Yes - Fragile (1971)

[LG]

Thanks Phil.

Bruce, when the single version of Roundabout was played on the radio, in the mid-seventies, I recorded it on my little Sony cassette recorder. Remember the slogan, 'Home taping is killing music'? It didn't, because soon after I bought the album and eventually CDs. I know it sounds ridiculous, but the vinyl sounded almost too good and I wanted to recapture the sound of the radio broadcast from my original recording. They used to say how things often, inexplicably, sounded better on the radio. It's probably because we associate them with a time and events, which is certainly the case for me with Roundabout.

They always "weighted" the signal when they played our old music on the radio so it sounded different than what you heard when you played it at home. FM broadcasts are about the equivalent of a 128 Kbs MP3 file as far as quality goes, or maybe even a little lower. But I agree with you there are a handful of songs whenever I hear them no matter where I am or what I am doing that instantly transport me to a memory from my childhood. Get Back is one of them permanently etched in my mind sitting around the campsite in Red Deer when I was 9 or 10 years old.

I laugh when I think about the panic back in the day as well Martin, the only thing that happened when audio cassettes hit the market and the tape and players improved in quality was the labels made MORE money.

 

[Big Ears]

When you say 'weighted', what do you mean? Do you mean they play(ed) around with the bass and treble, to make the sound 'bright', or that the quality necessarily suffers with a broadcast signal? I certainly did not know FM was equivalent to 128 kbps.

 

[METALPRIEST]

My FAVORITE album from the YES catalog!!!!

 

[LG]

When you say 'weighted', what do you mean? Do you mean they play(ed) around with the bass and treble, to make the sound 'bright', or that the quality necessarily suffers with a broadcast signal? I certainly did not know FM was equivalent to 128 kbps.

Yes they used the equivalent of a "Loudness" switch to boost the signal, common practice for all radio stations here anyway.

There was a great little chart that rated all the various formats vs bit rates and FM stereo was just a little lower than 128kbs from what I remember.

 

[Big Ears]

Yes they used the equivalent of a "Loudness" switch to boost the signal, common practice for all radio stations here anyway.

There was a great little chart that rated all the various formats vs bit rates and FM stereo was just a little lower than 128kbs from what I remember.

It all sounds plausible. Loudness is a bass circuit, which would explain why I always boost the treble on my receiver. Having said that, I always boost the treble on my amplifier anyway.

 

[LG]

^^I rarely use any equalization myself, but on my vintage integrated amp I will play around when listening to old records, only when I'm playing them at low volume though not when they are turned up.

 

[Big Ears]

With my equalisation flat, everything sounds too bass-y to me. I could never understand people (hip-hop and rap fans) who used those mega-bass circuits!

 

[Big Ears]

Corrections and Clarifications:

> In the first paragraph, I stated that long term producer, Eddie Offord, began working with Yes at the time of The Yes Album (Atlantic 1971). This should have read, engineer and long term collaborator, Eddie Offord, switched to production at the time of The Yes Album. He produced their best known albums and remained until Relayer (1974), but assisted with Drama (1980) and Union (1991). Offord, also engineered albums by ELP at this time and went on to produce David Sancous & Tone, Pallas, Utopia and others.

 

[recgord27]

Great review @Big Ears.
Yes had a great run of albums from The Yes album to Going for the One. After Close to the Edge, Fragile is one of my favourites and I play it fairly regularly.
BTW it definitely sounds best on vinyl. None of the cd versions I've heard come close. I would love to get hold of a audiophile copy as mentioned