Fragile

Nerd wizard rock that I do not want.

To be continued...

5/10, I was initially excited for the concept of this website, but I'm repeatedly discovering the flaws of the 1001 albums list, the sheer proliferation of forgettable dad rock. Yes is fine, it's an okay band, but fuckin' hell, a genre besides rock exists, this is easily the most bland-of-its era tripe to exist. 4/10, bad ideas are extended ad-nauseum, while the good ones are cut short, this is a snoozefest disguised under a prog label. 3/10, it just gets worse as it goes on, I don't think I've ever been less interested in a band, ah yes another track of jumbled instrumentals and pained singing, 2/10 is my final. Thank God rock is dead.

Absolutely incredible. This album makes a catchy, fun and interesting blend of sounds, drawing from prog rock but not falling into the classic traps of the genre. The songs, while long and complicated, are easy to like and feel very timeless. The difficult playing isn't there for difficulty's sake, but to do things a simpler composition can't do. It isn't pretentious at all by prog rock standards, the album cover is great, and i love the small tracks placed in between the longer ones as it paces the whole work perfectly. Adore this album.

This album is a trap. It lures you in with "Roundabout" - oh boy! An entire album of songs like that famous classic! - Guess again fuckface!! All you're getting is an album full of scrapped Super Mario 64 music and weird experimental jams! YOU FELL FOR IT FOOL! THUNDER CROSS SPLIT ATTACK! You know what the kids love? Random minute long instrumentals. Let's make an album that has like 3 actual songs and the rest is weird goofy noises. It's like they were trying to create the greatest album of all time but their studio got hijacked by goblins. 3/5, because "Roundabout" and "South Side of the Sky" are that good. "Heart of the Sunrise" is pretty good as well, but Yes has better prog medleys. The rest is goblin slop.

This is Yes at their peak before they are about to go off the rails. All over the place in a wonderful way with contributions from all band members. Love how each instrument/element/player is highlighted throughout the album. Wish more bands created output in this manner. They are one of the most listenable and original of prog rock groups. Prog gets a bad rap for some reason but I enjoy the structures and explorations. Quite a sonic journey.

Yes are the audio equivalent of Pringles to me. Once I start listening, I can’t stop. I listened to Fragile twice today. Then I put on Close to the Edge. Then I listened to the first and last track of Tales From Topographic Oceans (had this been a single LP with those two songs, I think it’d be more fondly remembered than it is now) and finished up with Relayer and bit of Going For the One. I don’t have a problem, YOU have a problem.

It was nice to hear Roundabout in its entirety. More than just a meme band, I say.

While the musicianship is clearly good, they just feel like a store brand Pink Floyd. It's Floyd-style prog without the hooks which leaves the album feeling kind of empty and, ultimately, forgettable.

You know those girls who really dig Yes? Yeah, me neither.

Had this one on regular repeat in my teen years. Spent a huge amount of time learning to play Mood for a Day (badly) on guitar. Still a personal favorite album decades later.

Almost half a century later and these songs still go hard. The sheer VIRTUOSITY on display here is astonishing. Like, that heavy-ass intro on "Heart of the Sunrise"? Those syncopated drums on "Long Distance Runaround"?? My mind is EXPANDING!!!

Memes aside, this is a good album

Exceptional. The keys and the rambling guitar over the top of the funky bass. Amazing.

Have had this music in all forms..album,8-track,cassette,cd,Spotify ..hard 5 for this one,loved it since day one

Close to the Edge is their magnum opus but this is a really close second.

Not really my style but I appreciate that it's good music. Nice to listen to under certain conditions.

Maybe there's some music-for- musicians thing going on here, but it's not working for me, just increasing the sense that prog rock was kind of a musical dead end. Really felt like a chore listening to this today. A whole lotta noodling.

Not my bag, but I respect the players' chops. Also: 1. Google a recent photo of guitarist Steve Howe and tell me he should have been cast as Elrond in LOTR. 2. I've been working on a joke review involving the word "incel" but couldn't get there. Still, I couldn't leave this review without using that word.

