Posts Tagged ‘fragile’

YES – ” Fragile ” Classic Albums

Posted: January 5, 2025 in MUSIC
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Formed by singer Jon Anderson, bassist Chris Squire, keyboardist Tony Kaye, guitarist Peter Banks and drummer Bill Bruford in 1968, they released two LPs on Atlantic Records before Banks was out and Steve Howe in for “The Yes Album”, their breakthrough disc, in early 1971. Yes intended to produce their follow-up with the same musicians, but Kaye reportedly balked at expanding the keyboard sound beyond his comfort zone (Hammond B-3 organ and piano), and the more adventurous Rick Wakeman was recruited after they’d already started work on the album that became their second big hit, “Fragile”.

Wakeman had done stellar work as a member of the folk-rock group Strawbs, and was a go-to session man who had to turn down an offer to join David Bowie’s band in order to throw in with Yes. Classically trained, Wakeman was excited by the Moog and ARP synthesizers, Mellotron and electric piano he’d added to his keyboard arsenal.

For the 45th anniversary of the remarkably durable breakthrough album by the progressive rockers YES which has turned out to be anything but “Fragile”. I’m not sure why the memory of walking home in the snow from the record store the first week of 1972  with the new Yes album  under my arm.

Indeed, the original idea of producing a double-LP combining live and studio tracks was ditched, and recording with Atlantic’s Tom Dowd in Miami didn’t pan out either. Instead, Yes hunkered down in London during the summer of 1971, using Advision Studios and their familiar engineer Eddie Offord as co-producer.

For their follow up, Yes had chosen to augment their line up of Jon Anderson on vocals, the late Chris Squire bass/harmony vocals, Steve Howe guitar/harmony vocals, and the incomparable Bill Bruford on drums with ex-Strawbs electronic keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman for such rock classics as “Roundabout”, ”Long Distance Runaround”, ”Heart of the Sunrise”, and “South Side of the Sky”. Both Anderson and Wakeman join us “In The Studio” for  this first of several interviews ramping up to April’s Rock Hall induction

“Fragile” eventually included a number of “solo” pieces, with each member responsible for helming a short contribution. Even after the LP—released in November 1971 in the U.K. was a hit, Squire told journalist David Hughes, “I’d agree with people who knocked us for the solo pieces, but in a way you’ve got to appreciate the circumstances. We had to get another album out quickly from a purely financial point of view. We have a lot of mouths to feed, Rick had to buy a vast amount of new equipment when he joined, and it all costs much more money than people seem to imagine.”

Particularly as we had already spent so much time and effort on [11-minute track] ‘Heart of the Sunrise’. So we opted for the solos, which were easier to rehearse and record.”

Swapping out the fully competent Tony Kaye for keyboard virtuoso Rick Wakeman put Yes on an completely new level; by the time they recorded “Fragile” the group had a veritable genius on each instrument. More indulgent than “The Yes Album“, as each member gets their own solo showcase (with mixed results), the high points on this one are among the best things Yes ever did. While “Roundabout” functions as a seminal prog-rock touchstone, it’s the other extended tracks that make “Fragile” far greater than the sum of its parts. “South Side of the Sky” provides ample evidence for why the Wakeman upgrade was obligatory, and “Heart of the Sunrise” remains the most purely distilled product of this band’s considerable powers.

“Fragile” begins with the phantasmagoric “Roundabout,” which became one of Yes’ signature tunes. The full 8:30 is a travelogue of intriguing musical ideas, so expansive it seems impossible only five musicians perform it all. Based on Howe’s original instrumental “guitar suite,” Anderson worked it into a real song, with joyous lyrics that tantalize with trippy imagery: “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.”

The dramatic intro features two pianos played backwards and Howe’s expert flamenco stylings. (He’s one of the few great electric guitarists who don’t lose anything switching to acoustic.) Squire plays what amounts to a propulsive “lead bass,” and Wakeman colours with a rushing swirl of keyboards, background and foreground in the deeply layered mix. Time signatures change, Bruford never falters on basic kit or expanded percussion, and complex multi-tracked vocals are captured expertly by Offord. The slow interlude at five minutes is magical, and yields to an aggressive Hammond B-3 workout from Wakeman, and another series of snaking electric guitar parts that somehow combine Wes Montgomery and Jimi Hendrix. Howe favored hollow-bodied electric guitars like the Gibson ES-175 and ES-5 Switchmaster, giving him a jazzier sonic signature.

