FRAGILE

Fragile is a great album, but definitely not Yes's best work. There are four songs here that are collaborative efforts, and then five independent musical ideas from each member of the band. Most of the independent ideas are throw-aways. Mood for a Day is the best one, in my opinion, but I play guitar so I can appreciate some good guitar playin'. Also, The Fish is good and is more of an extension of the track Long Distance Runaround.

As for the rest of the album, it is very good. Roundabout is a great song, but doesn't hold my attention, probably because I have heard it about a million times on the radio. South Side of the Sky is a good track as well, but in my opinion is probably the weakest of the four collaborative efforts. To me, side two of this album is the better side. Long Distance Runaround is a cool track that has a fast riff that is repeated throughout. The guitar and bass are great and that great bass is carried through onto The Fish track. After the enjoyable Mood for a Day is the best track on the album, Heart of the Sunrise. It is the most complicated and the most interesting sounding track. It has a lot of rhythm changes and changes of style, and to me all of the musicians shine on this track.

While this is a very good album, I don't find myself grabbing for it all that often. To me, other Yes albums i.e. Close to the Edge and Going for the One are much more dynamic, focused, and interesting. Still this is a great album and if you like Yes are progrock, then you would not regret buying this album.