Best solo piece from Fragile?

The Fish!

For those that don't know, Wakeman was originally going to include a self-penned track "Handle with Care" but because of record company issues (he being with A&M, Yes with Atlantic) he had to go with someone else's music, so picked Brahms. Handle with Care was reworked to become the first track on "Six Wives.."

I'll probably get beat-up for this, but in retrospect, most of the solo pieces on "Fragile" aren't that good. The only real gem in the bunch is "Mood for a Day." I've always found "The Fish" to be one of Squire's least melodic pieces. Both the Anderson and Bruford pieces lack melody and structure. And the Wakeman piece are pieces of Brahms that have been cobbled together, so you can't really say it's a Rick Wakeman composition--more of an arrangement.

It was oh! so close between The Fish and Mood for a Day, but I chose the latter.  Both are stellar, as is the whole damn album. 

When I was a child of 4 or 5, I used to wake up at the crack of dawn and watch TV on Saturday mornings, just as some of the stations were coming on the air.  The CBS affilate used to play these sunrise scenes of New York City and Long Island, still photo montages set to music.  One of the musical pieces was Mood for a Day, one of the first songs I remember hearing as a little boy, and still a favorite.  The half-time break in that one (which also ends the tune) is just excruciatingly beautiful, worthy of Vivaldi's mandolin concerto #93 and Rodrigo's stuff for stringed-instrument bliss.

Start 'em on that Prog early, that's what I always say.

Empathy wrote: "Mood for a Day" here. "Not that great"?

I prefer The Clap or even Masquerade (from "Union" album) instead. Sorry.

THE FISH by far,

but I kind of like that Schindleria Praematurus song also