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LittleMilton
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Joined: February 05 2013
Location: Midwest
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Topic: hadn't heard Fragile in quite a while Posted: May 17 2014 at 22:33 |
and lemme tell you, woooo hoo! it blew me away (coming from a tfto lover who after hear hearing ctte for the first time said, "it was too short.") maybe I became jaded to these tunes because of the fm airplay ad nauseum, but something like south side of the sky, knowing about the subject matter tickles my neurons in a most righteous way carry on
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Tom Ozric
Prog Reviewer
Joined: September 03 2005
Location: Olympus Mons
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Points: 15916
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Posted: May 17 2014 at 22:35 |
Fragile - a true classic.
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richardh
Prog Reviewer
Joined: February 18 2004
Location: United Kingdom
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Points: 25790
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Posted: May 18 2014 at 04:19 |
There are those albums that push music that bit more further forward and this is one of those I think.
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Xonty
Forum Senior Member
Joined: June 23 2013
Location: Cornwall
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Points: 1759
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Posted: May 18 2014 at 04:55 |
Fragile's one of my favourite albums but I never feel like listening to it. I think it might be the short tracks that turn me off it ("Cans And Brahms", "Five Per Cent For Nothing", etc.) Never a fan of them, and they're pretty much just filler to me (compared to some of the epics on there)
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Tom Ozric
Prog Reviewer
Joined: September 03 2005
Location: Olympus Mons
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Points: 15916
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Posted: May 18 2014 at 04:59 |
For me, I enjoy those little 'solo' tracks, I think they are very cleverly assembled. The epics are pretty amazing though.
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JediJoker7169
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Joined: May 05 2009
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Posted: May 18 2014 at 07:02 |
"South Side of the Sky" contains my favorite piano interlude of all time. Almost Emerson-esque. Fragile was one of the Prog albums (also ELP's Trilogy) in my mom's collection that she would listen to when I was young, before I had any concept of what Prog was. It remains a favorite to this day.
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Mirror Image
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Posted: May 18 2014 at 10:48 |
I like Fragile a lot, but I rank lower than Relayer and Close To The Edge, but I rate it higher than Going For The One for example. These four albums are my favorites from Yes.
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“Music is enough for a lifetime but a lifetime is not enough for music.” - Sergei Rachmaninov
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refugee
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Posted: May 18 2014 at 12:17 |
Nice poem, LittleMilton! Fragile is a very good album. The only track I dislike is Cans And Brahms – because Brahms’ own version (the 3rd movement of his 4th symphony) is so much better.
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He say nothing is quite what it seems; I say nothing is nothing (Peter Hammill)
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M27Barney
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Joined: November 09 2006
Location: Swinton M27
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Posted: May 18 2014 at 13:02 |
Strangely enough I was in a pub in Salford (New Oxford) for a mates 50th party and somebody put - Heart of the Sunrise on the dukebox !!! - I hadn't heard that track for some time. Then this Friday just gone - same pub and jukebox on random play - Man Erg by Van der Graff Generator was playing !!!
Edited by M27Barney - May 18 2014 at 13:02
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Polymorphia
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Joined: November 06 2012
Location: here
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Points: 8856
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Posted: May 18 2014 at 13:06 |
Fragile, to me, is Yes at their driest. Cans and Brahms is a great example of that. Instead of going with a huge, bombastic ELP-like rendition, they went for a smaller, more subversive one. It's definitely not my favorite of theirs, but I do appreciate it not being so overwrought.
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refugee
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Posted: May 18 2014 at 14:37 |
M27Barney wrote:
Strangely enough I was in a pub in Salford (New Oxford) for a mates 50th party and somebody put - Heart of the Sunrise on the dukebox !!! - I hadn't heard that track for some time.
Then this Friday just gone - same pub and jukebox on random play - Man Erg by Van der Graff Generator was playing !!! |
I think you misspelled "dukebox" the second time.
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He say nothing is quite what it seems; I say nothing is nothing (Peter Hammill)
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Moogtron III
Prog Reviewer
Joined: April 26 2005
Location: Belgium
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Points: 10616
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Posted: May 18 2014 at 14:49 |
Fragile is like a box of liquorice allsorts (or Quality Street, if you like). It's an absolutely amazing album.
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JCDenton
Forum Groupie
Joined: June 17 2013
Location: Yes
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Points: 54
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Posted: May 18 2014 at 16:56 |
A lot of my friends seem to be discovering Fragile on their own. Or maybe it was just one of them, and they happened to show everybody they and I know. Either way it's a great album that while pushing the musical limits of top Billboard charters, it still has just enough accessibility for almost anyone to enjoy, I find. Great starting album for young Progheads and great album overall.
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"We have grown, but there is still much to be done. Many that live in darkness that must be shown the way, for it is the dawning of a new day."
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dr wu23
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Joined: August 22 2010
Location: Indiana
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Posted: May 18 2014 at 17:00 |
Fragile, Yes album, and CTTE are my favorites ......many a day spent listening to them at college in the 70's.
I'm going to play that one right now since you mentioned it.
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One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin
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TODDLER
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Posted: May 19 2014 at 10:38 |
JediJoker7169 wrote:
"South Side of the Sky" contains my favorite piano interlude of all time. Almost Emerson-esque. Fragile was one of the Prog albums (also ELP's Trilogy) in my mom's collection that she would listen to when I was young, before I had any concept of what Prog was. It remains a favorite to this day. |
One of their best! Ever! Such emotion through their playing on that track. They were emotionally charged and on a mission. Rick Wakeman stated that on their first rehearsal of putting this material together, nothing was said. That each line created by each of them just fell together without actual verbal communication. Like a magical experience. I have yet to see an official live CD release of this unit, of this year, surface on the market. I don't know why that would be, but it's surely unjust.
