Released nine months after The Yes Album, Fragile balances four new songs — “Roundabout,” “South Side Of The Sky,” “Long Distance Runaround” and the epic “Heart Of The Sunrise” — with five little nuggets composed by individual bandmembers. “Cans And Brahms” is a quick classical adaptation from new keyboardist Rick Wakeman (replacing Tony Kaye, who’d been unwilling to expand his sonic palette beyond piano and Hammond organ); “We Have Heaven” loops two Jon Anderson phrases over each other in a round-like mantra, then ends with a goofy sound effects trick; “Five Per Cent For Nothing” is 35 seconds of not much from Bill Bruford; “The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)” is Chris Squire’s bass showcase, which actually made it into the band’s live sets; and Steve Howe’s “Mood For A Day” is a quite beautiful flamenco-derived piece.

The actual songs are good to great. “Heart Of The Sunrise” is one of Yes’ most powerful anthems, Squire’s earth-shaking bass line keeping it grounded as the vocals, guitars and keyboards soar. “Roundabout” and “Long Distance Runaround” have a mantralike catchiness at the heart of the complex arrangements and long, exploratory solos. Still, the album feels like a patchwork, and it’s hard not to think that it might have been much better had the band taken a few months to write two or three more songs, instead of padding out an EP with indulgent (even when brief) and pointless solo compositions. This is the beginning of Yes’ glory period, when they pretty much could do no wrong, artistically or commercially, but they hadn’t fully found their feet yet.