Head to Head Thursday 5/15/03...Battle of the Titans...CTTE vs. Gates!!

[yarstruly]

"ARE YOU READY TO RUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMBBLLLLLLE!!!"

Let's hear it now! Two of the definitive epics in the YES catalog Head to Head...

Close to the Edge

VS.

Gates of Delerium

[Martin Riley]

I've gone for CTTE - an awsomely conceived piece of music. But then so was Gates. How do we choose? I think it's only because CTTE came first and opened up the way.

[Robert Shupe]

Yars you Truly have gone too far. Do I have a favorite child? Well not actually but I will let you know when I have children. The question screams to the soul.

I am so Close To The Edge that I can see The Gates Standing firm. Can't we all just get along.

Seriously, I voted for Close to the Edge. It soars. It soothes. It makes you think. It was a glorious dive of epic proportions. It was a first and original in it's scope. I love it.

Not fair but there you go.

Gates - The first time I saw Gates was during the Masterworks tour. I was shaking by the end and a tear was running down my cheek. My wife reaches out. "are you ok?" "Perfect" i answered.

When you feel the music you live the music. Both of these are prime tracks that let one do that.

Close To The Edge - Never thought I would see that one live either. I am a truly blessed Yes fan.

I knew this one was coming yarstruly and great job. Keep it up.


Clash Of The Titans indeed.

I Get Up I Get Down.

Robert Shupe

[PaulH]

This is indeed like picking a favorite child.....

I went with CTTE because, I prefer most of that one to the construction of GoD.

When it comes to (what my friends and I used to refer to as the..)
"Jon Saves"sections of those two....I would choose SOON over I get up I get down.

[Dances w/PURPLE]

I have had long and animated discussions with son about psuedo wresting, steroids, implants and canvass theatrics....

CTTE

[Mr. Holland]

I voted on CTTE, it's is i.m.p.o the second best Yes song, right there after Awaken. That could really be a battle of the titans: CTTE vs. Awaken......

[Silent_wings]

CTTE

You know if we weren't for the war GoD might have won out, but not today. The events that occur in the world shape our lives and change us in way we couldn't have imagined in our wildest dreams.

[Dantalion Rides Again]

Originally posted by Mr. Holland
That could really be a battle of the titans: CTTE vs. Awaken......

I second that. Close to the Edge has to be my favorite album-side-length piece by any band.

Awaken is so so so good, but maybe my preference for Bruford and for the overall sound & production of the CTTE album would find me choosing CTTE over Awaken too.

It's such a great song, regardless of length too. Gates of Delirium is of course, fantastic, but Close To The Edge is so perfect. You can kind of imagine The Gates of Delirium being crafted. But I defy anyone to imagine how somebody mortal could have written or recorded "Close to the Edge". Part IV Seasons of Man (studio version, anyway - it's got more harmony and birds and keys, and it's a whole step higher in pitch starting with "On the hill . . . ") still moves me to goosebumps and the brink of tears.

[TNyesfan]

Originally posted by Robert Shupe
Yars you Truly have gone too far. Do I have a favorite child? Well not actually but I will let you know when I have children. The question screams to the soul.
Gates - The first time I saw Gates was during the Masterworks tour. I was shaking by the end and a tear was running down my cheek. My wife reaches out. "are you ok?" "Perfect" i answered.

Clash Of The Titans indeed.

I Get Up I Get Down.

Robert Shupe
Gates during Masterworks--me, too!(your description made me cry.) Plus mine was a full-moon sky.
I had to go with CTTE, for no better reason than that I HAD to chose! You beast!

[ANTIOCH]

I'm in agreement with Martin. CTTE, only because it was the guage by which all YES epic's would then be measured by.
'Gates' is as awesome a piece and set YES in a direction they'd not seen, nor have they ventured back into; but CTTE is as perfect a conceptual composition as can be crafted.

[GoD57]

It would have been easier to pick a favorite child. CTTE was the first song I ever really loved but Gates just kicked its arse from the first time I heard it.
I'm not a musician so I can't pick them apart in that respect. I am just going on emotion. I was 17 when Gates came out, a week before my first Yes concert. I listened to it every day and had a tear in my eye every time.
I saw Patrick play it and Igor, and I loved it each time. I am not sure Rick would do it justice so I've resigned myself to the fact that I will never hear it live again. At least I have the bonus disc from Magnification.

Bill

Soon, oh soon the light.

[yarstruly]

Originally posted by Mr. Holland
I voted on CTTE, it's is i.m.p.o the second best Yes song, right there after Awaken. That could really be a battle of the titans: CTTE vs. Awaken......

Who knows...it may just happen ;)

To tell the truth I usually come up with these match-ups right after I hit the "New Topic" button...I am trying to keep it varied as much as possible....I do try to put songs with something in common up against each other. That's what makes it fun, but hard to choose. But I know most of us love all these songs to one degree or another. This is all just in good fun...I am not keeping a tally or anything like that... but I think it is a fun way to see what my fellow YesFans think.

As I stated on another thread, "real life" has been keeping me VERY busy as the school year comes to a close, but there are only 6 school days to go before we send the kiddies home for the summer (I have one additional day-the day after Memorial Day-before I'm off the hook totally). Just bear with me for the next week or so if I am unable to put a new match up each day as I would like.

Patty...I hate wrestling as well, but that famous quote just seemed to fit this match-up.

[tardistraveler]

For me - no contest - it has to be CTTE!

It's the perfect Yes song, full of awesome lyrics, amazing transitions, glorious crescendos, contrasts of softness and dissonance, melody and counterpoint . . . .

No other Yes track is quite like it. I love Gates, and Awaken, and Ritual, and other Yes epics. But none are quite the experience of CTTE for me.

[PO]

The pinnacle.

[R'tanys]

One of the highlights of the Minneapolis show was CttE. What a thrill.

[Thoughtbecontact]

No question here for me, it has to be CTTE, because as someone else in this thread said, it is the perfectly crafted Yessong. Everyone's part in it is just so magnificent. Also, like R'tanys said, CTTE was one of the highlights of the 2002 tour, it certainly was one of the best pieces in Chicago too.

I must say, however, that the ultimate Clash of the Titans for me would be CTTE vs. Awaken. It's just like Earl said in a thread a few weeks ago, the perfect Yes album would be CTTE with Awaken added to it. Awaken, IMHO, is Wakeman's masterpiece with Yes. Now I had quite an online argument about that last night, and Yars---I would love if you started a thread about it. But please, please, please, don't start the thread for at least another week, not the least of which is that I have so much going on right now that I won't be able to contribute properly to it. But there are other reasons too. But it will be a better thread if you wait. I will pontificate long and hard about my these two songs.