Yes Fragile CD

Remastered W/ 2 Bonus Tracks. Replaces Atl 82667

Yes: Steve Howe (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars); Chris Squire (vocals, bass); Jon Anderson (vocals); Rick Wakeman (acoustic & electric pianos, organ, harpsichord, Mellotron, synthesizer); Bill Bruford (drums, percussion).
Recorded at Advision Studios, London, England in September 1971. Originally released on Atlantic (19132).
Digitally remastered by Joe Gastwirt (Ocean View Digital).
Yes: Steve Howe (vocals, guitar); Chris Squire (vocals, bass); Jon Anderson (vocals); Rick Wakeman (keyboards); Bill Bruford (drums, percussion).
Atlantic's Gold Standard Audiophile Compact Discs are gold-plated CD's that boast 20-bit digital reproduction technology for improved sonic dynamics. Each re-issue comes in a specially designed mini-box which includes the jewel CD box plus a 24-page color booklet featuring new liner notes, photographs, and the complete original album artwork.
Yes: Rick Wakeman (piano); Chris Squire (bass instrument); Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Bill Bruford.
Personnel: Steve Howe (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Chris Squire, Jon Anderson (vocals); Rick Wakeman (grand piano, electric piano, harpsichord, organ, Mellotron, synthesizer); Bill Bruford (drums, percussion).
Audio Remasterers: Dan Hersch; Bill Inglot.
Liner Note Author: Bill Martin.
Recording information: Advision Studios, London, England (09/1971).
Photographers: David Wright; Martyn Dean; Roger Dean .
Arrangers: Yes; Rick Wakeman.
The band's breakthrough album, dominated by science-fiction and fantasy elements and new member Rick Wakeman, whose organ, synthesizers, Mellotrons, and other keyboard exotica added a larger-than-life element to the proceedings. Ironically, the album was a patchwork job, hastily assembled in order to cover the cost of Wakeman's array of instruments. But the group built effectively on the groundwork left by The Yes Album, and the group had an AM-radio sucker-punch, aimed at all of those other progressive bands who eschewed the notion of hit singles, in the form of "Roundabout," the edited version (sort of "highlights" of the album version) of which pulled in millions of young kids who'd never heard them before. The single clicked, most album-buyers liked the long version and all of the rest of what they found, and the band was made. Remastered in much improved sound and graphics in 1995, look for the version of this CD with a reference to "digital remastering" across the top back of the jewel case. ~ Bruce Eder
FRAGILE marks the moment when Yes left the planet and took up residence on one of cover artist Roger Dean's far-off lands. While the band managed to capture the popular imagination with its condensed, accessible version of "Roundabout," which they edited down to a single from the lengthier album version, for the most part FRAGILE laid the groundwork for the expansive, complex, keyboard-dominated work that typified the style known as "progressive rock." The record also marks the arrival of Rick Wakeman--a classically trained keyboardist whose vast array of synthesizers and effects was matched only by his prodigious ability.
In addition to "Roundabout," the band's best-known song, the lengthy "Heart of the Sunrise" also became a Yes chestnut. Drummer Bill Bruford became the envy of air-drummers across America, and together with Wakeman, guitarist Steve Howe, vocalist Jon Anderson, and bassist Chris Squire created some of the most architecturally ambitious rock of the era. FRAGILE proved to be the band's breakthrough album, and is a cornerstone recording of the genre.
This marked the period when Yes left the planet and took up residence on one of artist Roger Dean's far-off lands. The musical transition is apparent with longer instrumental passages taking over from the three-minute song format. Lengthy pieces open and close the album, and both songs have become Yes chestnuts. 'Heart Of The Sunrise' and 'Roundabout' are stRolling Stone (3/16/72, p.56) - "...Gorgeous melodies, intelligent, carefully crafted, constantly surprising arrangements, concise and energetic performances, cryptic but evocative lyrics...a powerful and moving emotional experience..."
Uncut (6/03, p.117) - 5 stars out of 5 - "...Recorded swiftly in patchwork fashion, FRAGILE avoided the over-meticulous arrangements of previous efforts, allowing Bill Bruford's frenetic jazz drumming to skitter behind Jon Anderson's choirboy voice..."