I loved this. “Nerd wizard rock” that I DO want hahaha. I was unfamiliar with this band + album before this listen, but there were a ton of sound bites I recognized from sampling in modern media. Altogether very fun.

Obsessed over overgangen mellom Long Distance Runaround og The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)

From all the first 3 seconds on all albums, this must be one of the best.

What can be said about this album beyond Wow! I was fortunate enough to see them live once. What a fantastic show.

One of my favorite albums of all time. It's what got me inspired to pick up an instrument back in middle school.

Y E S

Still one of my all time favourite albums. There are sections that could probably be trimmed (South Side of the Sky could easily be 5 minutes), but I love the album. Prog rock is all about excess!

What a great album.

Je vous propose de diviser cette critique en deux parties : j'évoquerai les événements récents dans la première et formulerai une analyse de l'album dans la seconde. Première partie : Vous avez sans doute lu dans ma critique de Let It Be des Replacements les raisons pour lesquelles j'ai été convoqué devant l'Amtsgericht de ma ville de résidence en fin de semaine dernière. Pour résumer la situation, j'ai ce mercredi, et par inadvertance, tabassé une de mes élèves en raison du fait qu'elle portait un chandail à l'effigie de Morrissey. Une fois l'audience terminée, les magistrats ont délibéré et jugé que les traces de strangulation présentes sous la minerve de la victime ne pouvaient être imputées avec certitude à ma paire de mains et que les attestations fournies par les quatorze témoins présents ainsi que mes aveux n'y changeaient rien. En revanche, il a également été jugé que l'élève, heureusement sortie indemne, devait à présent porter en continue un pull imprimé d'une photo de Ray Charles en position fœtale. Celle-ci a fait appel, je vous tiendrai informés de la suite dans une critique ultérieure. Deuxième partie : Fragile du groupe Yes est un album que j'ai pris beaucoup de plaisir à écouter.

Man Roundabout would make for a bizarrely good anime outro (👀). I love this sound it’s like psychedelic but still rock and head boppy. Very fun album but I have a enemy stand user to go take care of now

Ugh. Prog rock with classical influences. Not my thing. Some of it is fine, most of it is not.

As I've commented for earlier Yes efforts, they sound like pretty basic rock music with extra steps. So it is here - I've got a lot of tolerance for prog fiddling as long as the end result is worth it, but wasn't feeling it today

2 1/2 stars. I found this a bit of a difficult album to wade through. I have never been a Rick Wakeman or Yes fan. Having said that there are a few songs that I can get into somewhat like America and Roundabout which may have to do more with familiarity than anything else. Of the songs a I haven't listened to previously Heart of Sunrise is good. I understand the influence of this album.

A pet peeve of mine is documentaries featuring snotty punks from the ’70s claiming they saved music from the pretension and overindulgence of prog-rock—reducing the complex dynamics of culture, history, art, and creativity to the inane binarism of 'few chords = good, many chords = bad.' But now having listened to this album, I think I kind of get it.

IS THIS A JOJO’S REFERENCE?!?!?

When you listen to "The Yes Album" to "Fragile" to "Close To The Edge," you can definitely feel the band upping their game. With the addition of Rick Wakeman into the mix, the band gets the progressive sound they were looking for. Bill Bruford stated that Rick Wakeman is one of the few players he knows who does not have an ounce of jazz in his playing. The solo pieces on the album are a bit of a throwaway, but they are definitely re-listenable. If it wasn't for "Five Percent For Nothing," Bruford would not have grown to the composer and musician he is today. The big song for them, THE hit: "Roundabout". I had first heard the live version of this that is on the "Classic Yes" compilation. So the whole acoustic opening I had missed. It really brings a lot to the song, but I still like the live version. Can I listen to this song over and over again? More than I can "I've Seen All Good People". And "Roundabout" (for me) isn't the best song on the album. That would have to go to "Heart of the Sunrise". Bruford and Squire's interaction in the beginning is exquisite. The album has a lot of great pieces, and is definitely up higher for me than the previous album. Not as good as "Close To The Edge," but it is still a great and important album. If someone asked me what Yes is all about, this would be one of the albums I tell them to listen to. Classic.

