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Yes - Going for the One CD (album) cover

GOING FOR THE ONE

Yes

 

Symphonic Prog

4.06 | 2367 ratings

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TheGazzardian
Prog Reviewer
4 stars After a three years, Yes record Going for the One. This would be, in my opinion, the last of the stretch of 'essential' records they released, starting with The Yes Album. If one paid close attention, they might notice that this was the beginning of the end, yet the music was so good it was easy to convince oneself that that wasn't the case.

The biggest thing that heralded in the change in Yes' direction was the departure of keyman Patrick Moraz to be replaced by Rick Wakeman. This would be the first time Yes would replace a current member with a former member. This was a band that seemed to grow stronger and more adventurous with each new member they added, starting with Steve Howe, then Rick Wakeman the first time he joined the band, then Alan White, then Patrick Moraz. So booting out a new member in favour of a 'classic' member could perhaps have been the red flag that indicated to Yes fans that perhaps the Yes machine was running out of steam. They didn't know where they wanted to go, and wanted to repeat the success of their previous records.

Despite this, Going for the One was an excellent record. It may not have been as far reaching as their previous three records, but it demonstrates that Yes has learned a lot in the meantime, and know how to craft excellent songs. It also included the most delicate music they had released to date.

Despite that, it also included one of their most propulsive rockers to date, in the title track 'Going for the One'. It was a nice, short song that hasn't yet got boring to me.

But it was the second track where Yes revealed their more tender side. This was with the track 'Turn of the Century', one of the most sad songs I have ever heard. The truth is that Jon has the perfect voice to sing sad lyrics, and works perfectly on this song. It also includes some beautiful guitar work from Steve. Really, this song demonstrates why those two were so great together, while still giving the rest of the band ample room to strut their stuff. Nonetheless, this song is a perfect example of why Steve and Jon are my favorite members of Yes.

The next track, Parallels, is my least favorite on the album, as the keys just feel too overpowering to me. The vocals are catchy at least, but I've never been able to love this one.

Side 2 starts with Wondrous Stories, another nice, quiet track. This one is quite short, clocking in at under 4 minutes. This is the shortest band track since Long Distance Runaround, and it managed to receive a decent amount of airplay. It is a nice little track, if not particularly amazing.

What makes this album stellar is the last track, Awaken. This is the last of Yes' 'classic' epics. It starts with some nice piano from Rick, followed by some more proof that Jon is singing music perfectly suited for his voice. While the lyrics are still oblique and ethereal ("High Vibration Go On...Past a mortal as me, where can I be?"), Jon's voice makes them feel both like they have deep meaning and somehow, resonate deeply within me. The song builds excellently, before it's slower middle section. Truthfully, I was not a fan of the middle section, which seems long and repetitive, for a long time, but the first recording I heard of this song was the Live at Montreux 2003 version. The studio version is much better. After that, the song recaps the main themes, ending on the touching lyric of "Like the time I ran away and turned around and you were standing close to me", which is sad and optimistic at the same time.

It has been argued that Awaken is Yes' best epic, and while I don't agree, it alone makes this album worth owning. Overall, this album is not as experimental or adventurous as Yes' previous work, yet it is very solid and definitely worth owning.

On the note of the bonus tracks, there is some interesting stuff, but for me, the most interesting is the very early version of 'Turn of the Century'. In this cut, it sounds more like a rocker than the acoustic piece it became. While I think that what it became suits the feeling of the song much more, I wonder what kind of song they could have come up with that used this music (especially Steve's guitar riff).

TheGazzardian | 4/5 |

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