FRAGILE

My first introduction to Yes was hearing Roundabout on the am radio in my parent's Ford. It is amazing how much airplay this track still gets but it is an amazing pop song. One should not let its gross popularity, or its basis for the song Love Machine, detract from its brilliance. I believe the weakness of this album is the little snipets from Wakeman, Bruford and Anderson. Squire's the fish has become so identified with Long Distance Runaround that it works well. The remaining tracks are strong material and show the band coming into its own, defining the style that would come to characterize Yes. The songs have great hooks and a spiritual intensity that the band probably never reached again. Not that it was all downhill from here but the balance of pop songwriting and epic grandeur found its place on Fragile on Roundabout and South Side of the Sky. I could not imagine a collection without it but I do wish that the band woudl play another encore except for Roundabout.