Whoa, it takes balls, BIG BALLS to jump into "Close to the Edge" as your first song too react from Yes. They have many, many more that I would have reccomended for you till you were ready. Guts man, I respect that like you wouldn't believe. Just for that you get a 👍 and instant subscription.
@@POPE. i agree. It seems as though you are. Enjoy the journey and thank you for taking us along. Listening now to Close to the Edge and looking forward to your thoughts as the video progresses.
As an old guy who saw Yes three times back in the seventies it gives me huuuuge pleasure seeing folk still being blown away by that music today. And you've barely scratched the surface of how this band can blow you away. Enjoy the ride. Well worth it.
I really appreciate your appreciation of this! I saw YES at the St. Paul Civic Center in 1972 and was totally blown away by not only the music, but their stage presence and production! Thank you for this!
Seen YES many times in a few states since 1977 (the Going For the One show, Madison Square Garden, Summer, 1977). What awesome music, and awesome performers. RIP Chris Squire, bassist extraordinaire.. Enjoy!
They are the most talented band to be the stage together. I've seen them 13 times so far. Individually talented and then to have them together no matter which musicians thru the years, there was always perfection in how they preformed.
Apparently they jammed in the studio to figure out what the could duplicate live. And what what could duplicate live is pretty darn impressive. See: Yessongs cd.
Right!?? It was so great just watching his face as the music would ebb & flow through the senses & that first glimmer that he "got it" made me a happy old lady!
The first time you don't listen to close to the edge, you experience it. The second, third, fourth time you listen to it. The 5th....100th time you then marvel at it.
Ive watched your reaction to this song several times. I've been watching reaction videos for over three years. I believe this is my all time favorite reaction. This is your awakening. It's a beautiful sight to see.
@@POPE. I've seen many and this is my fave as well. I keep questioning if these reaction vids in general are merely performance to please the old folks for $, and maybe this is too, but he sure seems to be feeling exactly what we feel at different moments in the piece. I mean, you can look at various frames and know where he is in the song. Seems that would be hard to fake. Thanks Pope! You're beautiful. Lemme know if you ever need adopting!
I'm 68 and I saw them live 11 times. The first time I heard this master piece, we were 5 friends blown away like this young guy. The prog era gave us many others bands as good as YES. Pink Floyd, Genesis, Gentle Giant, ELP, Eloy, Marillion, IQ, Arena, etc
@@mwolfod I don’t think people copy reaction channels. Close to the edge is the best song I’ve heard, it’s the best song they’ve heard, it’s a fucking amazing song
It's always been one of my favorite songs of any genre. But I never had much faith in today's listener. Gratefully, I'm finding I may be wrong, for I have found the same thing to be true. Many just fall all over themselves calling it the greatest song they've ever heard. Talk about great music standing the test of time. This is it.
What is Yes bringing to the table here? Top-tier talent at every position, and the compositional chops that simply aren't seen in any genre outside of classical.
At their peak, they created the most innovative beautiful music I have ever heard. They were completely unique! They were the only ones that did what they did and it won't happen again in this lifetime. They were never a rock band. They were a five piece SYNPHONY! They changed the way I view the world, the way I listen to music and generally taught me to be a kind person with tolerance for others I love your reviews! Happy Holidays Love Peace and Happiness!
The best song ever. Yes, was way ahead of their time. They can also play this live and to boot, they were in their early 20's when this song was written and produced! PURE TALENT!
Chris Squire (Best Bassist in history) and Jon Anderson (so great to DIG his vocals and lyrics) HAD NO MUSICAL TRAINING. They were both self-taught! THAT is talent!
My father passed away last week. One of the things I'm the most thankful for is the appreciation/introduction to music he passed on to me. This is the song i have been toiling on, as he was a massive fan of Yes. watching your reaction was truly relatable, and touching to me. I'm sure by now, you have found your sense of the piece. Thank you for sharing. It meant a lot to me.
I have seen a few "new reactions" to CTTE But you sir...had one of the best reactions. I felt like I had "regressed" to the very first time I bought the *album* home and listened. Your reaction to Rick Wakeman's soaring organ where you were practically in tears made me tear up for I remember well how *I *felt that first time :)
Yes really is ahead of their time. They are still together and touring. They make so much amazing music and it's great to see young people discovering them.
Were ahead of their time. As Ford Prefect said, "Get your tenses right." But, is/are/will be/will have been/ is too long. So I retract my comment. Maybe "timeless" works.
What an honest and vulnerable reaction, man! Loved your humility you felt in the light of this piece. Your heart feels full inside this masterpiece, I know! I can see it in your eyes. Thank you for sharing this slice of your humanity with us.
I love this reaction! I am an old codger who has been listening to and loving Yes for 50 years and I have never been able to listen to this track without tears in my eyes! Watching you react to this was like taking me back to the first time I heard it in the 1970's! For me it is indeed the greatest piece of music ever, a great band of great musicians totally inspired, you can only wonder at it. It is literally timeless. Love that you were speechless at the end! Well done listening to this, it is not easy music but so beautiful with Jon Andersons incredible voice and lyrics, and that organ half way through!
This is the single best reaction to Close to the Edge I have seen. You're right - it is incredible. I first heard it 50 years ago and I still marvel at it. Thanks for your amazing reaction.
What a great reaction Pope. I loved seeing you be blown away by this, like most of us were years ago. There has never been another song just like this and there never will be. I saw YES at Madison Square Garden when this album first came out. I hope you've discovered other amazing songs by YES.
