Going for the One

by

Yes

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Along with "Close To The Edge", this is Yes at their very finest. This is when songs were over 16 minutes long not simply because they could be but because it takes that long to take you on one music's finest explorations. The musicianship, arrangement, emotion and atmosphere surrounding this work is inspired.

"Going For The One" is a lock-on tight, gutsy rocker with a healthy slice of slide guitar work from Steve Howe. "Turn Of The Century" is just beautiful, a haunting piece of work with possibly Jon Anderson's finest lyrics of his career. "Parallels" sounds huge, helped in no small way by Rick Wakeman's contribution on the Vevey pipe organ; the overall effect is magnificent.

"Wonderous Stories" was my introduction to Yes when I was six years old. I was musically inclined and the haunting melodies appealed far more than the loud, brash, angry music that punk brought with it around that time. Twenty-three years later, it's still one of my favourite pieces of music and still for the same reasons - it inspired me to learn about music and to play an instrument.

Then there's "Awaken". Personally, this goes beyond music. It is their most affecting, uplifting and involving work. It's long, goes everywhere, does everything and it's perfect. Zappa once said that writing about music was like dancing about architecture. That's fine by me... so, "Awaken" is the greatest palace ever built and the choreographer will be here in 15 minutes to celebrate its majesty.

Yes don't appeal to everyone's taste; if you can't stand Jon Anderson's high-pitched vocal, all the great things I could say will mean nothing. But for the rest of us, it the reason we keep coming back to this band and we'll be endlessly forgiving. Not every album they've made is so deserving, but this is among the exceptions where I have no hesitation whatsoever is saying 5 stars is totally justified and if anything, an understatement. Essential.

This album needed Moraz on keys for some fresh ideas.To quote Rolling Stone(yeah, they're jerky wannabe's but I find this makes some sense)critic wayne king:"the almost new-wave simpilicity (for Yes) that One conveyed was less an effective reduction of valid ideas than an admission of total artistic bankruptcy." Apply that critique to their next album, Tormato especially, and you know Yes had lost the spark that they so engagingly captured on the classic progressive albums of their's from 1971-1974. A short time but one that many bands never come close to capturing in their entire career. Steve Howe said of Moraz's depature:"...it just didn't work out with Patrick. Patrick wasn't doing anything wrong. We just weren't jelling." But Pat has a different opinion:"...we had written most of Going For The One's parts and I was having increasing difficulty trying to express my own voice...There were never any conference on what was artistically important. It was always economical." And so Yes, persuaded at this point especially to come up with something commercially viable to compete with the simplification of rock, simplified a good deal of their song arrangements for the album and made Squire's initially vigorous Parallels almost a parody of commercialized prog-rock. It originally had an ever-ascending chord sequence, perhaps that idea of which Moraz laments when discussing the endless ascension he would have given Awaken? "I personally think I did write Awaken. All of the tunes had been contributed as much by me as the other guys. Now Rick came in and put his own flavor". This was where Pat's response was one of incredulity. "I couldn't believe that they would go with that kind of sound and that kind of arrangement. .The big difference was the cycle of fifths, which was pretty elementary for me. What I was proposing to the band was the endless ascension, which is also a cycle of fifths but treated differently. Its the treatment (rising of chords) I would have given the end of Awaken." Too bad, cause something's unbalanced, and I'm not just referring to the heavy-handed, overdub/reverb-happy production. Granted, Relayer had this problem, but the songs were innovative and suitably energetic to support some wrong-headed production here and there. Anyway, Rick Wakeman is back for ol' times sake and aside from the exquisite Turn Of The Century, he sounds like he's there as a seasoned session player (which he actually was if you know your Yes history) rather than a fully-integrated member(no, this does not have the inter-band fluidity that an early album such as fragile had with Rick). This is a slick-sounding arena-prog rock album that, although finely crafted in a more stripped-down sense, is ultimately too compromised due to record company pressure and the changing music scene to be considered an innovative release like The Yes Album, Fragile, Close To The Edge, Tales From Topographic Oceans, and Relayer. Indeed, Awaken, has its profoundly uplifting moments and is, to my ears, a very good epic overall(with profound lyrics), but with pieces like Gates Of Delirium, The Revealing, and Close To The Edge, Yes already proved their point and took their epic arranging to its logical conclusion by Relayer. Music journalist Paul Stump seems to like what Awaken stands for, but calls it ultimately "words and music battling for space." Finally, of interest to Yes freaks, prog afficianado Bradley Smith wrote in his book The Billboard Guide To Progressive Music:"Later Yes studio albums Going For The One, Tormato, and 1980's Drama, are only sporadically progressive, with the band returning to less ambitious, shorter tracks...While some of the material on those recordings is an embarrassment, each disc has its fine moments and comes recommended." While Awaken is raved about by the boys and rightfully so I say, I go along with Howe that this album's real beauty(flamenco classical guitar and understated piano)is probably Turn Of The Century. Among Jon's best story-lyrics too. Achingly poingnant. Get their other albums prior to this first starting with The Yes Album in chronological order, then to this and back to their first two. It really makes sense that way, but whatever, this is a great band so this album has sufficient enough magic, even if little of the original spark or impetus remains.