Limited to Just 7500 Numbered Copies! MoFi SuperVinyl Pressed At RTI!

TAS Rated 5/5 Music, 5/5 Sonics in the April 2020 Issue of The Absolute Sound!

"...The overall breadth of this One-Step offering brings into further focus both the collective and singular strengths of this definitive Yes incarnation. In fact, that's how you should listen to it - first to enjoy the compositional prowess of the whole, next to zero in on the contributions of the individual band members. That way, each successive spin will bear additional aural witness to Jon Anderson's clever "sharp, distance" whisper-to-a-scream lead-vocal choices saturating "Heart of the Sunrise", Bill Bruford's deft cymbal and stickwork throughout "Roundabout", Rick Wakeman's piano-key resonance during the transitional break in "South Side of the Sky", Steve Howe's adroit acoustic-string touches on "Mood for a Day", and Chris Squire's low-end thunder percolating the transition from "Long Distance Runaround" into "The Fish (Shindleria Praematurus)." There's no roundabout way of saying it: MoFi's One Step Fragile is a true heavyweight SuperVinyl champion." - Mike Mettler, The Absolute Sound Magazine, April 2020

Mastered from the Original Master Tapes with Mobile Fidelity's One-Step Process: Fragile UD1S 180g 45RPM 2LP Box Set the Ultimate-Sounding Analog Version of Yes' Prog-Rock Breakthrough

Luxurious Packaging Includes Deluxe Box, Foil-Stamped Jackets, MoFi SuperVinyl LPs Pressed at RTI: Keepsake Edition Strictly Limited to 7,500 Numbered Copies 

1971 Album Features "Roundabout" and "Long Distance Runaround": Cinematic Adventure Merges Technical Prowess, Idyllic Fantasies, Classical Melodies, Brilliant Colors, and Rock Edginess

"I wanted to hear something inspiring." With Fragile, Yes vocalist Jon Anderson's desire was fulfilled to an extent even he likely couldn't have imagined. The band's breakthrough album marks a number of important firsts not just for the group but for how popular music could be approached. It also represents the all-important debut of keyboardist Rick Wakeman, a complete rethinking of the relationship between classical devices, idyllic fantasies, and traditional structures, and the arrival of progressive rock as a mainstream force. Fragile also opened the door to the quintet's long-term partnership with illustrator Roger Dean, whose cover painting and gatefold-sleeve artwork remains as cherished by music lovers as the audiophile-quality production. Neither facet has ever been experienced in finer form as on this collectable set.

Strictly limited to 7,500 numbered copies 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.

Developed by NEOTECH and RTI, 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.

With every note on Fragile, Yes constructs cinema for the mind. Mobile Fidelity's UD1S edition renders it with 70mm-film-projection realism.

More About Mobile Fidelity UltraDisc One-Step and Why It Is Superior: Instead of utilizing the industry-standard three-step lacquer process, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab's new UltraDisc One-Step (UD1S) uses only one step, bypassing two processes of generational loss. While three-step processing is designed for optimum yield and efficiency, UD1S is created for the ultimate in sound quality. Just as Mobile Fidelity pioneered the UHQR (Ultra High-Quality Record) with JVC in the 1980s, UD1S again represents another state-of-the-art advance in the record-manufacturing process. MFSL engineers begin with the original master tapes and meticulously cut a set of lacquers. These lacquers are used to create a very fragile, pristine UD1S stamper called a "convert." Delicate "converts" are then formed into the actual record stampers, producing a final product that literally and figuratively brings you closer to the music. By skipping the additional steps of pulling another positive and an additional negative, as done in the three-step process used in standard pressings, UD1S produces a final LP with the lowest noise floor possible today. The removal of the additional two steps of generational loss in the plating process reveals tremendous amounts of extra musical detail and dynamics, which are otherwise lost due to the standard copying process. The exclusive nature of these very limited pressings guarantees that every UD1S pressing serves as an immaculate replica of the lacquer sourced directly from the original master tape. Every conceivable aspect of vinyl production is optimized to produce the most perfect record album available today.

MoFi SuperVinyl: The World's Quietest Surfaces and Cleanest Grooves: Developed by NEOTECH and RTI, MoFi SuperVinyl is the most exacting-to-specification vinyl compound ever created. 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.

Features Numbered, Limited Edition - Only 7500 Copies MoFi SuperVinyl Pressing UltraDisc One-Step 45rpm Speed Edition 2LP Box Set Pressed at RTI Special foil-stamped jackets Lavish packaging Housed in an deluxe box Faithful to original graphics Production and Mastering by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab Carbonless dye vinyl Selections Roundabout Cans And Brahms We Have Heaven South Side Of The Sky Five Per Cent For Nothing Long Distance Runaround The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus) Mood For A Day Heart Of The Sunrise