FRAGILE

While Yes made a giant leap forward with The Yes Album, featuring the eclectic Steve Howe for the first time on guitar, Fragile also brings on board Rick Wakeman on keyboards, and is another leap ahead in terms of quality and consistency. Personally I'm not a big fan of the various small instrumentals penned by each member, but 'Roundabout', 'South Side of the Sky", "Long Distance Runaround" and "Heart of the Sunrise" are all splendid tracks. On these songs all band members really shine. Anderson's vocals are great, Squire's bass sounds as complex and heavy as ever (gotta love that Rickenbacker sound!) and creates together with Bruford a powerful rythmic section. Steve Howe plays enjoyable licks, great riffs and great solos. And to top it off Wakeman throws in some great keyboard playing, be it the crazy Moog-licks in 'Roundabout' or the mystical piano breakdown in 'South Side of the Sky". I'd say this is the first truly great Yes-album. There were great moments on previous ones to, but I feel that this is the first with coherently good songs. I'd be happy to rate it five starts if it weren't for the short instrumentals which for my part lowers the experience a little bit.