd & The Story of Prog Rock'', 2005.</ref> The record is also listed in the musical reference publication ''[[1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die]]'' by Robert Dimery. In a reader's choice of the 100 Greatest Guitar Albums of All Time for ''[[Guitar World]]'', the album came in at number 67. ''[[Sound & Vision (magazine)|Sound & Vision]]'' ranked it number 32 on its Top 50 Albums of All Time list.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.soundandvision.com/content/top-50-albums-all-time-page-4|publisher= Sound & Vision|title=The Top 50 Albums of All Time Page 4|date= 5 November 2008|access-date=2017-07-02}}</ref> The album came in at number 5 on ''[[Rolling Stone (magazine)|Rolling Stone]]''{{'}}s list of the top 50 greatest progressive rock albums of all time.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Yes, 'Close to the Edge' (1972) |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/50-greatest-prog-rock-albums-of-all-time-78793/yes-close-to-the-edge-1972-34135/ |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |date=17 June 2015 |access-date=24 August 2018}}</ref> It was voted number 130 in [[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]]'s [[All Time Top 1000 Albums]].<ref name="Larkin">{{cite book|title=[[All Time Top 1000 Albums]]|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=[[Virgin Books]]|date=2000|edition=3rd|isbn=0-7535-0493-6|page=83}}</ref> The album came in at number 1 on a list of the 100 greatest progressive rock albums of all time by ''Prog'' magazine.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-100-greatest-prog-albums-of-all-time-20-1|title = The 100 Greatest Prog Albums of All Time: 20-1|date = 6 August 2014}}</ref> It also made ''Rolling Stone'''s list of the top 500 greatest albums of all time at number 445.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time |date=2020-09-22 |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414151224/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/linda-mccartney-and-paul-ram-1062783/ |archive-date=2023-04-14 |url-status=live |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/linda-mccartney-and-paul-ram-1062783/}}</ref> In 2023, Sean Murphy of ''[[PopMatters]]'' wrote: "the title track is one of progressive rock’s ultimate statements of purpose, worthy of every clichéd superlative imaginable: it really ''is'' epic, and it really ''does'' deliver delights only the rarest art offers."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-03-07 |title=The 25 Best Classic Era Progressive Rock Albums » PopMatters |url=https://www.popmatters.com/best-classic-progressive-rock-albums/3 |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=www.popmatters.com |language=en-US}}</ref>