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Yes - Fragile CD (album) cover

FRAGILE

Yes

 

Symphonic Prog

4.46 | 4043 ratings

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Modrigue
Prog Reviewer
3 stars "Fragile" is YES's first really progressive studio album. It also introduces keyboardist Rick Wakeman. The record is unequal, as it consists in three mini epic pieces with shorter various fillers inserted between them.

It starts well with the classic "Roundabout" and its pretty acoustic guitar introduction. Then the melody takes you directly to fantastic magic places... good solos alternating with sometimes poppish passages. The listener is in an imaginative world... But then the disc tends to degenerate. "Can and Brahms" is a little reinterpretation of BRAHM's fourth Symphony by Wakeman. "We Have Heaven" sounds a bit cacophonic and is nearly irritating. "South Side of the Sky" has pleasant passages, electric guitar and catchy piano playing, but has too many changes in vocals, making the song chaotic sometimes. "Five per Cent for Nothing" is a short jazz-rock transition which has little to do here. Long Distance Runaround starts with an interesting vocal theme but fails to take off. "The Fish" is an ok kind of ambient-improvised guitar piece. Maybe the best transition of the album. "Mood for a Day" is an enjoyable intrumental acoustic guitar track with some spanish accents. The record finishes with the nice "Heart of the Sunrise", with its agressive guitar riff reminiscent of Led Zeppelin and a mellotron which makes the prog fan wonders whether he listens to a KING CRIMSON or a YES tune. This track is very efficient and catchy.

FRAGILE is the first convincing effort from YES, although a bit overrrated. "Roundabout" and "Heart of the Sunrise" are true pieces of "fantasy prog", but the middle of the album is quite unequal.

Modrigue | 3/5 |

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