Fragile (album)

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Fragile
Studio album by Yes

Publication
(s)

November 26, 1971

Label (s) Atlantic Records

Format (s)

LP, CD, DVD-Audio

Genre (s)

Progressive rock

Title (number)

9

running time

40:31

occupation

production

Yes and Eddie Offord

Studio (s)

Morgan Studios, London

chronology
The Yes Album
(1971) 		Fragile Close to the Edge
(1972)

Fragile is the fourth album by the progressive rock band Yes . It was released in 1971. Tony Kaye had just left the band here, Rick Wakeman had joined. The album occupied the top four positions on the US bestseller list for three months.

content

Long Distance Runaround , The Fish , Heart Of The Sunrise and Roundabout are considered Yes classics from this album .

Wakeman's solo piece Cans And Brahms is an adaptation of the third movement (Allegro giocoso) from the 4th Symphony by Johannes Brahms for piano , synthesizer and reed organ. Originally, the instrumental piece Catherine of Aragon was planned at this point , but for legal reasons it could only be released a year later on Wakeman's solo album The Six Wives of Henry VIII .

reception

In June 2015, the renowned trade journal Rolling Stone voted the album at number 10 of the 50 best progressive rock albums of all time .

Track list

  1. Roundabout (Anderson / Howe) - 8:29
  2. Cans And Brahms ( Johannes Brahms , Arr.Wakeman) - 1:35
  3. We Have Heaven (Anderson) - 1:30
  4. South Side Of The Sky (Anderson / Squire) - 7:53
  5. Five Per Cent For Nothing (Bruford) - 0:35
  6. Long Distance Runaround (Anderson) - 3:33
  7. The Fish (Shindleria Praematurus) (Squire) - 2:35
  8. Mood for a Day (Howe) - 2:57 (studio version)
  9. Heart Of The Sunrise (Anderson / Squire / Bruford, incl. We Have Heaven (Reprise) ) - 11:24

The album was remastered and re-released in 2003 by Rhino Records . This edition contains the bonus tracks:

  1. America ( Paul Simon ) - 10:33
  2. Roundabout (Early Rough Mix) (Anderson / Howe) - 8:35

Cover

The cover was first designed by Roger Dean . On the front is a brightly lit planet that is flown over by a space sailing ship in otherwise empty space. Above it rest the title of the album and the band name, both interwoven. On the back, the catastrophe reveals itself, the planet breaks apart, the parts float away. On the inside left you can find the lyrics to the songs, on the right the song titles together with the usual album information. At the bottom right in the corner is a small space glider firmly fixed to the floor. This will be found again and again on the following albums. A booklet is included with the first editions as a supplement. This contains a page with a group collage, five pages each with a musician and two pages with further Roger Dean pictures.

New editions

Special editions of this album were repeatedly issued. A small US edition was pressed by a small label in New Jersey in 1972 on the basis of the copyrights at the time. This would be unthinkable under American law today, but at that time it was possible in the United States and had to be tolerated to a certain extent. The cover featured coronation insignia and is in the style of the fifties / sixties.

In 2002, on the 30th anniversary of the album, a DVD-Audio version of Fragile was released, which contains a Dolby Digital and a DTS track.

At the same time, a gold CD edition was also issued. In the first, withdrawn edition, the section We Have Heaven (recapitulation) is missing after a Heart of the Sunrise only 10:31 minutes , so the CD is 53 seconds shorter.

The album was re-released again in 2003, remastered by Rhino Records . This edition contains two bonus tracks, with the cover version of America (originally by Simon & Garfunkel ) originally published in 1972 on the label sampler The New Age of Atlantic . A version of this cover shortened to 4:12 was found as a bonus track on the new edition of the album Close to the Edge .

In 2015 the album was released as a Definitive Edition in the form of a CD / DVD or CD / Blu-Ray double album. For this edition the English producer and musician Steven Wilson has mixed new stereo and 5.1 surround versions. Several alternative versions and accessories are also included.

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Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wieland Harms: The Unplugged Guitar Book. 20 of the most beautiful songs for acoustic guitar. Gerig Music, 1994, ISBN 3-87252-249-3 , p. 102.
  2. ↑ Will Hermes: 50 Greatest Prog Rock Albums of All Time - Yes, 'Fragile' (1971). In: Rolling Stone . Wenner Media, June 17, 2015, accessed on September 23, 2015 .
  3. ^ Wieland Harms: The Unplugged Guitar Book. 20 of the most beautiful songs for acoustic guitar. Gerig Music, ISBN 3-87252-249-3 , pp. 102-107 ( Mood For A Day ).