GOING FOR THE ONE

"Going For the One" stands alone as the first album to turn aside from the classic Yes style and of course there were so many band lineups to follow with the disgruntled Wakeman off on his solo lonesome making a mark. He had been disillusioned with the bizarre infamous "Topographic" album. Yes eventually released him to be replaced by the less extraordinary but accomplished keyboardist Patrick Moraz for "Relayer", and then Wakeman returned after his solo hiatus. It is nice to hear Wakeman on this album though and he is as good as ever, though not as inventive due to the structural changes in Yes' direction.

There was only one classic epic this time around, and it was a good song but not up to the standard of anything on "The Yes Album", "Close to the Edge", "Fragile" or "Relayer". Jon Anderson is in fine voice on each song, but the lyrics are less surreal and therefore not as endearing. They were losing that magic that had been created by the strange imagery of previous albums. Even the album cover was at a low standard; instead of surreal dream imagery of genius artist Roger Dean, it is replaced by a naked man gazing at skyscrapers. Perhaps the cover typified the new direction for Yes. Anderson has a stint on guitar and harp on the bonus tracks which are more of a curiosity than anything to celebrate. Alan White has proven himself time and again as a professional drummer extraodinaire and Yes is his career high point. Squire is fabulous as always on bass, and the final piece of the band is Steve Howe, a marvel on guitars. It should have been a masterpeice with this talent on hand but it is at best worthy of recognition with perhaps 3 outstanding tracks.

The most memorable and best loved tracks are undoubtedly Going For The One, which has an infectious hook, and very acccessible style, made for radio and live performances. Turn Of The Century is certainly a beautiful song with Anderson making his presence known on accustomed high falsetto. Wonderous Stories is definitive Yes due to the inventiveness of the melodies and an unforgettable chorus phrase. It has been a live staple over the years for this reason. Parallells has its moments though never resonated with me as much, and Awaken is a 15 minute epic that does its job to appease the prog afficionados who love to revel in lengthy multi part prog epics, though it never reaches that point of ultimate satisfaction in the same way that perhaps Close to the Edge or The Gates of Delirium does.

All in all this is not the best or worst that Yes would produce but sits somewhere in the middle for me. After a swag of excellent, or even brilliant albums, Yes had finally settled into a rather pedestrian style that had mixed reactions at the time and continues to do so. Subsequent albums would continue to be as ignored or forgettable, except from Yes addicts who would put up with anything that Yes would churn out including the abysmal "Union" and "Big Generator". Not everything that Yes released was gold and this album proves it. A decent album overshadowed by slow moments and mediocrity.

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