FRAGILE

And with Fragile the ship departs for the land of Roger Dean's imagination...

This is an interesting and quite good album which builds on the successes of The Yes Album. It is arranged as a series of mini songs showcasing the individuals members bookended between two stellar Yes classics, Roundabout and Heart of the Sunrise, both which would be concert staples for decades. Roundabout is a near perfect rock song that for many kids was their first experience with Yes as it got big radio play.

Of the mini songs the most notable for me was Mood For A Day. This is the type of piece along with the similar acoustic passages of Topographic that make Steve Howe one of my favorite guitar players. Completely meloncholic and beautiful classically tinged flavors. My only regret is that Mood was not expanded into a much longer instrumental piece.

It is also important that this album began perhaps the most successful marriage ever between a band and an artist. Roger Dean did not just design cool album covers for Yes, he literally created a world that gave the Yes listener a visual possibility for the stories they were being told. Some people don't believe album art should matter and I would agree that good art cannot rescue poor music. But when the art adds to the experience in such a direct and pleasing manner as Dean's does, it certainly doesn't hurt. 3.75 stars.