From In The Studio.net:
Assessing the durable fourth album from London-based YES on the golden anniversary of its late November 1971 UK release ( about six weeks later in America), the seemingly timeless effort seems anything but Fragile . Unlike some other releases of the time by progressive rock peers, Fragile remains seemingly impervious to time in its appeal. Building on the momentum of a unique sound captured a mere nine months earlier on The YES Album , a key personnel upgrade at the trading deadline in the form of first-call studio and Strawbs keys wizard Rick Wakeman put a World Cup progressive rock player on the pitch to help record “Roundabout”,”South Side of the Sky”,”Long Distance Runaround”, and “Heart of the Sunrise”. Their result still a sonic marvel five decades later, Wakeman is joined by YES co-founder Jon Anderson here In the Studio for progressive rock affirmative action.
To get a fresh perspective on the sonic smorgasbord that is Fragile , I focused on the 5.1 surround mixes from 2002 and 2015 of “South Side of the Sky” and “Heart of the Sunrise”. On that later tune, for all of the documented past quotes about drafting Rick Wakeman because of his embrace then of new cutting edge electronic synthesized keyboards, there is very impressive grand piano playing by Wakeman which stands out all the more because of the contrast. Now mind you, I am not a guitar player, but had grown up listening to country and western songs on my dad’s radio on WWVA, Wheeling WV plus “Hee Haw” on TV every Saturday night, so I knew the sound of Roy Clark’s “Country Gentleman” gee-tar. Except on “Southside of the Sky” from Fragile , YES guitarist Steve Howe was ROCKIN’ that thing, with blistering runs up the neck like Junior Johnson in turn four heading for the finish line. And this was a London-based Progressive Rock band!
Read More & listen to Jon Anderson & Rick Wakeman discuss Fragile Here:
https://www.inthestudio.net/online-o...d/yes-fragile/
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