My absolute favorite Yes album - in fact, this is a desert-isle disk for me. Roundabout is such an iconic tune - that first reversed piano chord followed by Steve Howe's iconic harmonics is just perfect. I first listened to this on vinyl and there was a little crackling sound in the background that always made this sound like it was being played on a rainy day. Probably one of the few experiences I preferred on vinyl. The classical guitar intro leads into a rocking tune, driven by Chris Squire's awesome bass line. Particularly love the interlude (the section singing about an eagle). The whole song is outstanding, especially live. Cans and Brahms is the first of the five individual showcase tracks. It's fine - Rick Wakeman could have contributed something better, but it's ok because he took Yes to a new level in joining the band for the first time on this album. We Have Heaven is the second showcase and it lets you know what an army of Jon Andersons singing would sound like - y'know, if you ever wanted to know that. South Side of the Sky is awesome - a hard-edged song (especially live) - you can almost feel the struggle of an expedition in the snowy mountains or south pole, whatever it was supposed to be. After Five per cent for Nothing, a throwaway showcase track (apologies to Bill Bruford), we hit the classic jazzy Long Distance Runaround followed by The Fish, showcasing Chris Squire - he used to ham it up live and solo really dramatically...I remember how he would hold his bass straight up and would slowly pluck this super-deep bass note and let it ring out, vibrating the entire arena. In fact, I need to take a moment to point out Squire's incredible bass sound and style on this entire album. He was so unique - RIP, bass god. Next, the final individual showcase - Mood for a Day, a beautiful Spanish guitar piece by Steve Howe that I've played more times on guitar than I can count (or at least tried to). Finally, Heart of the Sunrise - one of my favorite songs. Not favorite Yes songs - favorite songs period. I read recently that Steve Howe felt the opening riff had a very King Crimson sound. I don't know if I hear it, but it's an amazing song (and, again, even more so live - these guys were an amazing live band). The frenetic beginning followed by the mysterious sounding section with Wakeman's keys building over Squire's awesome bass line - Billy B. building the drum line from simple to more complex as it proceeds, and Steve Howe joining in with a quiet yet building version of the opening motif until they all come together with that frenetic opening riff again. Then we reach the verse, which feels like floating down a river, complete with ebbs and flows, followed by side trips down musical tributaries, all building to a final majestic finale. Ok, I'll settle down now. I don't know how this album sounds to non-prog fan ears - I imagine it's a tough listen for some - but to this prog fan Fragile is as good as it gets. One of the easiest 5s I'll give.

I cannot recommend this album highly enough. It’s strange that it is so similar to King Crimson, and yet the latter really rubbed me the wrong way. Fragile takes one on a journey that is both an escape and a deep immersion into reality.

Jojo memes here (and a pretty darn good album)

Timeless. Funky. Fresh. My only previous exposure to this was those memes with the intro to Roundabout. Can’t believe how old it is, it feels quite modern and fresh.

Too bad all the songs can't be as good as Roundabout. Would be 6 stars if they were

This album is great. The bass lines and sounds of the bass on this album are some of my favorite, but everybody basically kills it on this album. 4.5/5

Meme spotted!!

Goated plus jojo

bruh its fragile

Keigoei grief joeng

Discazo!! A++

Steve Howe!

One of the OG prog rock bands and a really good listen. Massively influential to so many acts following in their footsteps

This is that shit that has Roundabout on it. A lot more than just Roundabout - lots of prog rock shit going on. Pretty good album imo.

