FRAGILE

- - - This is a revisited version of the review that I wrote seven years ago with my first account Zeuhl Glikowski II - - -

This is how a masterpiece should sound like.

After Tony KAYE left the band, Chris SQUIRE invited STRAWBS' keyboard player (who had also played piano in David BOWIE's "Hunky-dory") Rick WAKEMAN, a guy who had a lot of knowledge in classical music and gave the band a very classy touch.

If you go to ProgArchives' 100 top prog albums right now (November 2020) you'll find out that "Close to the Edge" is considered the best Progressive Rock album ever; I don't know if something as "the best album" exists but I do think that "Fragile" is a much more interesting album than its successor since in here the band made an amazing ensemble just as they later did again in "Close to the edge" but in "Fragile" we can also enjoy to the virtuosity of each member of the band and that gives the album a very unique touch.

1.- Roundabout (08:36): The opening track of the album is an amazing piece that introduces this new line-up with a very aggressive yet harmonic sound; the great keyboard lines that Rick WAKEMAN played were undoubtedly more interesting than the ones that Tony KAYE did in the early albums of the band; the new member gave an amazing flavor to the song. The guitar of Steve HOWE works very nice too, accompanied with the already well-known Chris SQUIRE's bass and Bill BRUFORD's drums.

2.- Cans and Brahms (01:42): Rick WAKEMAN had the opportunity of playing a song alone and he made a very nice arrangement to the third movement of the Symphony No. 4 in E minor by Johannes Brahms composed in 1884.

3.- We have heaven (01:28): This short song has a very enjoyable ensemble of Jon ANDERSON's singing several parts of the song and then fixed together to create a very pacific atmosphere.

4.- South side of the sky (08:09): My favorite song of the album closes the first side of it in a very powerful yet beautiful way; this song has amazing piano arrangements by WAKEMAN in the middle section, the bass, guitar, and drums are great too.

5.- Five per cent for nothing (00:37): The shortest song of the album opens its B-side; it is a jazzy short jam composed by Bill BRUFORD that combines BRUFORD's precise drumming with the fast bass of SQUIRE, the improvised guitar of HOWE, and the meticulous keyboards of WAKEMAN.

6.- Long distance runaround (03:29): At the beginning of this piece we can listen how Steve HOWE and WAKEMAN were playing in a team while Bill BRUFORD and Chris SQUIRE were playing a different pattern; then the teams switch, and we have WAKEMAN and BRUFORD in the first team marking the tempo while SQUIRE and HOWE were marking the rhythm and, of course, Jon ANDERSON was singing alone.

7.- The fish (Shindleria premataurus) (02:42): This almost entirely instrumental piece shows what a great bass player Chris SQUIRE was and how he got the nickname of The Fish; this is a jazzy and experimental song.

8.- Mood for a day (03:02): The majestic solo of Steve HOWE is an incredible piece played exclusively with an acoustic guitar and shows HOWE's knowledge of Spanish guitar. None of his partners played in this song.

9.- Heart of the sunrise (11:24): To close the album in a wonderful way, maybe the most amazing song of the whole album starts with a 3 and a half minutes instrumental introduction, then maybe 6 minutes of the sung part which is a very melodic piece with a very lovely guitar riff that goes here and there along with the song while the other instruments keep creating very intense and calm passages; at the end of the piece there is a little reprise of "We have heaven".

When I heard this album for the very first time I totally fell in love with it and of course, I knew that Progressive Rock was going to be my religion for the rest of my life. This album is classic, it's majestic and I believe too many people will be able to enjoy it in the future as much as I do.

SONG RATING: Roundabout, 5 Cans and Brahms, 5 We have heaven, 5 South side of the sky, 5 Five per cent for nothing, 5 Long-distance runaround, 5 The fish, 5 Mood for a day, 5 Heart of the sunrise, 5

AVERAGE: 5

PERCENTAGE: 100

ALBUM RATING: 5 stars

I ranked this album #3 on my TOP 100 favorite Progressive Rock albums of all time.

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