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LittleMilton
Forum Newbie
Joined: February 05 2013
Location: Midwest
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Posted: May 19 2014 at 13:15 |
sitting at work this afternoon
and found myself mentally hearing
south side of the sky again
in all it's studio glory
and Squire's backing vocals
on the piano part in the middle
are extraordinary,
and it occurred to me that
his vocal harmonies may be somewhat overlooked
in the Yes portion of the universe
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M27Barney
Forum Senior Member
Joined: November 09 2006
Location: Swinton M27
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Posted: May 19 2014 at 15:37 |
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M27Barney
Forum Senior Member
Joined: November 09 2006
Location: Swinton M27
Status: Offline
Points: 3136
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Posted: May 19 2014 at 15:38 |
TODDLER wrote:
JediJoker7169 wrote:
"South Side of the Sky" contains my favorite piano interlude of all time. Almost Emerson-esque. Fragile was one of the Prog albums (also ELP's Trilogy) in my mom's collection that she would listen to when I was young, before I had any concept of what Prog was. It remains a favorite to this day. | One of their best! Ever! Such emotion through their playing on that track. They were emotionally charged and on a mission. Rick Wakeman stated that on their first rehearsal of putting this material together, nothing was said. That each line created by each of them just fell together without actual verbal communication. Like a magical experience. I have yet to see an official live CD release of this unit, of this year, surface on the market. I don't know why that would be, but it's surely unjust. | Imagine having a mother into Prog....Mine was into Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole and the rat pack and the like....
Edited by M27Barney - May 19 2014 at 15:38
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Dellinger
Forum Senior Member
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Joined: June 18 2009
Location: Mexico
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Posted: May 19 2014 at 22:04 |
Wonderful album indeed, my favourite from the band along with CttE, easily. And this 2 stand among my very favourites from the classic prog era. Also, I don't really have much problem with the short solo tracks, for they are short enough for ignoring them in the middle of the great group songs, and most of them aren't really bad anyway. "We Have Heaven" is kind of enjoyable, though any longer than that would have been terrible, and it's a great intro for "South Side of the Sky", "The Fish" is actually really good, and for me it's part of "Long Distance Runaround"... I just don't feel the song is complete without that "bass solo" at the end. "Mood for a Day" is also a wonderful song, and I don't see much any prog lover could complain about that one. Bruford's part may be the most unecessary and unenjoyable on the album, but being barely half a minute, it doesn't really do any damage to the enjoyment of the album. Perhaps the closest one to be bad for the album would be Cans and Brahms, which I don't particularly like and is isn't as short as for ignoring it... but it's still short enough and I don't really dislike it either, however, knowing the alternative, it is kind of a disapointment. For, once I read that the song that became "Catherine of Aragon" was originally planned to be Wakeman's solo contribution to this album... and that one would really have made the album even better (specially if he were to have been suported by the band as the song appeared on 6 Wives), but there was some problem with his own label which wouldn't allow him to contribute any song writing to Yes, so he had to go for this arrangement instead. On the other hand, if he had actually used that song with Yes, it would be missing on 6 Wives, which is another wonderful album from the 70's prog.
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Mirror Image
Forum Senior Member
Joined: December 13 2011
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 2111
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Posted: May 19 2014 at 22:18 |
Dellinger wrote:
Wonderful album indeed, my favourite from the band along with CttE, easily. And this 2 stand among my very favourites from the classic prog era. Also, I don't really have much problem with the short solo tracks, for they are short enough for ignoring them in the middle of the great group songs, and most of them aren't really bad anyway. "We Have Heaven" is kind of enjoyable, though any longer than that would have been terrible, and it's a great intro for "South Side of the Sky", "The Fish" is actually really good, and for me it's part of "Long Distance Runaround"... I just don't feel the song is complete without that "bass solo" at the end. "Mood for a Day" is also a wonderful song, and I don't see much any prog lover could complain about that one. Bruford's part may be the most unecessary and unenjoyable on the album, but being barely half a minute, it doesn't really do any damage to the enjoyment of the album. Perhaps the closest one to be bad for the album would be Cans and Brahms, which I don't particularly like and is isn't as short as for ignoring it... but it's still short enough and I don't really dislike it either, however, knowing the alternative, it is kind of a disapointment. For, once I read that the song that became "Catherine of Aragon" was originally planned to be Wakeman's solo contribution to this album... and that one would really have made the album even better (specially if he were to have been suported by the band as the song appeared on 6 Wives), but there was some problem with his own label which wouldn't allow him to contribute any song writing to Yes, so he had to go for this arrangement instead. On the other hand, if he had actually used that song with Yes, it would be missing on 6 Wives, which is another wonderful album from the 70's prog. |
Yes, the Bruford tune Five Per Cent For Nothing is just a joke. I don't know why Cans and Brahms was even on the album. I usually skip it. Mood for a Day is a nice piece for solo guitar, but like The Clap on The Yes Albums, I don't really see the point in it being included on Fragile. As for the Wakeman piece not being included, I'm glad as I would have skipped it, too. I'm not a big Wakeman fan in general. I admire his keyboard skills, but can't say I'm very fond of his songwriting.
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“Music is enough for a lifetime but a lifetime is not enough for music.” - Sergei Rachmaninov
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