This was the fourth album Yes made, and they were already on their third lineup. The musicians for this album were Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe......and uh, don't forget Squire. It contains the substantial hit "Roundabout" as well as the yessong that I feel most embodies the term "progressive rock," "Heart of the Sunrise." These two tracks serve as bookends for a fairly enjoyable album. Contained within (according to the liner notes) are..."Five tracks on this album [that] are the individual ideas, personally arranged and organised, by the five members of the Band." Well, let's get into the nut of this thing...
Roundabout If you play your cards right, you can hear this song every day on one of the three classic rock radio stations we get around here. Actually, I only heard the very end of it today, since Sara and I got to pick the music since we served. I was kicking myself for not turning it off 105 sooner, but I was consoled by the fact that I OWN THIS CD. "Roundabout" was actually the first Yessong I ever heard. Well, if you don't count "Owner of a Lonely Heart," which I don't. Anywho, I was at home on a Saturday night (big surprise there), listening to one of my favorite radio shows, Seventies Saturday Night, and this really incredible song came on. For 7-odd minutes I sat there, just letting it all soak in. Then the dj person came on and identified the band as YES. "Wow," I thought, "Yes." This was going to be the beginning of something interesting.
All of that aside, this is an excellent song. Legend says that it was written by Anderson and Howe while driving 'round the English countryside in a van, from one gig to another, and finally being twenty-four hours away from home. Hence, the line, "twenty-four before my love you'll see I'll be there with you." While we're on the subject of lyrics, at least one other person besides me thought it was MARLINS come out of the sky, not mountains as it actually is. There is just a lot of cool imagery contained in the lyrics; for "the children really ring," I like to picture little hippie children standing around playing those stupid little rhythm instruments they give kids. The music in the song is enjoyable as well; from the first guitar twang (can I use that word?) you know you are in for a treat. The song mostly rocks, but it's balanced well with the calm interlude of one of the times they sing "In and around the lake." A note on live versions....my favorite is the one off Classic Yes because it really moves. I mean, it's fast enough that I toyed with the idea of choreographing a dance for the cheersquad to do to it. Wouldn't that have been neat? When Yes performed on Hard Rock Live last summer, however, R-bt was very laid back and mellow and proper. The final thing I like about this song is that every time you hear it, you notice something different. Especially if you have headphones on and remember to set your radio to "stereo" instead of "mono."
Cans and Brahms Well I've never heard the actual song this is based on (Brahms' 4th Symphony in E Minor Third Movement), but I'd like to. All I really know about this song is that it gets stuck in my head a lot. The different sounds of the various parts come together nicely, but it sounds a little bit too commercial for my taste. The ending just sounds like it was written to be the next Intel Inside jingle. Well, what the heck (oops, I mean, well anyway) the song is only 1:35 so it doesn't drag on or anything.
We Have Heaven This is probably the most useless song on the album. We know Anderson has a great voice. We also know that this song sounds too much like a campfire song for a bunch of cult recruitees. The only possible use for this song is trying to scare people by saying it's actually being sung backward and is therefore evil. That and mocking really hardore Yesfans that name their pets Moon-dog and March Hare.
South Side of the Sky This is one of the most underappreciated songs the band ever made. It starts off with the footsteps of the cult recruitees running away and the door shutting. Then it goes into these really neat wind sounds that remind me of being lost in the winter (hi Laura...). They really create a mood. It's another one of those songs about a journey, and it has a really strong driving beat. The middle section is very trippy and it makes one itchy to hear what the band could do with it LIVE. I hesitate to throw this term around, but it's almost a baby "Close to the Edge." It definitely shows the band's musical potential that is fully explored in Ctte and the other longer pieces. The instrumentation is great; the bass line really drives the song.
Five Per Cent For Nothing At 0:35, this is the shortest song on the album, but possibly the most creative. It's an akward rhythm, to be sure, but it grabs your attention. You hold on tight, and, like a roller coaster, it's over before you know it. How's that for a metaphor? One semi-interesting fact about this song is that the title comes from somebody telling Bruford that some manager-type person would receive 5% of the profits for the album from this song and he's like they're getting five percent for nothing. Well, it's something like that anyway. If you know the real version of this story and I haven't got it quite right, please tell me in a kind way so I won't be embarassed. Speaking of little random stories...the title of the record comes from somebody asking their producer what the next album was going to be called and he looked at a crate that said Fragile on it and there you are. The artwork goes along with this theme because the earth is thought of as being fragile. Or you could just say it in 3 syllables (Fra-gee-lay) like the dad in A Christmas Story.
Long Distance Runaround This song is noteable for two reasons...one, it is the second song on the album to contain the word "round" in the title, and two, it's just fun. The first ten notes instantly identify this tune and the different rhythms for the different sections hold your attention. They lyrics continue with the theme of hot and cold started in South Side. "Looking for the sunshine..." is the perfect line to segue into the next song.......
The Fish (Shindleria Praematurus) I would have to say that LDR/Fish ranks right up there with Brain Damage/Eclipse as the top pairs of songs that flow into each other and get played on the radio that way. Sometimes LDR is played all by itself, though, which is a bit sad. This song was actually Squire's contribution to the individual song thing, and The Fish is apparently his nickname. Not much, but what can you do. It's basically a bass solo with some cool xylophone sounds and latin lyrics. "Shindleria Praematurus" is the scientific name for the world's smallest fish. I checked this in the Guinness Book, it's for real.
Mood for a Day One of my favorite Howe-solos. Really shows what can be accomplished with a guitar if it's in the right hands. This is the best song to come out of the 5-individual song theory, in the sense that it actually sounds like a song, not something that irritates me. Sometimes it's nice to listen to before falling asleep. Not really much to say, too much in awe of the talent.
Heart of the Sunrise I had been familiar with this great song since the first time I played Classic Yes all the way through, but I never really appreciated it until hearing it in album context. It used to kind of freak me out, but I have come to appreciate its savage beauty. At 10:34, it is the longest track on the record and good use is made of every minute. The driving intro is offset by the calmness when the singing starts. If I had to guess as to what this song is about, I would say it's about wanting to be an individual and have time to yourself when you feel surrounded by a mass of homogenized humanity. The Heart of the Sunrise is that place inside yourself where you feel at peace. Or this could be totally off, it's just my interpretation. Also, in the lyrics of this song there are some RANDOM words capitalized, like SHARP - DISTANCE and SHARPNESS. If this has any meaning, I am ignorant of it.
One of the coolest parts is the "Long last treatment of the telling that relates to all the words sung." It sounds very confident and emphatic. I also like how it ends with the same rhythmic pattern that it started with, this ties the song together and makes it very complete. Then, of course, the little endy part with the return of the cult recruitees. At first it was kind of cute but that's all it is...cute.
In summary, this is one of the best albums the band made. The style was very
consistant in that it made use of many different styles. The three strongest tracks
(1, 4, and 9) easily compensate for the short lil' throwaways, and the gems like
"Mood" make it all the better. Definitely an album to get if you have heard "Roundabout" on the radio and liked it.
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