YES - Fragile (1971)
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Printed Date: November 23 2024 at 16:38
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Topic: YES - Fragile (1971)
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Subject: YES - Fragile (1971)
Date Posted: December 02 2023 at 11:28
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A classic YES album that has really stood the test of Time and a Word of rumour has it that there was no shortage of Drama behind the scenes in the sometimes Fragile relationship between YES band members. Reportedly, keyboard player Tony Kaye was Close to the Edge of leaving YES due to the age-old band problem of "artistic differences" when he was fired from the band anyway, making way for Rick Wakeman, who'd just left the Strawbs and was about to go on tour with David Bowie at the time. Heaven and Earth had to be moved before Tony Kaye returned for a re-Union with YES on the 90125 album in 1983. The Fragile album was a Big Generator of much-needed revenue for the band, becoming an even greater success than The Yes Album, climbing The Ladder of success to reach No. 7 on the UK albums chart as well as reaching No. 4 on the US Billboard Top 100 chart, where it sold over 2 million copies in America. Having finally achieved The Quest of a best-selling album, there was a bright sunny future ahead for YES at the Heart of the Sunrise. Following a massive 100-date Long Distance Runaround tour across the UK and USA, there was Talk of the next YES album being a combined live/studio double album - along the same lines as the two later Keys to Ascension albums - but time wasn't on their side. In a Roundabout way though, that turned out to be a good thing, as YES produced their classic Close to the Edge album in 1972 followed by their epic double album Tales from Topographic Oceans the following year.   1971: YES - Fragile - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mr3aLJuPJvJve1bSwRl-8W4iN8uhGOr80" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mr3aLJuPJvJve1bSwRl-8W4iN8uhGOr80 YES line-up:- Jon Anderson; Bill Bruford; Steve Howe; Chris Squire; & Rick Wakeman Track Listing 1. Roundabout (8:29) 2. Cans and Brahms (1:34) 3. We Have Heaven (1:38) 4. South Side of the Sky (7:57) 5. Five per Cent for Nothing (0:35) 6. Long Distance Runaround (3:28) 7. The Fish (2:36) 8. Mood for a Day (2:55) 9. Heart of the Sunrise (11:16) |
Replies:
Posted By: mellotronwave
Date Posted: December 02 2023 at 14:05
| Giant LP not spoiled by the smithereens tracks |
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: December 04 2023 at 12:45
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YES - Sounding Out - a brief documentary recorded at Hemel Hempstead Pavilion back in 1971, where new YES member Rick Wakeman talks about the problems of being surrounded by banks of keyboards in a prog band, compared to sitting down at a piano in the Strawbs. |
Posted By: Progishness
Date Posted: December 04 2023 at 14:03
On my digital listing of 'Fragile' I discard the five shorter solo tracks, thus retaining 1) 4) 6) and 9) from the above listing, but also tagging on the studio version of 'America' as the final track - which was recorded around the same time as the rest of Fragile, but was only released on an Atlantic sampler album, but is now included on the more recent CD re-issues as a bonus track. Personally I think that makes for a more satisfying album. I would add that I seldom tinker with tack listings. ------------- "We're going to need a bigger swear jar." Chloë Grace Moretz as Mindy McCready aka 'Hit Girl' in Kick-Ass 2 |
Psychedelic Paul wrote:Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: December 04 2023 at 14:13
And You and I both know that if the Fragile album hadn't included those five shorter tracks it could have been a 5-star masterpiece.
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Posted By: omphaloskepsis
Date Posted: December 04 2023 at 14:22
| Fragile? My introduction to YES. I was six years old sitting outside but inside a fence outside a daycare center. A teenage daycare worker plugged her clock radio into the patio wall. I was sitting on the green grass when Roundabout hit me. |
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: December 04 2023 at 14:25
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^ I love "The Fish" and thinks it works very well and organically following "Long Distance Runaround". It really adds to it for me. "We Have heaven' I really like too, and think that works very well coming before "South Side of the Sky." In fact in general, to me the shorter tracks add value to the experience. Fragile has been very much loved album by me. |
Posted By: omphaloskepsis
Date Posted: December 04 2023 at 14:51
You caught my vibration. That's exactly the way I feel.
