YES PART TWO: The Fragile

So picture this if you will it's 1990 or so and your with a friend to go record shopping.  We do this record shopping trek every Saturday afternoon before supper and after lunch.  We are on the way to buy a few and my friend is good at snagging a few cassettes for yours truly to listen to in my car and on my stereo.  Why do we snag these you ask, because on of the record stores we go to charges way too much for LP's and cassettes.  His CD's are a bit high, but that is beside the point.  The cassettes are for me to listen to in my walkman, car, and home stereo.  I'm given twenty dollars by my dad and sometimes that is not enough.  As I said previously this record store is way over priced.  The other store, the guy over there knows us well and is a lot more reasonable.  I have many gems in my collection that came from his store.  It's where I got a near mint original copy of Pet Sounds in Stereo.  

On this day I spent most of my money at the reasonable record store and had little to no money left for the other guy.  It was at that moment showing up that I wanted a cassette, but was not going to pay $6 for a used cassette that I had no idea its condition or play use.  When I saw Fragile I knew that my friend would work his magic and make it disappear.  I heard Roundabout on the radio that I knew I needed to hear the rest.  I had a tape and LP copy of The Yes Album and was excited to hear more.  When I bought a dinky cassette of Santana for my dad, that is when my friend put the Fragile cassette in his coat pocket.  He too also grabbed another cassette without me seeing.  He bought an ELO record and we were off and running.  

When I got in the car I looked at him like what other cassette did you grab.  He handed me two cassettes and told me to keep them.  One was Fragile the other was another YES album called Close to the Edge.  I knew I was in for hours of enjoyment.  What I did not know how YES and these albums changed the music I listened to for the future of all music I would listen to.  These albums would shape my favorite genres, styles and personal preference.  After hearing these, any new music that came across my eyes and ears would be ignored and these were the focus.  

When I got to school on Monday I ran up to my friend with the "holy shit" of awe and wonder.  My friend and I did not have these on LP yet, but he did have a few of the songs on his dad's copy of a Classic YES album. It was now our goal at the next record store shopping was to find these on LP and quick.  Since my friend could go more places then I could, he went to the store and picked up Fragile and pointed out the booklet that came with LP.  He also pointed out that there were four copies still there and each had the booklet.  I had to get a copy next time we went out.  I was brimming with excitement about getting a copy.  My dad who saw this excitement gave me a few extra dollars along with my own twenty dollars.  

When I got to the store I quickly snatched up a copy.  It was in awesome shape and had the cool booklet the cassette ignored.  I was excited to play it on our record player at home and hope my parents liked it just as much as I did.  I brought it home with excitement and was ready to play when my dad told me we needed a new needle and he was going to pick one up on his way home from work.  I had to wait until the Monday to play it.  I was okay with that, but I had the cassette so that helped my excitement for a bit.

 

The other day I found out that this album is now fifty years old.  As I had the recall to remember my YES journey I had to know how much of an influence this was on everything I listen to and all things music.  It's an album still sound fresh now as it did in 1971.  The leap they made from The YES Album to this masterpiece.  I must admit that I did not see this coming with a straight ahead album such as The YES Album is, Fragile shows their songwriting and their unique form in music, not that the previous album did that, but the songs forms were longer with interesting interludes, and newly employed keyboard player gave YES a classical slant.  It was not Psychedelic Music anymore it was part of the movement called PROG!!

The showcase of Roundabout, Heart of the Sunrise, and Cans and Brahms gave them that Classical bent that so many of the Progressive Rock bands were searching for.  It was only a matter of time before YES made music with different parts of one song, they did it exceptionally well with  I've Seen All Good People and Starship Trooper from The YES Album.  This is musicianship at its finest by the way.  From the great guitar playing on acoustic and electric of Steve Howe, to the thundering bass of Chris Squire, Classical keyboards of Rick Wakeman and last but not least the awesome intellectual drumming (my personal favorite drummer) of Bill Burford.  All play at the top of their game and would make great addition to any band.  

So if your looking for an introduction to YES and their music this might be the one.  Its not the only one that changed my musical thoughts and ideas, but it is the album I go to the most for their music.  Their 1980's music is nothing like this.  This is full fledged technical music.  This is what put YES on the map in the 1970's, exciting word play, and each musician showing off their skills, that is what I want to hear when I listen to an album.  If you are to seek this album out, then I suggest the Steven Wilson remix.  It gives it the breath of fresh air it needs to be heard.  It is amazing in its sound quality and gives it a modern retro feel to it.  If you find the Ultradisc One Step that sells for over $250 then you can hand that over to me, but before you do give that a listen and you can hear the music in all its luster that sounded so good as it did 50 years ago.  There are cheaper versions, but these two will give you hours of enjoyment. Either version will transport you to the world of YES. It's a world like any other world and its a world I would not mind living in.  Enjoy!!!

Steve Wilson Remix Version Cover Art

                                                                                                                                                                      

I'll be the roundabout
The words will make you out 'n' out
I spend the day your way
Call it morning driving through the sound and
In and out the valley

The music dance and sing
They make the children really ring
I spend the day your way
Call it morning driving through the sound and
In and out the valley

In and around the lake
Mountains come out of the sky and they stand there
One mile over we'll be there and we'll see you
Ten true summers we'll be there and laughing too
Twenty four before my love you'll see
I'll be there with you

I will remember you
Your silhouette will charge the view
Of distance atmosphere
Call it morning driving through the sound and
Even in the valley

In and around the lake
Mountains come out of the sky and they stand there
One mile over we'll be there and we'll see you
Ten true summers we'll be there and laughing too
Twenty four before my love you'll see
I'll be there with you

Along the drifting cloud
The eagle searching down on the land
Catching the swirling wind
The sailor sees the rim of the land
The eagle's dancing wings
Create as weather spins out of hand

Go closer hold the land
Feel partly no more than grains of sand
We stand to lose all time
A thousand answers by in our hand
Next to your deeper fears
We stand surrounded by a million years

I'll be the roundabout
The words will make you out 'n' out
I'll be the roundabout
The words will make you out 'n' out

In and around the lake
Mountains come out of the sky and they stand there
Twenty four before my love and I'll be there

I'll be the roundabout
The words will make you out 'n' out
I spend the day your way
Call it morning driving through the sound and
In and out the valley

In and around the lake
Mountains come out of the sky and they stand there
One mile over we'll be there and we'll see you
Ten true summers we'll be there and laughing too
Twenty four before my love you'll see
I'll be there with you