Rick Wakeman's debut for Yes is a masterpiece

Fragile The Yes albums we’ve had are mixed up with the ELP album in my memory, so it’s hard to place this one in that context. Looking back at the reviews I didn’t seem to care much for Close to the Edge but I didn’t mind The Yes Album. But I actually can’t really remember much about either of them. I know Roundabout, apart from Owner of Lonely Heart, it must be their most famous song, and it is brilliant; a catchy melody, an excellent bass line, some great spacey synth noises, a superb keyboard solo, nice acoustic and electric guitars and a suitably melodramatic sense of pomposity. Reading about how it was constructed is pretty interesting, but my favourite thing I read is the genesis of it: ‘The song originated when the band were on tour and travelled from Aberdeen to Glasgow, and went through many roundabouts on the way.’ Inspirationally Craig David-esque. Thereafter, despite it having the usual, undeniably amusing tang of prog rock self importance, it never veers into overbearing and I found myself enjoying it, it feels like what I’d imagined Prog Rock to sound like before I actually listened to any of it. Cans and Brahms is probably the one of the few sour notes for me, feeling a little pretentiously forgettable, but We Have Heaven is enjoyably daft with its folky playground feel and South Side of the Sky is really good, giddily powered by the kind of portentous Prog riffing that is genuinely enjoyable. Five Per Cent For Nothing is thankfully brief, but the keyboards and piano are great on Long Distance Runaround, it’s a relatively straightforwardly accessible bit of Prog pop, with a Supertramp feel, segueing nicely into the The Fish, with its nicely haughty latin in parentheses, and an insistent groove - another good track. As are the rather earnest folk stylings of Mood for A Day. And the Heart of the Sunrise is an enjoyably serious Prog workout, never staying in one place for too long and playing on the margins of disappearing up it’s own fundament, just about staying out of the brown zone. Sonically this is great too, the bass tone (and playing) is excellent and I love the drum sound, it has that really dampened but resonant quality to it, and the keyboards have a great imperiously bombastic feel to them. I don’t know whether because it’s my last working day before Christmas so I’m in a good mood and I therefore imagined a sense of humour and sense of self awareness amongst the self importance and magniloquence, but I didn’t find this annoying in the way I did their other albums. I really got into it, growing into it on repeat listens, so much so I’m going 4, as it feels like the only Prog Rock album I want to listen to again 🫡🫡🫡🫡 Playlist submission: Roundabout

to be honest except Roundabout for becoming a meme i can vibe to, this album really hit a miss with me, i can't find myself to enjoy it, Edit 1 : i like the second half of the album where it's just beat i could vibe to without the necessary vocals that ruins the melody listened 4/9/2024

I liked this. Close to the Edge is better tho.

While I really like some of the tracks, the full album gets a bit much. Unless of course you are high!

The album kinda sucks you in, starting with an amazing track in Roundabout. The rest doesn't quite hit the same and sometimes feels a little experimental. I still really enjoyed it, but they kind show their entire hand in the first track.

No. 247/1001 Roundabout 3/5 (5x) Cans and Brahms 3/5 We Have Haven 3/5 South Side of the Sky 3/5 (5x) Five per Cent for Nothing NR Long Distance Runaround 4/5 (2x) The Fish 3/5 (2x) Mood for a Day 4/5 (2x) Heart of the Sunrise 3/5 (7x) Average: 3,16 Prog album that works a lot of classical music into the songs. Pretty good, but no song that I will come back to.

Half of this album is “Roundabout” and “Heart of the Sunrise”. Not really a complaint, but I don’t know what it is with prog rock and its marathon songs. The thing is, most of the rest of the album were short instrumentals that didn’t really match the energy of “Roundabout” or even “South Side of the Sky”. Makes me think that the construction of the album was fiddled with a bit too much, but I guess that was normal for prog rock of this era.

This album must be Italian or something. As of this morning I had only listened to two songs, but I finished it just so I could make that joke. This was decent. Liked Mood for a Day.

Bookended by good rocking pieces. Questionable mid section. Not the classic I was expecting. A low 3/5

Legendary prog rock album that I’ve enjoyed in the past but for some reason a listen through didn’t do it for me, seems scattered and not as cohesive as I remembered it. 3 stars with the hope that the yes album and closer to the edge will come up and get higher ratings

I did not particularly like this. It seemed too pleased with itself and noodly. They needed a good editor to try snd make sense of the ideas here.

No

Goofy carnival bullshit. Roundabout is ok so I’ll bump it up to two stars.

Pretty much what I expected from a Yes album, a few bright moments but mostly obnoxious and full of random noises.

