SOUNDTRACK: YES-Going for the One (1977).
There’s many interesting things about this Yes album. It was the first album since they hit it big to not have a Roger Dean cover (it did use the logo of course). This cover is a photo done by Hipgnosis. It also features the return of Rick Wakeman (the first player to come back). Further, there aren’t really any epic songs. Sure, there’s a 6 and 7 and even a 15 minute song, but none of them feel epic. There’s even a song less than four minutes long!
It’s also interesting for having a naked man on the cover about a year before Rush would release Hemispheres with a naked man on the cover. Must have been a thing.
This album opens with a big rock n roll bluesy guitar and steel guitar solo and sounds nothing like any Yes song ever did. Then Anderson’s voice comes in and it sounds a lot more Yes. But again, something feels different about this album. The song is only 5 minutes, but it has many different parts all anchored by the wild careening steel guitar. The chorus “going for the one” is pretty catchy and is probably the most memorable moment in the song, although I understand it did pretty well as a single. The wavery solo at the end just shows how much the guitar permeates this song.
“Turn of the Century” is a 7 minute song. It is mellow and is mostly Howe’s classical guitar and waves of keyboards. The song slowly builds. It is quite pretty. It was originally supposed to be short but it grew during the recordings and includes a very lovely Wakeman piano solo and a beautiful Howe classical solo at the end.
“Parallels” was written by Chris Squire and was supposed to be on his solo album, but it didn’t fit. So instead Yes recorded it together. It opens with Rick Wakeman playing a church organ (there’s a fascinating story about how they recorded that). This of course makes the song feel bigger than it needs to. But Squire has a great sense of interesting vocal lines, and this song sounds like pure Yes.
“Wonderous Stories” is a sweet song that sounds like it could be the closing credits of a kids’ fantasy movie. “Awaken” is the fifteen minute song. It opens with a classic sounding piano section. The keyboard washes come in with Anderson’s vocals. And the around 1:30 the song kicks in with a cool Howe guitar riff and some big Squire bass. This middle section rings as classic Yes–lots of guitar and bass pyrotechnics and Anderson’s voice floating over the lot. The solo culminates in what feels like a great conclusion to this song–except that the song has only hit the 5 minute mark (and there’s ten more to go), but that doesn’t stop the song from building and building (with some great Wakeman moments). And then it reaches a hard stop for a pause as the song rebuilds with a lot of percussion and keyboards. This meandering instrumental section is cool and trippy and lasts for about four minutes. When the song resumes, it picks up more or less where it stopped with Anderson’s voice soaring over what sounds like ea choir of voices. Around 12 minutes in, Wakeman gets another pipe organ solo–it’s a brief flourish before the song kicks back in to build to the proper conclusion. Except that once again, the song fades away and there is a quieter coda, of keys and bells and Anderson’s voice. It feels like it should be bigger and grander somehow. And it may just be a poor production quality that makes this album seem flat.
Since almost every Yes album had different personnel, I’m going to keep a running tally here. Here we have the first time someone has returned to the band, with Wakeman deciding (for no doubt complicate reasons) to return.
Chris Squire-bass
Jon Anderson-vocals
Alan White (#2)-drums
Rick Wakeman (#2 replaced Patrick Moraz #3)-keyboards
Steve Howe (#2)-guitar
[READ: April 12, 2015] “French Town Rock”
This is another excerpt from a novel (A Brief History of Seven Killings). This excerpt is done in a Jamaican dialect, which I found challenging to read.
I enjoyed that there was a guy named Shotta Sheriff.
The story comes down to gambling and money. There’s a character known as the Singer. His brother fixed a horse race and made a ton of money. But then he absconded with the profits. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 