Fragile is Superestimated?

"That, That Is" from "Keys to Ascension" (1996) is better than any track from "Fragile"))

For me The Yes Album, Fragile and Close To The Edge are a single thing. I can listen to them three in a row and I feel them like a triple LP

Top 3 Super-Underestimated YES Albums

1994: YES - Talk - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lUj1d4fSCsm1W8MpGqww4v1UzFASfbfcI
1999: YES - The Ladder - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nqDU0J8X8x2WSBB7xRsGir8Smfl2hlMrU
2023: YES - Mirror to the Sky - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mdLFJt9iPnV0i5cqbPQzOA3-wD3VEgJxA

For me, what made Fragile stand out from any other album I'd heard in my life (this would be 1974) was how totally disparate the collection of songs were. There was nothing like it I'd ever heard! (Not sure if there's ever been an imitator do it as well.) Not only was the overall contrivance mind-blowing, but so many of the individual songs were mind-blowing in their own right. I mean, who in 1972 was letting each and every one of their individual members express themselves in the way that they alone wished to express themselves PLUS pull of not one, not two, but three mini-epics whose skills-demonstrations, riffs, and lyrical hooks would prove to be so iconic? Who gave drummers the chance to do what Bruford did on "Heart of the Sunrise"? Who else had a convoluted, nonsensically-lyricked, eight minute song receive high-volume radio play--for over fifty years now! (I mean: who doesn't know "Roundabout"? Even my grand children know "Roundabout.") And who else was throwing around church organs and complex multi-voice vocal weaves over complex, mutli-dimensional hard rock at that time like Yes did on "Southside of the Sky"? Add into the mix the fact that many of these songs--in expanded, exacted, or medley versions--continue to be concert favorites to this day (with Jon & The Band of Geeks).

No. The contribution Fragile made to A) the legitimacy of progressive rock music and B) the legacy of prog and rock in general cannot be underestimated.

Man... I have a natural predisposition to like a worst works from the bands, but Open Your Eyes i really don't processed. The best moment is a Boundaries Jon's reference in Somedays... Someshow... Talk is a monument... Awaken rebirths in Endless Dream. Jon is a God of voices of rock and cultural with Milton Nascimento, Freddie Mercury and Peter Gabriel

Edited by ELPmasters - May 01 2025 at 20:50

What I find particular about Fragile is its quirkyness and playfulness, but it may also seem to be lack of depth and substans - even Jon Anderson might say that it was about spirituality and being uplifting.

I prefer The Yes Album and Fragile to CTTE because I think the songwriting is more accessible. I’ll probably get flack for that but that’s fine. CTTE is also great but it’s a bit patchwork in its construction.

Logan wrote: Fragile is my favourite Yes album, and always has been, which is not to say that it's of highest quality, but I enjoy it the most. And I really love a short piece such as We Have Heaven, and love the shift from that into South Side of the Sky. To me Long Distance/The Fish works beautifully on the album. While I commonly dislike it when people bandy around terms like overrated, the massive enthusiasm and indeed praise for Yes that I have seen from people is not shared by me and fandom tends towards the extreme (fanatics). I'm happy for people to love what they like (provided it's not doing harm) but I would also hope for some broader perspective. For instance, I have seen someone praise Yes, declare its awesome greatness, while completely condemning and ridiculing Magma as garbage. I understand not liking the constructed language, but there is clear compositional and musicianship skills coming from Magma which I would think one could appreciate intellectually even if you don't like it. I think Magma's debut is much stronger and more mature than Yes's first two, for instance. So I guess I am saying, even if I don't like the term, that people seriously overrate Yes. I see that in the praise and in how dismissive some Yes fans are of of other bands. But then one could could say that of fans generally. The much loved Yes album that never connected much with me is Close to the Edge, and it's hardly my favourite three track album (I much prefer Bubu's Anabelas for instance). Never-the-less I recognise that Yes has been very significant to Prog, has talent, and that Close to the Edge has been a very significant album. It does not and never has amazed or enthralled me like it has with many others, and that's fine.

Greg,

A number of thoughts on your post. First, as you stated, you are going to find fans of any artist, whether it be Yes, Rush, Pink Floyd or Taylor Swift who are going to dismiss any other artists outright labelling them trash. That happens. I think what is more likely is if you are a fan of lets say ELP, there is a good likelihood they will like Yes, Genesis, Jethro Tull, etc as well as like probably some Jazz Fusion such as Weather Report or Pat Metheny.

Even among enthusiasts of Progressive Rock, it has been my experience that RIO and Zeuhl genres of Prog Rock, for example, are just a bridge to far for them. I'm one that doesn't really like the bands in those categories, but I don't dismiss them as untalented hacks. Some of the artists in these genres I have great respect for even if I don't like much of their music. Frank Zappa would be foremost among those artists.

As for Yes, there are many who consider them the quintessential Prog Rock band as they check every box of what people think of when one thinks of Prog Rock. They were very influential. And they were extremely successful. They sold 10s of millions of records and were one of the biggest touring acts of the 70s. If memory serves me right, they were the first artist who sold out Madison Square Garden ten times ( Billy Joel holds the all-time record I believe).

Yes was doing this while making albums that were daring and uncommercial. Close to the Edge, Tales and Relayer are three albums that have a total of 10 tracks. 6 tracks take up entire sides. 4 tracks are about ten minutes in length. This was not music made to be played on the radio. Yet millions of copies were sold. The question becomes how was Yes able to enjoy as much success as they did while playing music that was not commercially friendly.

In my opinion, only ELP at that time was putting out music like Yes that was uncompromising and displayed top level musicianship but sold in the millions and made them a top touring band. King Crimson never had that level of success. Genesis, while popular only reached the level of popularity Yes and ELP enjoyed when they made the decision to become commercial. Kansas became a must see band ( at least in the States) when Carry on Wayward Son and Dust in the Wind were being played on FM radio every 30 minutes.

Pink Floyd never displayed the levels of musicianship that other Prog bands did and generally, their music was more digestible, being much less complex. One can see how they hit it big.

Rush was beginning to achieve the level of success of Yes and ELP, while displaying the same uncompromising attitude in the late 70s. Jethro Tull could be argued, although they made much more music that was radio friendly than Yes or ELP in the 70s.

So, no, Yes is not overrated. The musicians in the band are among the most celebrated not only in Prog Rock, but Rock music in general. They have had a massive influence on Progressive Rock. Anyway, that's my thoughts on the matter.

I feel Prog rock (on terms of most famous groups), has always been kind of pop... C'mon, we have Lucky Man, Time and A Word, Jerusalem, Dusk, Entangled, Wond'ring Aloud... The Prog makes your hits on the mainstream music. Owner of A Lonely Heart is a prove. Maybe not today, but on your eras... Aqualung is a classic together with Dust in The Wind from Kansas and Stairway to Heaven from Led.

The great Prog bands of past have a commercial, and easy and simple songs. In 75, one year after a great live album Welcome Back My Friends, with a supreme and powerful versions of the ELP songs, Greg Lake does a I Believe on The Father Christmas, an single that became famous to english mainstream (i saw reports that the music was played in the shopping malls on a reviews From Works Vol. 2 on this site).

The Prog on your complexity, you find on b-sides groups and a prog subgenders. But on prog mainstream, i belive only King Crimson has had sucess with factually complex songs. He haved this power...

Edited by ELPmasters - 12 hours 10 minutes ago at 22:10