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Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: December 04 2023 at 22:15
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Probably the best sounding album I've ever heard. Eddie Offord was the sicth member of Yes. I suppose America could have been included but then it wouldn't have be a 'band' album which was the point. It's a mixture and makes the statement 'this is the band' (you don't need anything else). Bold as brass and hasn't dated to my ears even having that harder edged sound on South Side Of The Sky and Heart Of The Sunrise so beloved of many post 80's prog bands. |
Posted By: Lumenko
Date Posted: December 06 2023 at 06:39
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"South Side of the Sky," Live at Montreux, 2003 |
Posted By: Lumenko
Date Posted: December 06 2023 at 07:15
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Yes's breakthrough album, "Fragile," catapulted them from an underground act to a worldwide attraction in a few weeks. The fantasy and S.F. elements that propelled the more popular tracks on their previous album, "The Yes Album," were pushed much further here. This was evident not only in the music but also in the album's packaging, where the intriguing Roger Dean-designed cover attracted the listener's attention in a way that few records since the height of the progressive music era could match. Early in the sessions, Yes brought Rick Wakeman on board. Wakeman's use of the Moog, among other keys, along with his generally audacious and bold playing style, paved the way for the group to produce a more warm, blistering sound. Between the volume and intensity of their playing on "Fragile" and "South Side of the Sky," my favourite song from the album, they would sound as though they were prepared to leave the planet. Apart from "Roundabout," "Long Distance Runaround," which was also the single's B-side, was arguably the most approachable track here. Nevertheless, both tracks were ambitious enough to entice most listeners to continue on to the heavier sides that form the album's core. "Heart of the Sunrise," the record's longest tune, opens with Squire and Bruford delivering one final, powerful riff sequence to usher in the conclusion. The words of this song, which are about becoming lost in a city, are just another musical adventure. This last tack, which ends in the same general neighborhood as the album's opening, lends the whole thing a sense of symmetry.
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Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: December 06 2023 at 10:43
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Steve Howe on the making of Yours is No Disgrace from Rock Legends 2003 And Steve Howe again 20 years later on the making of Starship Trooper where he's barely aged at all.  |
Posted By: Jacob Schoolcraft
Date Posted: December 06 2023 at 11:33
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Fragile is excellent! My favorite track is "South Side Of The Sky". Band members contribute solo pieces /original songwriting that I enjoy and the album has a good flow to it. It's really important for an album to have that particular quality and Fragile definitely has it. Some people feel that entry of solo keyboard or classical guitar immediately after "Roundabout " or "The Fish" is awkward..but it always felt like it fit to me. When I was a teenager in the early 70s...the lineup of Anderson, Wakeman Squire, Bruford and Howe was very popular. Pictures of them appeared on the front cover of Circus, Hit Parader, Creem and Rolling Stone magazines. They became popular enough that kids made references to them with their last name. At concerts kids would scream...BRUFORD!! or "WAKEMAN!!! etc....but there was no official concert released by Atlantic Records. The live album YESSONGS featured one track "Perpetual Change" performed live by this line up. Over the last 20 years I have noticed bootlegs..but nothing official. Unless I missed a show being released on a box set? There was archive material released with Banks and Kaye, but not Anderson, Wakeman, Squire, Bruford and Howe. I would appreciate comments...its possible I missed an official release ..I have been researching and coming up with nothing |
Posted By: Frets N Worries
Date Posted: December 06 2023 at 11:55
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a great record, obviously the highlights are the 4 group tracks. This was my first true 'Yes' album. I bought this and Close to the Edge in the same purchase. Never regretted it. (The box said 'Fragile' on it because of shipping, I found that way too funny). This was the first Yes album I listened to in full as well (I think, i'm not quite sure). The weak links are the solo tracks, but they mostly fit right in (except for Bruford's, it's just clunky). I agree with the popular sentiment that if America was on here it would be better, perhaps something like this: Side 1: Roundabout (8:29) South Side of the Sky (7:57) Long Distance Runaround / The Fish (6:04) Side 1 total: 22:30 Side 2: America (10:33) Heart of the Sunrise (10:34) Side 2 total: 21:07 So the total runtime would be 24:37 if you wanted to, you could throw in 'Mood for a Day' on Side 2, so that it could be a nice way to either start the side (Horizons style) or break it up. Either way, it's a great record how it is, 8.5/10 ------------- The Wheel of Time Turns, and Ages come and pass. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the shadow. Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time... |
Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: December 07 2023 at 19:56
For me it is a masterpiece. The only solo song that I think drags the album a little bit down is Cans for Brahms. We Have Heaven is too short to actually do much damage, and it actually sounds cool as an intro to South Side of the Sky. Five Percent... well, I might just get distracted for a moment and it already passed without even noticing it, so, who cares? The Fish is actually very good, and Long Distance Runaround wouldn't be nearly as good without it attached to it as if they were the same song, with a cool bass solo at the end (though I certainly wouldn't apreciate it so well if it were just by itself). And Mood for a Day is also a very good piece in its own right. Now, I have read that Wakeman had written what became Catherine of Aragon for his solo piece (that's why that song actually features the whole instrumental line-up from Fragile), but wasn't allowed to use it because of contractual obligations... and that is the very change that would have made this 5 star masterpiece an even more 5 star masterpiece. |
Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: December 07 2023 at 19:57
X3 |
Posted By: Intruder
Date Posted: December 22 2023 at 07:08
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No question - great album, but its the last of the first five (the Yes sweet spot) I reach for when looking for a Yesfix. The disjointed nature of the tracks steals whatever momentum may have been gained from those outstanding extended pieces. I wish they'd have fleshed out those solo ideas with the group, included America and Wakeman's Catherine and turned Fragile to a double LP. As it stands, those individual solo tracks get in the way of that classic Yes interplay, which is on full display on America - to me, one of the best covers in rock history (Mitch-eee-gun seems like a dreeeem to me naaaaoooow!)
------------- I like to feel the suspense when you're certain you know I am there..... |