FRAGILE

When I was writing my review of "Close To The Edge", I devised an analogy that compares the first 3 classic Yes albums to the movie Rocky. "Close To The Edge" is the triumphant prize fight, "The Yes Album" is exposition and "Fragile" is the intermediary training sequence.

The Rocky training montage is one of those iconic moments in cinema and is the most memorable part that everyone loves or at least knows about, even if they haven't seen the movie. "Fragile" is like that. With Rick Wakeman joining the band's line-up, the pieces were falling in place for the glory of "Close To The Edge" to eventually materialize. Yes had already established themselves and were now training to be the champions. The album is montage-like in ways, too, given that 5 out of 9 tracks are short solo pieces that, when their facets get stitched together, will turn the members of Yes into prizefighters of prog. "Mood For A Day" is Steve Howe sparring with the flank of beef, "The Fish" is Chris Squire's one-armed push-ups in the gym, "We Have Heaven" is Jon Anderson jogging through the industrial yards. And of course, "Roundabout" and "Heart of The Sunrise" are the triumphant scene where Rick Wakeman runs up the steps with the sun rising over Philadelphia and the city's streets following after him; cathartic, spiritual and iconic works of prog.

All in all, "Fragile" is a prog classic that is very close to being a masterpiece, but is just a little too disjointed to earn that title. But even though it isn't a "masterpiece", per se, the fact that this album contains "Heart of The Sunrise", which may very well be one of the most perfectly executed songs period, definitely pushes it towards being a prog essential. As it stands, though, I believe that "Fragile" is a (slight) step below the albums bookending it, so I'll reluctantly settle on a 4 star rating. Gonna fly now!