FRAGILE

I don't see what everyone has against the solo pieces on this album. Sure, they aren't as good as the songs with the whole band, but that does not mean they take away anything from the album. In fact, they act as an interesting buffer between the lengthy pieces on the album.

Roundabout is one of Yes's most poplular songs for a reason. The song is amazing. It has an excelent intro feature Steve Howe on guitar and then rips into the main part of the songs. This song has one of the coolest bass lines ever created. Kudos to Chris Squire for that one.

Cans and Brahms is the first solo piece on the album which features Rick Wakeman keyboards. He does his version of brahms work entirely on keyboards. THe song is a decent listen even though it seems a little out of place on the album

We have heaven is Jon Anderson's solo song on the album. it features him singing a many layered vocal part over simple acoustic guitar and drums parts. It is a perfectly good song.

South Side of the Sky returns to the whole band playing a Yes classic. The first part of the song is driven by some great guitar lines by Steve Howe. The it breaks into a quite middle section with some great Wakeman piano parts and vocal work. At the end the original theme returns to close the song off with a bang.

Five Percent for Nothing shows Bill Bruford flashing his jazz abilities and odd time signature work which would come out heavily in his work with King Crimson.

Long Distance runaround is possible the song with the best pop sesibility on the album, but it still feature some great work by the band, particurily the rhythim section. This song connects with Chris Squire's solo piece The Fish (whatever that says) which shows off Chris Squire's ability to come up wth cool base sounds.

Steve Howe's solo piece is clearly the best on the album. Following the Clap from the last album this is another classical guitar that is twice as beautiful as the Clap ever was. This is far better also than Steve Hacket's similar piece Horizons.

The album closes with the pure brilliance of Heart of the Sunrise. The song opens with a driving base and guitar riff that breaks a quiter part featuring the drums of Bruford and base of Squire. After a repeat of the opening riff the Jon Anderson comes in with very beautiful vocal part. After this the song goes back and forth between several themes it comes to a climax and close. At the end there is a repeat of We Have Heaven which closes the album. If I could only have one song on a desert Island this would be it.