Sold Date: September 17, 2020
Start Date: August 31, 2020
Final Price: $194.00 (USD)
Seller Feedback: 4657
Buyer Feedback: 125

New / SEALED !!

YES - "FRAGILE"  

Mobile Fidelity Sounds Labs (MFSL)  1/2 Speed Mastered 2LP / 45 RPM set UDS1 "One Step" mastering  Limited Edition - SOLD OUT !!

Free USPS shipping via Media Mail included  (or Buyer can opt to pay for Priority Mail shipping if more comfortable with the better handling  and faster delivery Priority Mail provides )
See my Feedback and Bid / Buy with confidence !! 

Strictly limited and pressed on MoFi SuperVinyl at RTI, Mobile Fidelity's ultra-hi-fi 

UltraDisc One-Step 180g 45RPM 2LP collector's edition presents Fragile with 

exacting sonics and unsurpassed visuals. 

Prized for decades for its brilliant textures, harmonics, dynamics, colors, and 

openness, the 1971 album now comes across with surreal transparency, 

multi-dimensional scope, and seemingly unlimited responsiveness. Such qualities 

transform the band's recorded instruments into the equivalent of live guitars, 

basses, drums, and keyboards playing in your room. 

Critical aural traits – focus, pace, crispness, imaging, balance, depth, weight, 

scale – bring you face-to-face with the songs' daredevil complexities and emerge 

in abundance. The distinctive tonal characteristics directly tied to Fragile – be it 

the inimitable bounce of Chris Squire's groundbreaking bass, Anderson's high-

register singing, or drummer Bill Bruford's padded snare – flourish. Such is the 

allure of UD1S and MoFi SuperVinyl. 

MoFi SuperVinyl is the most exacting-to-specification vinyl compound ever devised. 

Analog lovers have never seen (or heard) anything like it. Extraordinarily expensive 

and extremely painstaking to produce, the special proprietary compound addresses 

two specific areas of improvement: noise floor reduction and enhanced groove definition. 

The vinyl composition features a new carbonless dye (hold the disc up to the light and 

see) and produces the world's quietest surfaces. This high-definition formula also allows 

for the creation of cleaner grooves that are indistinguishable from the original lacquer. 

MoFi SuperVinyl provides the closest approximation of what the label's engineers hear 

in the mastering lab.

The lavish packaging and gorgeous presentation of the UD1S Fragile pressing also befit 

its extremely select status. Housed in a deluxe box, it features special foil-stamped jackets 

and faithful-to-the-original graphics that illuminate the splendor of the recording. No expense 

has been spared. Aurally and visually, this UD1S reissue exists as a curatorial artifact meant 

to be preserved, poured over, touched, and examined. It is made for discerning listeners that 

prize sound quality and production, and who desire to fully immerse themselves in the art – 

and everything involved with the album, from the images to the finishes.

Indeed, the minute you remove the shrink wrap from the box, you'll pore over Dean's meticulous 

science-fiction sketches as you pull the first LP out of its foil-stamped jacket and drop your 

tonearm into the lead-in grooves. A rising Moog chord serves as the cue, Howe's romantic 

acoustic-guitar passage functions as the gateway, and the English legends dive into "Roundabout" 

– a lead-off track for the ages. The hit signaled Yes had evolved into a collective that merged bold ambition, technical virtuosity, and contagious melody in a manner none of its contemporaries 

managed.

Writer and Yes scholar Bill Martin didn't miss the significance of "Roundabout," which holds the key 

to unlocking all the adventures that follow on the album. In the liner notes to the record's long-ago 

deluxe CD reissue, he observes, "All of the Yes elements are here: inventiveness, sweetness, and wistfulness, bright colors that are more Sibelius and Stravinsky than ‘pop,' and not without an edge."

Such combinations of alluring symphonies and jagged drive repeatedly surface on Fragile, no more obviously than on "South Side of the Sky," an epic about a tragic polar expedition the quintet plays 

with a riveting intensity, impeccable control, and staggered progression that renders the narrative's otherworldly landscapes in technicolor. Or witness the similarly beloved "Long Distance Runaround," 

a spring-loaded escapade that in addition to its concision, weds jazz, classical, psychedelic, arena 

rock, and cerebral aural and literary forms together in a mesmerizing whole.

Fragile is further boosted by five solo-conceived works – one per member – that double as stitching 

within the larger group-conceived canvas. Each composition emerges as a showcase for visionary conceptions and staggering performance ability. Squire's "The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)" 

stands as an archetypal example of prog prowess as well as a creation that takes the bass guitar 

into realms still demanding further exploration. Steve Howe's warm, vibrant "Mood for a Day" is its 

equal, and a guitar workout that dovetails with Wakeman's "Cans and Brahms" – an evocative piano-based adaptation of Brahms' Symphony No. 4.