FRAGILE

After the average debut Yes, the better Time and a Word and the fine The Yes Album, Fragile was in my opinion the first truly great Yes record and Wakeman was the perfect fit for the band. His spectacular style of playing fuses perfectly with the playful guitars of Howe, the mellow bass of Squire, the powerful drumming of Bruford and the soft and high-pitched voice of Anderson.

Since the beginning of the album with the tremendous Roundabout, is clear that Wakeman is here to have a good part of protagonism in Yes's music. And because of that, the definitive sound of Yes can be heard for the first time in Fragile, which sadly also contains a pair of lackluster tracks (the innocuous Cans and Brahms and We Have Heaven, and the silly Five Percent for Nothing) which prevents this album to have the maximum rating.

Best Tracks: Roundabout (incredible keyboards and marvelous chorus for one of the best songs in the entire Yes's career!), South Side of the Sky (incredible riffs from Howe!), Long Distance Runaround (the verses are great, with its syncopated riffs of bass and guitar) and Mood For a Day (a song with strong influence of Spanish classical music in the vein of Isaac Albeniz!)

Conclusion: Fragile was the introduction of the definitive Yes's line up with Wakeman finally on keys! It contains some truly great songs and despite the three weak tracks that I mentioned before and the also not so brilliant and too repetitive long composition Heart of the Sunrise, it's a true pleasure to the ears and an immortal prog-rock classic!

My rating: ****

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