Close (To the Edit)

About Close (To the Edit)

"Close (to the Edit)" is a single by Art of Noise, released on various formats in October 1984. It was closely related to their earlier single (and hip-hop club hit) "Beat Box", though the two tracks were developed as separate pieces from an early stage. The first release of a version of "Close (to the Edit)" was as a nominal remix of "Beat Box" under the title "Beat Box (Diversion Two)". This was then re-edited and partly remixed with different effects applied, to become the version of "Close (to the Edit)" which appeared on the subsequent album Who's Afraid of the Art of Noise?. Paul Morley's sleevenotes for the single simplify the relationship between "Diversion Two" and "Close", noting only that 20 seconds were "snipped out". The song takes its title from Close to the Edge by Yes, and also samples "Leave It" and "Owner of a Lonely Heart" by the same group, the latter two of which Trevor Horn produced. The single heavily features the recorded sample of a car, a Volkswagen Golf owned by a neighbour of band member J. J. Jeczalik, stalling and restarting. It also contains a (re-sung) vocal sample from the song "Beer Barrel Polka", as performed by The Andrews Sisters. The short spoken-word vocal and the "Hey!" sample – used in a number of songs most notably in "Firestarter" by The Prodigy and "Back in the Day" by Christina Aguilera (uncredited) – was the voice of Camilla Pilkington-Smyth. The single was released in the UK on what had become ZTT's customary array of formats: standard and picture disc 7" versios, five 12" singles (one a picture disc) and a cassette single, each featuring a number of unique mixes. The many remixes were given their own titles derived from the overall title, including "Edited", "Closely Closely (Enough's Enough)" and "Close-Up". more »