Audiophile: Digital, July 2025

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Yes
Close To The Edge
Atlantic/Rhino R2 727100 (five discs + Blu-ray + LP)

What a couple of costly years for Yes fans! The Yes Album SACD, MoFi’s One-Step and the Super Deluxe Fragile, Wakeman’s Yessonata and now this, the Super Deluxe Edition of their fifth album, from 1972. Like the loaded Fragile, this gives you the original album remastered for CD1 and the LP, and five remixes on Blu-ray – stereo, 5.1 and Dolby Atmos. CD2 contains remixes and instrumentals, CD3 holds ten rarities and CDs 4/5 the entire Dec ’72 concert at The Rainbow. This is a complex work opening with the 18-minutes-plus title suite, and one is advised to read the liner notes to appreciate both the imagery and the effort it took to make what sounds like a tempestuous time for the band. Majestic prog at its best. KK

Sound Quality: 90%

Kim Wilde
Closer
Cherry Red Records CDBRED911

Having reissued a number of her earlier albums, it’s fitting that Cherry Red is releasing Wilde’s first album since 2018’s adventurous Here Come The Aliens. Wilde’s career has been intermittent at best, with massive gaps while pursuing other interests, but the quality of Closer attests to consistent maturing from the teen pop days of ‘Kids In America’. A sequel to 1988’s Close – passage of time aside – it rightly recalls her earlier work, the 1980s in particular. Midge Ure’s guest spot on ‘Sorrow Replaced’ adds to the atmosphere. Super-slick, occasionally relentless, dance-oriented power pop, but the big surprise? Wilde’s voice hasn’t aged a jot. KK

Sound Quality: 85%

The Lemon Twigs
A Dream Is All We Know
Captured Tracks Records CT-375

For fans of retro-rocker bands that worship the ’60s, eg, The Flamin’ Groovies, The Smithereens, et al, The Lemon Twigs’ reimagining the era of the British Invasion, surf rock, garage bands and the like, is peerless. Hot on the heels of Everything Harmony, Brian and Michael D’Addario have returned with a knockout set that opens with The Beach Boys-esque ‘My Golden Years’, followed by tracks which reference The Association, Harpers Bizarre and The Merry-Go Round. It’s a much needed dose of ‘sunshine pop’ in these parlous times. If you need bloodline provenance, Sean Ono Lennon plays bass on one track – just a step away from the Fab Four! KK

Sound Quality: 90%

The Move
Message From The Country
Esoteric QECLEC2900

As a Move addict, I have at least five CDs of their fourth and final album from 1971, and this may be the best version yet. A masterpiece of unbridled eclecticism, it ranges from heavy to elegiac, novelty to vintage rock ’n’ roll. The UK has a curious relationship with The Move, thinking of it more as a Top Of The Pops band than nearly the equal of The Kinks, but this gem, which was recorded concurrently with the first Electric Light Orchestra album, is blissful British rock of the era. This newly remastered compilation, with excellent fresh liner notes, contains the nine bonus tracks from the 2005 reissue but the sound is superior, especially at the bottom end. KK

Sound Quality: 90%

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