Each member contributes at the top of their virtuosity, from Bruford’s ever-surprising offbeats, Wakeman’s authoritative grand piano, and the stacked Anderson-Squire-Howe vocals. At 5:30, a muscular, pounding section with Howe’s electric juxtaposed with Anderson’s high keen is a Led Zep-level cruncher. Howe’s concluding solo is one of his best. It fades into the sound of (synth) wind that began the track, ending side one.

Side two of the original LP begins with a very quick Bruford-penned intro titled “Five Per Cent for Nothing” before another Yes classic, “Long Distance Runaround,” kicks in. Although it might not be obvious, Anderson told a journalist he wrote the lyrics as both a critique of religion and a commentary on the shooting of students at Kent State: “I still remember the dream there/I still remember the time you said goodbye/Did we really tell lies/Letting in the sunshine” and “Cold summer listening/Hot colour melting the anger to stone” are perhaps the lines that gesture in that direction.

“Long Distance Runaround” is quintessential Yes, combining delicate effects with powerful counter-streams. Howe’s jazzy dual-guitar figures open the track, quickly joined by Squire’s dominating bass. Listen to how masterfully Bruford takes his punctuation cues from both of them, finding a middle ground of support. The tempo and atmosphere change with Anderson’s entry at forty-five seconds in, as the track becomes positively poppy, and Wakeman’s piano provides a deceptively simple doo-wop accompaniment. 

Howe’s concluding Echoplex effect leads into Squire’s piece “The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus),” an Afro-funky one-man jam with a dazzling array of interlocking effects, with (as the album credits note) “each riff, rhythm and melody” produced by Squire on sonically manipulated basses. 

The album cover was the first produced for Yes by Roger Dean, who would design their logo, stage sets and posters for decades. 

“Fragile” is the definitive versions of Classic Yes Albums, joining “Close To The Edge”, “The Yes Album” & “Relayer” Remixed by Steven Wilson in 5.1 & Stereo

YES – ” Roundabout ” From the Album Fragile Recorded September 1971

Posted: March 18, 2017 in MUSIC
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Yes performing in London in 1972. Left to right: guitarist Steve Howe, singer Jon Anderson, bassist Chris Squire, drummer Alan White and keyboard player Rick Wakeman.

With classical and psychedelic influences, progressive rock boomed in the early 1970s with the rise of FM radio and affordable stereo systems. One of the era’s most popular prog rock bands was Yes, thanks largely to the album “Fragile,” It was the group’s fourth studio album, released in 1971.

“Roundabout,” the album’s sole released single, co-writer and Yes guitarist Steve Howe along with co-writer and lead singer Jon Anderson and keyboardist Rick Wakeman recalled the hit’s evolution. Today, Howe continues to record and tour with Yes, while Anderson and Wakemen, who recently released “Piano Portraits” (Universal), are members of the band Anderson, Rabin and Wakeman.

Jon Anderson said, I began writing the lyrics to “Roundabout” while traveling with the band in a van through Scotland in late March 1971. The song written by Anderson and Howe that has become one of Yes’s best-known songs. Howe recalled the track was originally “a guitar instrumental suite … I sort of write a song without a song. All the ingredients are there—all that’s missing is the song. ‘Roundabout’ was a bit like that; there was a structure, a melody and a few lines.”Yes was on tour then, and we had just performed in Aviemore the night before. In the van, we were heading south to Glasgow, about a 3½-hour drive. There were mountains and lakes everywhere.

I had smoked a joint, so everything was vivid and mystical. As we drove along, we encountered a fair number of “roundabouts,” what you in the States call traffic circles. At one point, the road dropped into a deep valley and ran next to a large lake. Low clouds covered the mountain peaks.

I took out my little notepad and started writing. I wrote the lyrics in a free form and didn’t edit the lines much. I just loved how words sounded when I put them together:

“I’ll be the roundabout / the words will make you out ‘n’ out” expressed how I felt as the song’s words came to me fast, the way cars navigate roundabouts. I expected to be in the van for several hours, so I was spending “the day your way, call it morning driving through the sound of in ‘n’ out the valley.”