It was pleasure to watch you get blown away on first hearing this masterpiece. I heard it the first time cruising around 7 Hills, Ohio in 1972 on an 8-track in his Mustang while smoking a joint. That was 50 years ago. And yes, I was blown away too. Still am every time I hear it.
Yes, the best of their music is 'soul music'....They just reach it in a different way.....And this was recorded almost 50 years ago when I was a young man like you. Glad you found it.
I grew up with this music and I'm glad you enjoyed it. The algorithm has been pushing a lot of reaction videos for this song at me, and yours is the best I have seen.
Thank you for sharing that with us. I had a very similar reaction when I first heard this at 14. I played it every day when I got home from high school. This music has made my life better.
A hell of an opening to a great Yes track! The discombobulated chaos at the beginning forces your brain to switch off what is normal to you and open it up to something more meaningful. It continues on, peaking over and over, until you are enlightened and coast down into a calming reality.
I've been listening to this and Yes music my entire life and it gets me like it just got you, every time. It never ends. Every time I listen to the same songs I hear something new. Its beyond comprehension. You know they play this live, note for note as good as the studio version. There's a reason Rush, Tool and Dream Theater all cite Yes as an inspiration. Watch the reaction to this song from Jamel_AKA_Jamal with something like 400k views. Formed in 1968 and still touring, I've got tickets to see them next year in London. Go back to 1971 and listen to 'Roundabout' next then 'Yours is No Disgrace' go for the remastered versions. Enjoy 😊
After the emotional journey that this song takes you on at the very end you are in such a euphoric high that you feel as if the meaning of life, how the universe began and how it will end has just been revealed to you. The expression on ones face is the same for everyone that ever properly listens to it. It’s absolute euphoria.
Now that you are on your journey from CTTE to Awaken please remember that this will change you forever. You will be more positive about life, be a better person, and more empathetic to people in general. Welcome again!
Lol… Rick Wakeman (Yes’s keyboardist) apparently disagreed when he left the band in 1973 after the Tales From Topographic Oceans tour. That said I do agree, I love tales, and I think Patrick Moraz’s work with the band in 1974’s Relayer rivals even Wakeman’s best work. Make of that what you will :p
@@21centuryhippie61 I'm just imagining playing the keyboard parts to Tales every night for months on end on tour. Anyone would get bored. And I love Tales.
You've dove into the pond and come out the other side just like you said. Congratulations!! I started off with Close to the Edge also. At the age of 18. Still listening 49 years later.
The band was made up of 5 members. It was written when they were all in their 20s. Three of the members were under 25 at the time it was recorded. It was a wonderful time in music. There are many other masterpieces of this ilk that are awaiting your reaction.
Your reaction was exactly our reaction “50” yrs ago literally when YES opened the show for someone at the SPECTRUM in PHILADELPHIA a night I will always remember forever & to watch you react to this literally brought tears to my eyes !!! Thank you 👏👏
I really enjoyed your reaction. Nice ‘Atlantis’ metaphor! Yes (Yes), it’s an incredibly well composed piece of music, with themes and motifs that are constantly elaborated and restated. The crescendo at the end is simply overwhelming, absolutely bursting with emotional release. And then of course there’s Chris Squire’s phenomenal bass playing, which propels the whole piece. Thanks.
I really enjoy watching black folks hearing Yes for the first time, that magic moment when they realize how magnificent Yes truly is. I had that same experience years ago. A big thumbs up for this video.
I've been listening to Yes since 1983, and I've seen them in concert 4 times. The concert experience was by far the best I've had. They definitely know how to take you on a trip.
"First reaction to Yes...and I'm at a pond." Love it. I didn't know this was your first Yes reaction. THIS? THIS is what you started with? Damn. It's an amazing journey, but starting here, you dove in deep!
I love watching these first reaction videos. It's incredibly refreshing to see so many people from all corners of society are STILL discovering Yes about 50 years after much of their best music was recorded for the first time. I was 17, in high school when this was released. I'm 66 now. I saw this performed live during my Freshman year of college. I've probably heard it over 150 times since. It NEVER gets boring. These are some of the most creative musicians to ever walk into a recording studio. Their music is too much for a lot of people. It's complex, dense, lush, layered, dynamic, and unusual. Jon Anderson's lyrics are often oblique and indecipherable for the first few listening sessions. But the band gets under your skin, and you have to listen again, and again, and again. From the Yes Album through Going for the One, their compositions are advanced dissertations in how to combine many different genres into something new. Have fun playing them all! I listen to a little of everything... classical, jazz, blues, bluegrass, progressive rock, rock, soul, funk, trance, with a little country, rap, pop, and experimental noise crap thrown in for good measure. I keep coming back to Yes, the Beatles, Frank Zappa, Dylan, Stones, Beethoven, BB King, John Coltrane, Willie Nelson, The Mona Lisa Twins, Kinga Glyk, Jeff Beck (his 2007 concerts with Tal, Vinnie and Jason), Crosby, Stills and Nash, and The Who. There are hundreds of others, but those are my standard bearers. Yes is at the top of the heap.
I saw CTTE performed live in 1976. I can still remember the first time on vinyl; exceptional. There is something incredible about seeing a young man discovering it now; love & respect to you for taking this chance. Glad you appreciate all that I have for the last 50 years 💙❤️👍👏
I was a latenight deejay throughout the 90s..still played a lot of vinyl in those days..one of my first nights there I dug this record out of the stacks and saw, written boldly across the Roger Dean album cover in big black magic marker letters were the words "Best Damn Album in the History of the World"...
You must be exhausted after your long journey. Have a beer and a joint dude. You deserve it. Welcome to the world of us old farts who grew up listening to the wonder that is prog rock. ✌️♥️🇬🇧
