100 Records That Shook The World, #35

Very occasionally here on 100 Records,  I have reason to disagree with the inclusion of a certain record. I started posting this list and will not deviate from it, but now and again, a record crops up that I just can't stand.  Now, I like prog rock, just not all of it. To my mind a lot of it is just pure self-indulgence. I love Genesis, love Emerson Lake & Palmer, but Yes are one of those bands that I find to be totally up themselves. However, a lot of people would disagree, so...

Close To The Edge (LP)

Yes

All I have to say is that many other sources find this album to be utterly brilliant. In the Q & Mojo Classic Special Edition Pink Floyd & The Story of Prog Rock, the album came No. 3 in its list of "40 Cosmic Rock Albums". It is also listed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Progarchives.com voted it the greatest progressive album of all time in 2006. Guitar World ranked it No. 67 in their (Reader's Choice) list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Albums of All Time. As of 17 December 2010, it is ranked as the 72nd greatest album of all time on Rate Your Music.

The story of the album is very tiresome indeed, talking about Jon Anderson and Bill Bruford's basing it on Siddhartha, which I once tried to read and my will to live grew significantly shorter. Blah blah spiritual awakening, blah blah symbolism, blah blah serial lifetimes of the soul, you get the idea. 

Anyhoo, I suppose I should let you listen to some of it and judge for yourself, but I gotta tell ya, give me Brain Salad Surgery any day.