Fragile - Definition and Overview

Fragile
LP by Yes
Released	January 4, 1972
Recorded	September 1971 at Advision Studios in London
Genre	Progressive rock
Length	41 min 13 s
Record label	Atlantic Records
Professional reviews
Yes Chronology
The Yes Album (1971)	Fragile (1972)	Close to the Edge (1972)
Fragile_back_cover.jpg

Fragile is an album by British progressive rock band Yes. It is best known for the song Roundabout, which was released in an edited version as a single and became the band's best-known song.

The album was intended to showcase the band members' solo talents. Cans and Brahms is a piece by Johannes Brahms arranged by Rick Wakeman; We Have Heaven is a Jon Anderson solo in which he sings all the vocal parts (a technique he later used on his solo album Olias of Sunhillow); while Five Per Cent For Nothing, The Fish and Mood For A Day are solo pieces by Bill Bruford, Chris Squire and Steve Howe, respectively. The rest of the songs are all group performances.

The cover design by Roger Dean depicts a tiny planet on the front. On the back, the planet has begun to break up and the population is escaping in a wooden space glider - a concept that was to inspire Anderson's Olias Of Sunhillow, as well as the film Floating Islands. The inside of the sleeve features two additional paintings and several photographs by Dean. Click here to view the left-hand panel and here for the right-hand panel.

A DVD-Audio version of the album was released in 2002, featuring Dolby Digital and DTS surround sound mixes and other additional features.

Track listing

1. Roundabout (Jon Anderson/Steve Howe) 8:29
2. Cans And Brahms (Johannes Brahms arr Rick Wakeman) 1:35
3. We Have Heaven (Jon Anderson) 1:30
4. South Side Of The Sky (Jon Anderson/Chris Squire) 8:04
5. Five Per Cent For Nothing (Bill Bruford) 0:35
6. Long Distance Runaround (Jon Anderson) 3:33
7. The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus) (Chris Squire) 2:35
8. Mood For A Day (Steve Howe) 3:57
9. Heart Of The Sunrise (Jon Anderson/Chris Squire/Bill Bruford) 10:34