FRAGILE

Fragile, the second masterpiece from Yes that really did introduce the world to Rick Wakeman. Fragile is very much the sound of a band working together, playing off each others ideas with precision and perfection. There are very few flaws with this album, and the flaws are very small at that. There is excellent songwriting on this album and the solo spots are stunning, I find that these solo spots are far more interesting than some other bands that tried that same feat, here they are not particularly long or epical, but they still stand nicely next to the longer more acclaimed tracks.

The longer, full band tracks are all great, easily some of Yes' best, 'Roundabout' opens the album, it's classical sounding intro makes way for Squires propulsive bass line and Jon's very catchy melody, and of course those wonderful vocal harmonies at the end. Loved by every Yes fan (I hope) and a stage favourite, even giving Yes their first hit. 'South Side of the Sky' is another classic, those dark wind affects at the start and the sounds of footsteps remind me of 'The Dark Side of the Moon'. 'South Side' is one of Yes' darker numbers, the lyrics are not very typical Jon Anderson 'Around the south side so cold that we cried, were we ever colder on that day, a million miles away, it seemed a part of eternity', Rick gives us a nice piano melody but the middle of the song is the most interesting section, more of those beautiful vocal harmonies that sound so great. 'Long Distance Runaround' is a shorter number with an odd rythm and another interesting lyric 'Cold summer glistening, hot colour, melting the anger to stone', the outro to the track leads perfectly into 'The Fish'. 'Heart of the Sunrise' may be the most important track on the album, 11 minutes long with a stormer of an intro and a powerful, stimulating outro. The breakdown in the middle of the track I always found exciting yet Wakeman's parts took me a while to get used to as they seemed so out of place, but as a whole the track is stunning and will leave you out of breath, Bruford's drumming alone is mindblowing, he sounds like he has all the freedom in the world on this track.

The solo spots are unfairly underrated, such magnificent ideas and such short snappy pieces of genius. For me, they make the album. Jon's contribution 'We Have Heaven' is majestic, a minute and a half of clear spine tingling vocal perfection, and probably the barmiest lyrics he wrote 'Tell the Moon-dog, tell the March-hair', and who couldn't like Brufords constant China smash! Steve's contribution 'Mood For a Day' is a solo guitar piece that sounds very reflective and charming, Steve performs this piece on the Yes Symphonic Live DVD to much applause from a delighted audience. Squire's piece is very atmospheric, centered around some excellent bass lines and moody sounding guitar. Wakemans short adaption 'Cans and Brahms' is nothing to shout about but passes nicely enough and Brufords wacky thirty second quirky 'Five Per Cent for Nothing' is plain wierd.

Fragile is a gem from start to finish, well produced, fresh sounding and memorable. It was also Roger Dean's first time as cover designer and he done an excellent job, wonderful cover and altogether a nice package. Masterpiece, Yes.