GOING FOR THE ONE

We are now in 1977 well removed from the last YES album, the 1974 Relayer.But 3 years in rock music is a long as a 100year old medieval war between the English and the French crown: A lot of things have changed. The once prominebt prog movement was on its last leg, ready to get buried under the explosion of punk music, not to forget disco and all these ''goodies; Johny Rotten was taking over the music magazines covers as the faces Ian and Jon anderson no longer appear '' cool'' to market!

So after realeasing each one a solo album during the 3 year hiatus to various success, the 5 YES members reunite with a good surprise for the fans: Rick Wakeman is back to the mold. Does it mean we are going to have another CTTE or TFTO on the way? Not eaxctly! If the basics of YES music are well present, you can sense the band has decided in some ways to adapt to the reality of the times.

First of all, Roger DEAN artwork is not cool anymore, i guess Jon Anderson (who else?) thought it was time for a more ''modern '' look; so hello Hypgnosis and thanks, Roger, was nice working with you, but your services are no longer needed.

Second, what you can notice is the shift of the music to a more ''rock'' feel than in previous recordings. We even have for the first time an attempt (more to come in the future) to have a hit with the title track, a relatively hard-rock edged tune with a STEVE HOWE on adrenaline; the guy doesn't stop with his slide guitar from beginning to end and Jon Anderson trying to reach the top 40 with a chorus repeated ad nauseam. This aspect of ''modern'' YESmusic can be found also on the SQUIRE penned ''Parallels'' with again a demoniac S. HOWE. Who said Steve Howe can't rock. Listen to him again on the masterpiece of the album ''Awaken'' . He doesn't stop. The 15mn long ''Awaken'' is what remind us the most of classic YES music, with beautiful ANDERSON melodies and a great work of WAKEMAN throughout the song classic YES, real good old prog!!!The last YES epic until...1996!

Other highlights of this album are the short ANDERSONERIE ''Wonderous stories'' , just a beautiful and sweet song, what makes YES so unique and TURN OF THE CENTURY, a beautiful collaboration between the acoustic guitar of HOWE and the always angelic vocals of JON ANDERSON who is on top of his game on this album.

To resume,this is a departure in some ways of what YES released before, but still can be considered a great album and one of the highlights of YES music, not a 5 star album but still should be in any respectable prog collection. Close to 4 stars, so let's give it 4 stars!

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