FRAGILE

Another one of the great Yes albums to push the progressive envelope even further. There's no doubt of this albums historic significance: it was both a commercial and artistic breakthrough all at the same time, rare for any progressive album. Anyone who listened to any radio at the time has without a doubt heard the song Roundabout. With the release of this album it was clear that Yes was becoming a key band for art rock as well as having reached a new level of compositional capabilities, which would also be surpassed with the band's future albums. The link to classical music in the album, as in most of the band's music, is obvious, but it is so much more than that; overall Yes' music is incredibly unique and yet sounds like many things made before it. In a way it is somewhat simple, my listening has somewhat surpassed it to the point where I just want to learn to play it all on guitar. It's a perfect intermediate for The Yes Album and Close to the Edge (plus having numerous solos, my favorite to play being Mood for a Day), and serves as the perfect album to introduce anyone to progressive music, or at least it was for me. This album and Close to the Edge are among the first few albums that turned me into the progger that I am now in such a short amount of time. This album definitely paved the way to Yes future success in many ways, giving them both an audience and an inspiration. Though I feel it just barely doesn't quite live up to being considered a masterpiece, it is nonetheless essential to any Yes fan or symphonic rock listener and is a valuable album for any rock collection, let alone progressive rock.