FRAGILE

Roundabout, honestly, is a very well written song. It's very good, but now that I listen to it again, I found it somewhat unorganized and dopey. The playing is very messy, mainly on Chris Squires part. However, I absolutely love the organ solo/jam towards the end. As my dad once said when he first played this to me: THESE GUYS ARE COOKIN!. They sure are. (8.5/10)

Cans And Brahms, I found to be really well thought out and very nice to listen to. Basically Wakeman came up with the idea of playing a Brahm piece with different synths and piano sounds. Very cool. (10/10)

We Have Heaven I found very annoying and I usually ended up skipping it. (6/10)

South Side Of The Sky I found to be very compelling, especially with the thunder and wind sounds. The lyrics I found interesting, like a story of some sort of Antartic expedition. Were we ever colder on that day, a million miles away. We seemed from all of eternity. I especially liked the keyboard break, Rick Wakeman's playing style reminds me somewhat of Jordan Rudess's from Dream Theater. I liked the piano line that he would play an octave lower each time. My all time favorite part in the song is when the band brekas out the Na Na Na's. That part I found to be very majestic. (10/10)

Five Percent For Nothing, I found to be totally random. I liked the organ lines, I kept me interested. (8/10)

Long Distance Runaround, starts off with a cool unison from Wakeman and Howe. This song is one of my favorite Yes songs, I love the drumming and the singing. My only problem with it is that it isn't long enough. (10/10)

The Fish (Schindlaeria Praematurus) whatever that means...written by Squire, I found the bass lines very interesting and overall the song is well arranged, unlike some of the other songs earlier on the album, which sounded messy. This song was very organized for the amount of things going on in it. (9/10)

Mood For A Day, brings me back to my childhood. My father being a guitarist, he would play this song frequently. It rushes back memories from me being a little kid in his practice studio as he played this song. This is a short, yet moving piece, I absolutely love it. (10/10)

Heart Of The Sunrise has one of the most baffling drumming lines in prog rock. It sounds like Bill Bruford is some crazed octopus at the beginning. The rest of the song I found to be very majestic and compelling. The synths were very crazy and the drumming gets more intense with each bar. The guitar line from Steve Howe totally kicks the cat out of the park. This is a progressive masterpiece. After a lengthy instrumental part from the band, Jon Anderson finally begins to sing. His singing is so beautiful on this track, it amazes me. I really loved the SHARP! DISTANCE! vocal parts. Especially further into the song when everyone is playing their best and the mood is intense. I liked the bass lines too. In fact, this song in its entirety is deserving of some sort of award. It's beautiful, melancholly, angry, compelling, outlandish and progressive all at once. This a zenith of prog. (10/10)

As far as bonus tracks, you can say they go VERY FAR.

America is one of the best Yes tracks ever recorded in my opinion. It's very nice, with heavy use of the ride bell. I could go on as long as I did for Heart of the Sunrise about this track. Instead, I challenge you to go out and buy it for yourself to find out. It's a great track, I'm going to count it as a track off the album. (10/10)

The early rough mix of Roundabout is absolutely pointless, I found it sounded the same as the final mix.

Overall, this one of Yes's best early releases, go out and get it. NOW. What are you waiting for?

4.5 stars

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