I tried to find old Yes threads but they slip through the cracks of the search function. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone knows whether the track "Close to the Edge" has been transcribed by anyone. I'm planning to do an analysis paper of it. John Covach has broken down the form and transcribed passages here but I was wondering if there's a complete score/transcription/arrangement anywhere. Thanks.
― Sundar, Saturday, 10 November 2007 03:52 (eighteen years ago)
I'll transcribe it for $1000
― Hurting 2, Saturday, 10 November 2007 03:55 (eighteen years ago)
haha. Actually I might have just found something at the first place I should have looked.
"paper on it" obv.
― Sundar, Saturday, 10 November 2007 04:00 (eighteen years ago)
Interview with the Yes (1 sound disc (14 min.)) included.
― Sundar, Saturday, 10 November 2007 04:02 (eighteen years ago)
Did those dudes learn it from sheet music? I always wondered that.
― Hurting 2, Saturday, 10 November 2007 04:07 (eighteen years ago)
btw I was pretty good at transcription in school but I never did anything remotely that complex.
― Hurting 2, Saturday, 10 November 2007 04:08 (eighteen years ago)
Sundar,
The standard piano/lyrics sheet music existing for it is prety rudimentary and not very good. Don't know if there's anything else out there available that's better, though.
Edward Macan does an analysis of "Close to the Edge" in his book "Rocking the Classics".
― Joe, Saturday, 10 November 2007 04:53 (eighteen years ago)
One place to try if you're in the NY area is Colony by Times Square.
I doubt they had chord charts and all like Steely Dan or something.
Steve Howe is pretty masterful on this and -Siberian.
― calstars, Saturday, 10 November 2007 18:50 (eighteen years ago)
The sheet music I had was just chords and topline, and IIRC wasn't even right some of the time.
Wether it's likely to be useful to you or not, I don't know, but when I was playing for the prog covers band, I used to use midi files to learn stuff from. Many of the ones I found were absolutely note perfect, some of the guys who put them out online have a real sense of pride in their obsessive accuracy! We never did "close to the edge" but we did do "siberian khatru" and the midi file I found for that was spot on. You can import the file into cubase or whatever, and mute parts, which might be useful in analysing the piece. I got loads more respect for Yes after I pulled "Siberian Khatru" apart and learned how all the bits fitted together.
― Pashmina, Saturday, 10 November 2007 18:59 (eighteen years ago)
There's a sheet music book out there called something like "Yes Complete" which has sheet music for everything up to and including Drama. The transcriptions of the Topographic tracks are pretty hilarious.
― Elvis Telecom, Saturday, 10 November 2007 22:36 (eighteen years ago)
Joe, what do you think of Macan's analysis? It's interesting, and he has some good observations, but I have a bit of a hard time buying that CTTE is actually a good example of sonata form. (How is the third 'movement' a development section? The two main themes he identifies don't come back at all to be developed here AFAICT.) The simpler description he gives on p. 105 (that it “presents a song and then repeats it twice with variations, with a contrasting song (the third movement) and several instrumental preludes, interludes, and postludes included for variet.”) is far more believable for me. I’m much more convinced by Covach’s analysis of it as a large-scale AA’BA” form (almost like an expanded Tin Pan Alley form), where the individual sections are pretty solidly grounded in verse/chorus structure. I know a number of people have tried to treat this piece as an example of sonata form, however.
― Sundar, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 18:02 (eighteen years ago)
"makes some good observations"