Fragile was
Yes' 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 a "highlights" version of the album) 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. [This edition has been extensively remastered by Mobile Fidelity.] ~ Bruce Eder