“I wanted to hear something inspiring.” With Fragile, Yes member 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. With every note, Yes constructs cinema for the mind.

Strictly limited to 7,500 numbered and pressed on MoFi SuperVinyl at RTI, Mobile Fidelity’s ultra-hi-fi UltraDisc One-Step 180g 45RPM 2LP set renders the 1971 record with 70mm-film realism. Prized for decades for its brilliant textures, harmonics, dynamics, colors, and openness, Fragile 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. Ditto the detailed shades and graphics of illustrator Roger Dean’s cover and sleeve art. Aurally and visually, this is the ultimate immersion into Yes’ sci-fi worlds.