Like being stuck in a 'Dazed and Confused' scene, but the music sucks. 'Mood for a Day' is okay.

A benefit of beaming these records onto a hotel television is my wife’s opinion on the music and Spotify band photos: “This is “get a grip” as well. Go to the gym. Get a haircut. Go for a run. Go see a dentist. This is not music I could like.” When the band show a flash of groove - like the start of South Side of the Sky - they immediately fidget out of it and thwart fun: they’re awful at flirting, and can only flirt, and were I not under an obligation I would not have stayed beyond hors d’œuvres. Fragile has the constituent components of a passable ZZ Top EP, an alright Sweet LP, a sub-par Shellac letter to friends, and a moderately successful Gypsy Kings single, but tragically they are Yes.

So the first thing I thought when I saw the name of the album, is this going to be in French? Get it? A Christmas Story? Nevermind.... And that is what I got form this album. Me thinking bout a Christmas movie. Roundabout is a decent tune, but when you're putting out 10 minutes songs, you're taking your music and your band way too seriously. To quote me, from my last Yes album review, Yes is a big No. I'll score 2. Just because it wasn't outright annoying. And now, to finish off my self proclaimed Prince week. On this beautiful Friday afternoon, 69 day no less, I'll leave you with my final lyric that I hope will inspire you on this wonderful holiday. Yes, 69 day is considered a holiday in many places, but you have to be a true believer to find those places. Fellow Prince fans know that place! Anyway..... Let's go crazy Let's get nuts Let's look for the purple banana Until they put us in the truck, let's go!

My friends in prog places would have my guts for garters for saying this, but I find it difficult to listen to most prog rock artists. It's too hard to hitch your attention to any single instrument or melody for more than a nanosecond. Gentle Giant's Octopus is the exception (inexplicably). When ‘We Have Heaven' came on, I had a horrendous flashback to my dad playing this record while doing the pools in the Express and Star, which meant it was Sunday. Say No to Yes. NB: if any of my listening peers made it through the whole album, I commend you.

God I hate prog.

I LOVE Yes So fun

4.5/5 - Complex Rock / Smart Rock? - Classically funky - Contains some lovely moments of Classical melody and stylistics - Yes has created a very dreamy record that shakes and shimmies at its loudest and twirls softly at its quietest. - With a good balance all front to back, they never seem to get too clever for their own good.

One of my favourite album covers and one of my favourite albums. Roundabout easily the best song on here, and ultimately up there in their whole discography. Every band members shines, and I like the effectively solo songs they each contribute to break up the album. A cracker

Masterpiece!!

SO GOOD. peak prog rock. i liked how the second track quoted brahms. seemed to draw on religious motifs which was cool and gave the album a very themed feel. “heart of the sunrise” is a GREAT closer. it’s like if pink floyd did their version of “paranoid android”. i love a good all over the place song. 5/5.

The vast majority won't get this! Fantastic musicians playing superb music, far too sophistic for the average punter brought up on the modern pap they call music - "I got together the 100 best composers and arrangers and producers in the world and after a month they had written a song for me" stuff. Music where the video, the the costumes and the dancing are more important than the music stuff. This is the real thing. You may have to listen to it more than once, but it is worth it.

I say yes to Yes.

Masterpiece! Rick Wakeman's style is present in every key pressing. Roundabout is a masterpiece. This album is in the top 100 of art and progressive rock albums.

Love this album, and always reminds me of dads joke for Christmas. Roundabout of course is great, also Long Distance Runaround

BRILLIANT album, best album I’ve had in weeks. Genuinely can’t think of anything I didn’t like about it. I don’t remember ever listening to Yes before but I will definitely be checking out more of their albums. Top Track - Long Distance Runaround

As soon as you hear the noodling, transcendent bass work on the opening track "Roundabout", you know you're in for a treat, and the quality never dips from therein for me. Quite rightly regarded as a classic, essential prog rock album, Yes would go one better on the following Close to the Edge for my money, but that's not to discredit how vital an album this is. Fragile is absolutely beaming with joy, with each member effortlessly gliding away on their respective instruments and relentlessly leaving you on your toes as to what might follow, courtesy of the freakishly executed erratic rhythms and mind-bending song structures throughout. I couldn't omit the brilliance of the flamenco guitar on "Mood for a Day" either, though, tugging at the heartstrings before the album concludes with an absolute whopper in "Heart of the Sunrise". I don't have this on vinyl, and that seriously needs to change.

