Fragile (Remastered)

iTunes Review

With the addition of keyboardist Rick Wakeman, Yes was ready to go for complete overdrive and overload. The band’s fourth album, Fragile, contains all the craziness and excess that would make it FM radio and concert hall favorites. Beginning with the dexterous eight-and-a-half minute "Roundabout," Fragile virtually defines the progressive rock of the early ‘70s. Jon Anderson's tenor to falsetto vocals are matched with the overachieving organ runs of Wakeman and the gravity-defying lightning guitar runs of Steve Howe. "Long Distance Runaround" was the album's other enduring radio hit but fans have always treasured the fact that much of the album is given over to each member's solo composition. The brief keyboard exercise "Cans and Brahms" is Wakeman channeling Johannes Brahms; "We Have Heaven" multi-tracks Jon Anderson's vocals for maximum effect; "Five Per Cent for Nothing" is a quick, as in under-a-minute, instrumental tug of war; "Mood for a Day" relies on Steve Howe's impressive fretwork. A previously unreleased version of Paul Simon's "America" was added to the reissue, with a rough mix of "Roundabout" showing the band from a slightly less polished angle.