GOING FOR THE ONE

Hmmm...I get it now. This is what people like to hear from YES. I quite like it, and will go into detail as to why. First off, the production is good to great; it makes each instrument stand out, not fall all over each other in a mess. Thanks, guys. The title track has great piano and synth playing (thanks, Wakeman), and Howe plays the hell out of his slide guitar (probably one of the VERY few proggers who ever bothered with it). The drums pound and the bass throbs; thank god for good production! The lyrics are spacy and disingenuous to the extreme; verging on the unintelligible. But Anderson's voice is nice, high-pitched without reaching the castrati range he and Geddy Lee seemed to be so fond of back in the early 70's. "Turn Of The Century" is a gentle ballad, with a lush acoustic guitar opening. It gently expands to include Anderson's voice and Wakeman's melodic synth playing. More pastoral than the opening, it's fine for what it is. At 8 minutes, it gets a little snoozy. Had it been cut down to about 6 minutes, it'd have been better presented and would've STILL had the same effect. "Parallels" has an almost inaudible opening, before erupting into a full-band jam. Again Howe plays like a man possessed; his fingers fly all OVER the fretboard. Then comes the vocals. Not just Anderson; but it sounds like Howe and Squire are singing with him. This is what I like most about Yes: The voices seem to just, well; FIT together. Squire's bass also seems to be more upfront this time. I think it might be due to the fact that it's HIS song. "Wonderous Stories" is the shortest song on the record; punching the clock at just a hair under 4 minutes, no doubt it could have been a successful single. The playing is great, the melody is strong, and it-most of all-it JUST SOUNDS GOOD. Wakeman's spiraling synth at about 1:34 lends the song a pastoral feel, as do the harmonized vocals. I like it; a lot. "Awaken" is the epic; a 15+ minute track that everyone and their brother gets a hard-on for. I can't say I feel the same. The opening is QUITE good, with Wakeman playing piano quickly, almost like a shredder, yet emotionally. That's a plus. I despise the emotionless, built-for-speed techno shredders who cover try to cover up their lack of emotion by playing as fast as they can. However, the chorus makes absolutely NO sense to me. "Awaken Gentle Mass Touch"... What does it mean? Someone care to translate for me? I have no bloody idea. Howe's lead track, at about 2:48 sounds hot, though. He's not afraid to let a little bit of feedback creep in...proved he's not interested in tapping and all that shit. The biggest problem I have with this disc is this: IMO, "Awaken" should've been cut down to about 9 or 10 minutes. This would've given more time to develop the other 5 songs further. Let's face it, people: as "progressive" as tracks like "Parallels" and "Going For The One" are, they're essentially pop songs. If the band had taken as much time to develop the other songs as they did for "Awaken", this would have been a solid 5-star record. As it is now, it's a solid 4-star disc.