Prog was a dirty word to those of us who grew up in the wake of punk. And Yes was the band that would get held up as an example of the self-indulgent and excessive. And usually poor Rick Wakeman in his cape was the pinup to aim that hatred at. But - culture politics in the bin where they belong - prog bands ruled, hacking and slashing genres in bonkers time signatures and strange tunings and dropping elephantine riffs (Heart of the Sunrise!). And this album is particular shows off new organist Wakeman’s incredible virtuosity. I can’t find a fault in it, so it’s a five.

Grandes desarrollos instrumentales. Un disco de 1971

They rock superinfection hard

Classic awesomeness

A good contender against the might of Genesis.

A prog classic, ain’t no doubt. I know and love this album so much.

One of my favorite Yes albums.

Okay! So Nick actually had this album on vinyl and he hadn’t listened to it yet!!! So we listened to it over our speakers and it was actually so good. I really enjoy the layers, I really like the funky 70s vibes. And though it was different, it was still very good. I’m happy I have it on vinyl! And I feel like it’s going to be one I reach for again!

An all-time classic of classic rock. Not much to dispute here; the level of musicianship on display across this carnival-like mind trip of an album is virtually unmatched.

The musical bond on Fragile is anything but, with an egoless back-and-forth between virtuosic group cuts and tight solo explorations that add individual colors to the collective canvas.

Love this era of Yes and this album. Steve Howe was also a big influence on my guitar playing so listening through this again was like a virtual lesson.

A prog rock masterpiece. Of course there's 1-2 tracks you can skip, but there's lots to love – if you like prog rock. And even if the runtimes or time changes aren't your bag, baby, you can appreciate the songwriting, harmonies and guitar SHA-REDDING. I would tell any young guitarist to learn this album front to back. Not only will you learn a ton of techniques and styles, you'll also hear a bunch of pedals and effects to blow all your allowance on. Miscellaneous other thoughts: -I think The Police, Pink Floyd and Rush are probably easier prog bands to get into for someone making their music journey because they're more pop-y. But Yes is still worth checking out -Roundabout – best Yes song? Probably. But more importantly and controversially – best prog rock song ever? I think it's up there, along with the best Pink Floyd or early Genesis tracks. It's got a lot going on. -I probably overrate Yes compared to the average person. But that's only because I was weird enough to ask for the box set for my birthday one year as a youth, then saw them at the NY State Fairgrounds. But hey, they still sounded great 40 years after they formed, so that says something about their talent -If you didn't like this one, just be glad they didn't pick one of the hourlong Yes albums with only 3 songs on it!

YES! Always been a big Yes fan and tho there is some filler, Roundabout is a masterpiece. Long Distance Runaround, Heart of the Sunrise are great songs as well. Jon Anderson's voice sounds great, Rick Wakeman a wizard on the keyboards. Yes sir I'll have another.

One of the few progressive rock albums that actually has a sense of genuine to it, a sense of human. It's not edgy just for the sake of being edgy, it's not full of bs music theory that requires a certain level of insane mental tolerance to actually understand (sorry Dream Theater), and not existing primarily to mean nothing. And im all here for it 5 stars

Yes!!!

very hood

Roundabout is peak, that is all

Pretty fun album. Underrated imo. My first time hearing the work of Yes, so I'll be delighted to hear more here.

Masterpiece of prog eccentricity. Dynamic, weird, and beautiful all at once, there's something for everyone in this remarkable, fun record

YES, at its best which means progressive rock at its finest which means music from the 20th century at its best which means buy, borrow or steal this album ASAP you need to hear it sometime before you leave the planet. Headphones are not required but strongly encouraged!