Fragile for me.

Meddle is a deep, penetrating journey into places unknown tempered by a little lightness and nonsense.   Fragile is not.

Meddle.

Fragile isn't very good in my opinion

Aside from "one of these days" and "echoes" that's kind of how I feel about Meddle. "Pillow of winds" is nice but a bit sleepy and the same thing with "San Tropez." 'Fearless" is alright though. "Seamus" on the other hand is just downright annoying(or should I say that dog in particular). No way would I put meddle about fragile but that's just me I guess. I kind of get why people don't like the solo pieces but for me it's the variety of the solo pieces that makes fragile so interesting and fun to listen to. Or at least the solo pieces add something to it. Without them it would still be very good but I don't feel the solo pieces detract from it(at least not my enjoyment anyway)like so many people seem to think.

For me its less of not liking the solo pieces as its more of just thinking that their other albums are better. It is good, but I always have enjoyed the yes album and the 3 that follow fragile a lot more. I do enjoy every song on meddle besides seamus but... meh I can look past that. One thing from Fragile that has always alluded me is Heart of the Sunrise. It seems everyone dearly loves that song but it's just never appealed to me for some reason. 

There are certainly others who feel that way as well but the majority seem to favor CTTE. Relayer is my personal favorite maybe partly because I heard it rather early on.

Yep. Ditto for me as well(except for the just recently getting into it part; I used to borrow my uncles PF albums so heard most of them at a rather early age).

Hmmm, offbeat vs goofy. Well, I don't think there's much goofier than Seamus although to me it's more annoying than anything else. 

Well, I'll go a bit personal for just a moment.

One morning not long ago, I needed one album that would see me across town to bury my mom....a car ride that I don't believe I will ever forget how it felt. The length of the album was about perfect with the subtraction of the Seamus track...which I often skip anyway, and I did again that morning.

Naturally, I was wrecked. The music worked pretty well at temporarily numbing what I was feeling so I could drive, which I believe subconsciously is why I grabbed that one. I didn't really hear the music the way I normally do, attentively, because my thoughts were too intrusive and constant, but it worked pretty well at just holding everything together so I could navigate traffic and get there in one piece. Echoes was particularly effective.

I often choose certain Floyd for difficult trips, of which there have been many in life recently. But I owe a special nod to Meddle for that spring morning.

As for a poll....I like em both.

That's a sad story, Jim.  I try not to think about it, but for the first time in my life I looked at my parents and felt that they seemed...old.  (I know weight loss has a lot to do with it, but still).  It made me think.

Fragile gets my vote. 

Even with some weak tracks on the "shorts" side, "Echoes" is my top 1 track, so neither a great album like Fragile can beat it.

but

Fragile

Thanks Rob.

Yeah, it gives pause. I remember that feeling too.

Awww...do you need a hug?

Fragile kicking some butt from behind, and Meddle a slow but steady tortoise?

Echoes is, of course, great but the album track lacks almost everything great that the far superior Live At Pompeii Version of Echoes has and the rest of the album, other than One of These Days does little for me.  

Meddle has side 2, Echoes...side 1 is ...well ,pick your own adjective.

I'm glad I'm not alone on this big big world. Exactly what I always thought about Fragile. Well, it's quite good but I like albums before and after it (much) more. The passing years changed nothing on this fact (and I speak about almost 35 years I listen to music Yes including).

On the other side Meddle wasn't my favourite PF album first. Maybe I could say I almost detested it first (it had surely something to do with fact my twin brother adored PF and I had to be in opposition to him - Meddle was then the first PF record I could hit to :-D ) During the years I've been finding it better and better. Today it's one of my dearly loved pieces from Floyds.

And thus my vote goes to... Meddle.