Close To The Edge solo - Wakeman, Wakeman, Brislin, Downes

[Bruno Sampaio Barbosa]

(Unavailable in U.S.)

[Koreabruce]

#1: T. Brislin kills it! Good recording, too.
#2: R. Wakeman pretty much nails it as well though I wish his tone had more "bite" (see #1 above).
#3: O. Wakeman - hard to judge, admittedly, as the smart phone camera quality obscures too many of the notes he's playing. His is the best hair of the lot, though.
# 4: G. Downes - His approach to the solo is much more chordal, whereas I'd prefer the way it was rendered originally.

Thanks for posting!

<edit> Oliver, not Adam. Sorry!

[Zalmoxe]

R. Wakeman, Brislin, A. Wakeman, Downes for me. Adam can move higher on a better quality sounding video.

[Paulrus]

LOL, blocked in the US. Thanks Eagle Rock.

[JJ88]

Hard to make out what Wakeman Jr. was playing really. Rick Wakeman set the standard, Tom Brislin was remarkably good, though. Downes doesn't even really play anything that Wakeman originally played.

[Bruno Sampaio Barbosa]

Hey folks. Not Adam, is Oliver. Adam plays with Ozzy hehehe

[Bruno Sampaio Barbosa]

#1: T. Brislin kills it! Good recording, too.
#2: R. Wakeman pretty much nails it as well though I wish his tone had more "bite" (see #1 above).
#3: A. Wakeman - hard to judge, admittedly, as the smart phone camera quality obscures too many of the notes he's playing. His is the best hair of the lot, though.
# 4: G. Downes - His approach to the solo is much more chordal, whereas I'd prefer the way it was rendered originally.

Thanks for posting!

You are very kind about Downes haha.

[JKL2000]

LOL, blocked in the US. Thanks Eagle Rock.

Eagle Rock hates Americans. Ironic.

[JJ88]

You are very kind about Downes haha.

Have a look at 'Siberian Khatru'!

[Bruno Sampaio Barbosa]

LOL, blocked in the US. Thanks Eagle Rock.

[Bruno Sampaio Barbosa]

Have a look at 'Siberian Khatru'!

My ear is bleeding

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/k2bWMUOmRXjbo2apapB

[ThomasKDye]

Everyone except Downes pretty much does a solid job of getting the basic atmosphere of the solo across; Brislin puts extra energy and firepower into it.

Downes does okay for about ten or twelve bars and then seems to say "Dammit, this is hard, I need to rest with some chords for a bit" before returning to the Wakemany flair for the final few bars.

[bRETT]

To me this proves that Rick still owns the solo, even in the ABWH version which is about 1/2 the intensity of the Yessongs era. Brislin and Adam do fine, but they're basically following Rick;'s footsteps. I give Downes credit for at least trying to give it more of his own spin with an R&B flavor.

[Bruno Sampaio Barbosa]

To me this proves that Rick still owns the solo, even in the ABWH version which is about 1/2 the intensity of the Yessongs era. Brislin and Adam do fine, but they're basically following Rick;'s footsteps. I give Downes credit for at least trying to give it more of his own spin with an R&B flavor.

Oliver. Not Adam

[happytheman]

Rick, Tom both brilliant.. Geoff needs to practice more.. he butchered the solo worse than this clip when I saw him.. Oliver needed to be mixed better.. Same issues when I saw him with the band.. Wonder why Igor was left out of this question... he delivered a great performance.. Patrick Moraz never did the song any favors..

[2steves]

Rick ---a genius it's his solo after all---and Tom (and Tom should have been asked to join Yes not Oliver) Oliver sucked in Yes ---sorry to say he was in over his head and had no real confidence--he played in the worse concert I ever saw---Geoff is trying to make it his own which is what Moraz did---Moraz really didn't want to play it as written--and I thought it was interesting lol---and Geoff is ok but there is a sloppiness to the playing

[Sputnik]

I'd agree with most that Brislin more than nailed it. Doesn't hurt he was using a Hammond emulator as opposed to a more generic synth for the organ sound. I didn't think Oliver's take was that bad, the clip didn't really do it justice, but it lacked the fire and flare of Brislin's and his father's.

I'm not a big Downes fan, but I don't hate what he did with this solo. He made it his own and I'm OK with that, it certainly wasn't bad to my ears. I'd say they were all serviceable, but Brislin's really exhibited the kind of fire that the young R. Wakeman had, and was the best of the lot.

Bill

[Reginod]

Wakeman the Elder - Owns this solo, even if this version lacks the fire of the younger Wakeman the Elder.
Wakeman the Younger - Plays it very well, I would love a better sounding version than this. He did great when I saw them live, shortly before he was replaced, but even then he wasn't mixed as well as he should've been.
Brislin - Gives it some spunk and energy and a bit of an individual touch, while sticking to the script. Professionalism defined. (I love the one Spiraling album that I have, too.)
Downes - Gives it more of an individual flavor, but yeah, probably cuts a few corners due to the difficulty of the solo. I really like his idea of what to do with it, I just think it could be executed better.

[BravadoNJ]

i guess each does their best. Rick & Tom are fantastic. Oliver fades in and out. and Geoff just rewrote it to suit his own style.

[StevegSr]

No Patrick Moraz solo?

[Rufus]

No Patrick Moraz solo?

Definitely no, have you heard it?

[ProgArtist]

Rick ---a genius it's his solo after all---and Tom (and Tom should have been asked to join Yes not Oliver) Oliver sucked in Yes ---sorry to say he was in over his head and had no real confidence--he played in the worse concert I ever saw---Geoff is trying to make it his own which is what Moraz did---Moraz really didn't want to play it as written--and I thought it was interesting lol---and Geoff is ok but there is a sloppiness to the playing

Didn't Steve Howe claim to have written this solo but then handed it over to Rick because it seemed better for the organ? I think it's in the book "Yes in Their Own Words" (although I might have both the book name and the specific solo wrong). Whatever the case, the solo (when played well) AND the music that's happening behind it is just about as good as it gets, IMO.

[bRETT]

Didn't Steve Howe claim to have written this solo but then handed it over to Rick because it seemed better for the organ? I think it's in the book "Yes in Their Own Words" (although I might have both the book name and the specific solo wrong). .

Yes, it was that solo. But to my knowledge there is no recorded evidence of him playing it.

[dropforge]

Wakeman the Elder - Owns this solo, even if this version lacks the fire of the younger Wakeman the Elder.
Wakeman the Younger - Plays it very well, I would love a better sounding version than this. He did great when I saw them live, shortly before he was replaced, but even then he wasn't mixed as well as he should've been.
Brislin - Gives it some spunk and energy and a bit of an individual touch, while sticking to the script. Professionalism defined. (I love the one Spiraling album that I have, too.)
Downes - Gives it more of an individual flavor, but yeah, probably cuts a few corners due to the difficulty of the solo. I really like his idea of what to do with it, I just think it could be executed better.

I agree with all of the above, and yes, Geoff pared it down, made it more "linear" (or vanilla).