FRAGILE

I am very definitely a level 4 going into this. Fragile is the fourth album by Yes and one of their most popular and enduring. Many of the songs are concert staples to this day. This is the first Yes album to feature Rick Wakeman on Keyboards, and his presence gives us what many call the classic Yes line-up of Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Bill Bruford, Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman. They decided to have, in addition to the four main full band songs, a piece that features each individual member.

Let's get to it!

Track 1 - Roundabout

Beginning with a reverse piano chord leading into Steve Howe's famous classical guitar intro. Bill & Chris join in at :45. The bass line is one of the most famous bass lines ever recorded. What a groove! Jon begins singing just before 1 minute Wakeman enters with organ arpeggios, followed by a synth flourish at 1:22. The chorus is so catchy, and the harmonies are spot-on. Each verse adds different variations in the accompaniment. At around 3:15 after they hold the words "I'll be there with you," There is a little organ transition into the bridge which features a percussion jam and harmonies. Wakeman and Howe add a countermelody to the main riff as we go along. Just before 5 minutes they hold the words "out and out?" and then Howe comes back to the intro guitar part, with a swirling organ part beneath it. Following that, Jon sings the chorus, slowly, solo at first, joined shortly by Howe & Squire's harmonies. Up next is Wakeman's absolutely exhilarating organ solo. Bruford & Squire lay down a nasty groove underneath and it's just great. Next, Howe jumps in with some leads before Wakeman takes back over. By 7 minutes, Howe is playing guitar trills to bring back in the next verse & chorus. The final chorus has some twiddly instrumental bits interjected. Then we get back to "I'll be there with you?" which leads to a coda section with building harmonies and countermelodies in the vocals. Before Howe plays a bit from the intro on the acoustic, but this time, he ends on a E major chord (as opposed to the E minor chord he's been playing throughout), which makes the ending what is known as a "Picardy Third." I have heard this song countless times, but it never gets old. I was bouncing to the bass groove throughout.

Track 2 - Cans & Brahms

This is the first of the "solo" pieces on the album, this one featuring newcomer Rick Wakeman. Wakeman was signed to A&M records as a solo artist, so, although they allowed him to record with Yes on Atlantic records, he was not permitted to contribute a solo composition. Therefore, he plays this arrangement of excerpts from Brahms 4th symphony. While it is done well, it sort of seems to drag the album down slightly as does one of the other solo pieces.

Track 3 - We Have Heaven

Here is Jon Anderson's solo bit. However, this one, to me, is brilliant. Jon's layered vocal parts with a simple accompaniment is a lot of fun. It ends with the sound of a door slamming and footsteps running away.

Track 4 - South Side of the Sky

The footsteps lead into wind sound effects from the synth. Bruford plays a drum fill, and the band and Jon's vocals come in together. Not as well known outside of Yes-fan circles as the other 3 main songs on the album, it is a fan favorite, nonetheless. Howe & Squire groove together nicely on this with Howe interjecting nice guitar fills along the way. Just after 2 minutes, the groove stops, and Wakeman plays a transitional piano part that leads into an amazing classical style piano solo. Bill & Chris make a nice groove, and the 3 vocalists sing harmonies on "la's" that go along with the piano part. My description does not do the beauty of this instrumental segment justice. It is breathtaking. At around 5:40 the wind returns, and the verse grooves return. The song fades while Howe solos.

Track 5 - Five Per Cent for Nothing

This is Bruford's featured piece. It's a short bit of jazz fusion based on a drumbeat he plays. Not my favorite track, but it's ok. The title is a shot at their former manager, whom they just fired.

Track 6 - Long Distance Runaround

Here is another well-known song that has received much airplay on classic rock radio, usually paired with the following track. I love the harmony lines that Howe & Wakeman play together, joined by Squire's counterpoint bass line and Bruford's jazzy drumming. The rhythm changes at around :45 when Jon begins singing. The beat is constantly turning around and is quite tricky. Bruford & Wakeman play steadily while Howe & Squire play accents. I love the bass note sliding down around 2:07. The intro part returns between verses. They do another verse with Squire adding vocal harmonies. Squire is rightly thrown as one of the greatest bassists of all time, but he was a great singer as well. He and Anderson's voices always blended so well. At around 3:20, Howe plays scale runs with a delay effect that leads into?

Track 7 - The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)

Squire's solo bit is the best one on the album in my opinion. Bruford keeps a nice groove in 7, while Chris lays down layer after layer of tasty bass parts. Towards the end of the song, they sing Schindleria Praematurus in harmony over the bass parts as the song fades out. Prog brilliance.

Track 8 - Mood For a Day

Howe's solo, is unsurprisingly, a classical guitar composition. It is, along with Clap from The Yes Album, often featured as Howe's solo spotlight in Yes concerts. It's a good piece, but not my favorite. (Even though I learned to play it as a music major in college, by the way.)

Track 9 - Heart of the Sunrise

One of my favorite Yes songs ever. Probably top 5 for me. The speedy opening riff was inspired by King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man". Wakeman plays spacy organ parts between the riffs. At around 30 seconds in, Squire & Bruford begin a building instrumental section, to be joined by Wakeman on mellotron. Bruford's drum fills are brilliant. At around 1:40 Howe joins back in playing the intro part on guitar over the part they'd been playing, before they all return to the intro. The mixed meters and fast tempo combine for some of prog's most heart pounding moments. At around 3:25, they bring it down and Howe plays a clean, arpeggiated guitar part, in 6-8, and Anderson joins softly on vocals. The bass, drums & keys join on the second verse. Following that there is an organ feature, then mellotron before the next verse begins. At 5:41 The instruments pause and Jon sings "sharp?distance!" with a chord being played in between in a dramatic fashion. That sequence repeats, then we lead into an instrumental turnaround by Howe & Wakeman playing more twiddly bits. Another partial verse follows, with still more twiddly bits, to lead us into an instrumental break, based on the intro. There are lots of little parts between the intro lines. At around 7:50 they bring things back down, leading to piano from Wakeman, and a vocal bridge. They never do anything exactly the same twice. Every section has variations that make it interesting. At around 9:25, we get to the final, dramatic verse with a big crescendo building throughout. There is a return of the intro riff to conclude the song. Following the end of the song proper. A door opens and we have a short reprise of We Have Heaven from earlier in the album which fades out and closes out the album

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS:

This is my third favorite Yes album after Close to the Edge (still to come?) and The Yes Album (reviewed previously). The only things that bring it down to me are Cans & Brahms, Five Per Cent for nothing and, to a lesser extent, Mood for a Day. The main band pieces, We Have Heaven and The Fish are absolutely amazing, quintessential Yes pieces. I get what they're going for, but it has mixed results. I have to deduct just a bit because of that and give it 4.75 out of 5 Stars.

Clicking 5, but really 4.75, 4 is too low.