“In and around the lake” was the road winding through the region. Down in the valley, the mountains seemed to “come out of the sky and stand there.” I was married then, and I knew I’d see my wife in a day: “Twenty four before my love you’ll see / I’ll be there with you.”

Jon Anderson performs during Anderson, Rabin and Wakeman concert in Los Angeles last October.
Steve Howe follows: In Glasgow, we checked into our hotel, and Jon and I got together in my room with a cassette recorder. Eventually we had this minor feel for the verse that resolved in a major key for the chorus. But the song’s biggest advance came that August in a London rehearsal studio, when keyboardist Rick Wakeman who had replaced Tony Kaye in the band. Rick was more interested in the technology direction we wanted to take.

Jon Anderson: said Rick revolutionized our sound. He added multiple keyboards, which gave us more textured possibilities. At the rehearsal studio, I sat on a chair in the middle of the band and listened to what they were developing. If what they were working on wasn’t happening, I’d make suggestions.

“Roundabout” wasn’t difficult to sing. But as the band’s vocalist, I needed to know where the song was going. They often looked to me to figure out what should come next so the vocal and instrumental worked together.

In September, when we went into Advision Studios in London to record “Roundabout,” we used their 16-track tape machine, which let us layer the instruments. The song became pure magic. Anderson goes on: The rhythm track was recorded first, in segments. The band would rehearse one segment at a time and then record it. Then they’d move on to the next segment, always mindful of the song’s progression and structure.

Steve planned to open the song by playing something of a Scottish jig on his acoustic guitar. He had played it for me earlier at our hotel. Steve Howe continues: My opening acoustic guitar part was played on my 1953 Martin 00-18. But we felt the song needed something more dramatic to start. We found it with a backward piano note. When you strike a single piano note and hold it down, the sound starts loud and then fades away. We wanted this to happen in reverse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Tdu4uKSZ3M

We recorded Rick holding down a piano note, and then we turned the tape reel over and started the song where the note was faintest. What you hear on the record is a note going from faint to loud, as if it’s rushing toward you.

Rick Wakeman: For the piano-note intro, I simultaneously played the lowest E on the studio’s grand piano and the E an octave higher. The octave gave the note a fatter feel. Chris Squire wanted a funky sound on the bass, sort of a Sly and the Family Stone feel. I played organ arpeggios over the top with my right hand as my left hand played Chris’s bass notes to add weight. Howe: When we finished the rhythm track, Chris overdubbed his bass track using my Gibson ES-150 electric guitar, which had a Charlie Christian pickup. It wasn’t terribly loud, but it was effective, giving him an eight-string bass sound. On the organ, Rick was adventuresome, allowing the rest of us to see a wider sonic path and plenty of room for experimentation.

Except for my acoustic Martin at the start, during the ballad passage in the middle and at the close, I used a 1961 blonde electric Gibson ES-5 Switchmaster throughout. Rick Wakeman: On most of “Roundabout,” I played a Hammond C3 organ. Later, I overdubbed a Minimoog when the song slows to a ballad about five minutes in and Steve plays acoustic guitar. I also added a Mellotron for flute sounds when Jon slowly sings, “In and around the lake.” The Mellotron gave the passage a “Strawberry Fields” mood.

Anderson: Once the instrumental track was done, I went into the studio early one day with just the engineer and recorded my lead vocal while listening to the music through headphones. When the other guys came in, we recorded the harmonies. Finally, we reached a point where the song had to end. I thought, let’s do something totally different and sing harmony, like the Byrds or the Beach Boys.

I started singing “Dah dah-dah-dah, dah, dah, dahhh.” Then we all started singing that in harmony. We added it onto the end of the song.

If you listen carefully, you can hear Rick singing three notes against the grain of what we were doing. They’re the notes to “Three Blind Mice,” and it sounded intriguing. Steve Howe: To close the song, I decided to mimic what I had done on my Martin guitar at the beginning. But I ended on an A-flat chord, which the ear doesn’t really expect.

Anderson concludes: A couple of days after we finished “Roundabout,” the band went into the studio to listen to it on the big speakers. When the song finished, I thought, “Oh my gosh, it’s so good.”

I looked around at everyone. It was an interesting feeling. My conscious self was glowing. I thought, “I can’t believe this is happening in my life at this moment in time.”