Line up: Chris Squire: Bass
Jon Anderson: Vocals
Bill Bruford: Drums
Steve Howe: Guitar
Rick Wakeman: Keyboard
If The Yes Album was the album where Yes truly found their identity, it was on this album, Fragile, that they took every bit of their potential and maximized it. Fragile really has it all, the incredible writing and musicianship, the "random imagery" style of lyrics, (which I went into a bit deeper on the last post) the epic compositions, and now Rick Wakeman has been added in place of Tony Kaye to maximize yet another area of potential.
The addition of Rick Wakeman might even be the most significant thing to take note of on this album. Whenever a new member is added to a band, the dynamic is bound to change for better or worse...luckily, the replacement of Tony Banks with Rick Wakeman on keyboard was one of the finest examples of a positive change for a band in the form of a member replacement. Wakeman really is one of the greatest keyboardists that prog has to offer. To me, the three classic prog keyboardists would be Tony Banks,(Genesis) Keith Emerson (ELP) and of course, Wakeman. But the thing that makes Wakeman stand out so much is that he is able to take the more atmospheric approach that Banks knew so well, and combine it with the extreme chops of Emerson, becoming probably the most well-balanced of the three, and in turn, adding an endlessly interesting array of sounds, melodies, and solos to the Yes sound.
It probably helps that Yes had already been fine tuning their unique sound for three albums prior to this release, and just what they needed to sort of push themselves forward that last little bit was the addition of an eager and ambitious keyboardist in the form of Wakeman. It should also be noted that I be no means dislike Tony Banks, as he is a more than adequate player. But when compared with the Prog God that Wakeman is, it becomes easy to see why some might belittle him.
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| Rick Wakeman was noted for bringing a very large variety of synths onto the stage with him |
Of all the individually composed pieces, Anderson's and Squire's seem to always be fighting for my number one spot. Anderson takes a vocal idea and layers his voice many times on top of each other, taking on all of the harmonies. It has such a unique feel though, and the melody is really quite beautiful. Also, what's not to love about the repeated lyric "Tell the moondog, tell the marcher?" For Squire's piece, he takes a really cool 7/8 bass groove, and plays it in a variety of different styles throughout. Also, I do really love Wakeman's arrangement of Brahms 4th, as well as Bruford's composition, in which he has each member play a different piece of his drum kit on their respective instruments, allowing for a somewhat chaotic and dissonant, yet nonetheless interesting, short piece of music. Howe composes another solo piece called Mood for a Day, it doesn't quite live up to Clap, his solo guitar piece on The Yes Album, but it is still quite good in spite of this.
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| Fragile was the first Yes album to feature the bands distinctive logo |
Now, on to the group contributions, kicking off the album is the hit Roundabout, arguably the bands most well-known song to date. Squire's bass line in the beginning is simply iconic, and one of the most recognizable bass lines of all time. The whole piece is really just fantastic. The organ breaks are irresistible to air drum along with, the melodies are memorable and catchy, the quite bits are soft and delicate, and then of course, the organ solo is just awesome!
The next group composition comes in the form of South Side of the Sky, a fast paced, high energy song, with some incredibly well composed melodies. In the middle, the piece quiets down quite a bit as Wakeman takes over with a very memorable piano melody almost reminiscent of something Rachmaninov might play. All in all, the song is an awesome way to close off the first side of the album.
Long Distance Runaround is a bit a step back in terms of length, but not at all in terms of quality. It's a bit poppier than the rest of the songs composed as a band, but that actually stands in its favor as it ends up becoming the sort of lighter song that the album might have been missing. It is also quite deceptively complex, as maybe the more tentative ear will pick up when listening to it closely.
But the best of the group compositions doesn't show up until the finale, Heart of the Sunrise. Wow, I really can't do a piece like this justice just by writing about it. It kicks off immediately with a bombastic unison played by the entire band, before coming to a sudden halt with some quick breaks, and then settling into a highly inventive bass/drums groove. The vocals don't kick in until several minutes in, but when they do, Anderson is at his absolute brilliant best, most notably in the stunning chorus. Having studied and played a lot of classical music myself, I have no qualms in saying that the overall compositional structure of this piece is just masterful. And the transitions...if there was ever a time to use the word orgasmic to describe something in a piece, it would be to describe some of these transitions, particularly after the first chorus. The piece reaches its climax with the second appearance of the beautiful chorus, before simmering down at past the ten minute mark, making Heart of the Sunrise the bands longest song at the time.
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| Fragile was the first album to feature a cover painted by long-time collaborater Roger Dean |
The last thing that really needs to be noted about this album, is that it is the first album to feature a cover drawn by their long-time collaborator Roger Dean. Maybe this doesn't sound like such a significant thing, but any real Yes fan will probably tell you that yes, it actually is a significant thing. His covers, and this one particularly, were able to perfectly capture the surreal leanings of Anderson's lyrics, and thus were for me, the final step toward making Yes the band that they were at the time. The lyrics and the covers seem to point to bigger, better worlds, maybe to the possibilities that mankind could achieve in the future, or could have already achieved were we not so destructive. These types of themes are really what seemed to fuel the bands music, as well as the whole prog scene in general, the idea of infinite possibilities, and endless ambition. Maybe in the future these meanings have changed, especially for the people who grew up in the 70s, who would maybe now say that the covers can be seen as a reminder of what the world once was to them, and the possibilities they saw in the past, but weren't lived up to in the future.
Regardless of the meaning behind Deans paintings, they are seen by most as an essential part to the overall aesthetic experience of listening to and enjoying the music of Yes.
All in all, Fragile is a masterful, intelligent, and thoroughly enjoyable album that has stood the test of time incredibly well. The fact that their next album would even manage to surpass it is even more extraordinary, but more on that next week.
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