GOING FOR THE ONE

Where to start with "Going for the One"? Yes coming back after 3 years since the last studio album, after touring and solo work by its members. And Rick Wakeman returns after leaving following Tales from Topographic Oceans.

Many consider "Going" to be the last of the "classic" era of Yes, beginning with The Yes Album in 1971. However, while I believe it to be a decent album, it simply cannot stand up to any of the groups efforts before it, and even some after it.

Yes did undoubtedly take a different direction with this album. In context, this is completely understandable. They've been out of the studio for 3 years, and a lot of things have happened in the musical landscape during that time. There was a massive public backlash against prog, prompted by the punk movement. After the last three albums contained no song shorter than 9 minutes, we have an album in which all of the songs except one are no longer than 8 minutes. This is likely not a coincidence. At this point in time, many prog bands were attempting to reclaim some portion of the commercial market. I think it is fairly safe to say that "Going" is more commercially-oriented than some of Yes' preceding offerings. And in this case, I think that the group didn't quite acheive the proper balance here.

Also worth pointing out is the fact that synthesizer and keyboard technology had also changed a great deal in this time as well. And since Yes tended to have a fairly heavy emphasis on the keyboards, this had a dramatic effect on the overall Yes sound. Gone are the mellotron and Hammond Organ, once staples of the Yes sound, and the prog keyboard sound in general. Instead, Wakeman's arsenal is dominated by piano, pipe organ, and Polymoog. Personally, I rather miss the Hammond and the mellotron, and do not find Wakeman's new "toys" to be as satisfying timbre-wise.

On to the actual music, the album opens with the title track, "Going for the One". It comes as a complete shock, and is vastly different from anything Yes had done before. It is dominated by Steve Howe's slide guitar and Jon Anderson's vocals remind me a great deal of Robert Plant and Led Zeppelin here. However, I think Yes' Zeppelin imitation attempt here just don't work. The song becomes overly repetitive, and Anderson's voice, which I generally find to be an interesting (and to some degree, even soothing) timbre, actually becomes irritating, and the slide guitar work is overkill. Wakeman's keyboard choices also become questionable here for me.

The next track, "Turn of the Century" is also a departure from standard Yes fare. Curiously, Alan White moves off of his drum kit and onto vibraphone. As far as I'm concerned, this seems to be one of the most redeeming and interesting features of this song. However, the song comes off as overly light and sentimental, too sugary. Personally, I find this is the weakest track on the album.

The third track, "Parallels" is a Chris Squire tune. It begins with an interesting bass line, and the church organ provides a nice timbre. However, "Parallels" suffers from much the same problem as the title track. It just becomes too repetitive, and vocals, usually one of Yes' strong suits, start to grate on my nerves. In fact, the repetition is perhaps an even bigger issue here, and after the promising start, it runs itself into the ground.

The last two tracks on the album are for me the only things that save Going for the One from being a completely weak album. Wonderous Stories is actually the shortest song on the album, not even hitting the 4 minute mark, and was actually released as a single. While this one is perhaps a more overt attempt at trying to be more commercially viable, I believe that this song, while it may not be the most "prog" thing here, it is simply a good piece of music. The use of acoustic guitar here is enchanting, and Wakeman's keyboards provide a nice pad, without being overkill. It is a nice and welcome surprise after the three previous tracks.

The strongest track on the album for me is the 15-minute epic "Awaken". What can really be said about it? I don't really think it can compare with "The Gates of Delirium", "Close to the Edge", or anything on "Tales". But is still for the most part an effective epic. There are a number of really interesting timbral effects to be found throughout. The first of these is about 30 seconds in, where Anderson's ethereal vocals float above a soundscape, consisting of Howe's pedal steel, White's tuned percussion, and Wakeman's keyboards. This is followed by a rather interesting and driving ostinato figure in an odd meter. Squire's bass really punches through here, and farther in, Wakeman puts his Polymoog to a very interesting use. The complex layering of ideas here is absolutely fantastic. This is the first truly classic Yes moment on the entire album. The lyrics are perhaps some of Anderson's most ridiculous, "Awaken Gentle Mass Touching."

Eventually, at about the 6:30 mark, we get a quieter, slower section, which also is timbrally quite unique, marked by Anderson's harp, with White's glockenspiel above, and Wakeman putting the pipe organ and Polymoog to good use. This idea is slowly built upon, with Howe and Squire eventually coming in. While the build up is an interesting idea, I do thing it does become ever so slightly too repetitive in spots, and maybe could have been condensed a tad.

The piece kind of goes full circle after the build up, eventually going back to the ethereal airiness it began with. I do believe the ending, with Howe's little guitar lick at the end, doesn't really fit with anything before in the piece, and seems completely out of place. While "Awaken" is a very worthy Yes epic, I do believe that it does suffer from some of the same problems that the rest of the album suffers from, but here it is much less apparent.

Overall, while "Going for the One" is quite different than previous Yes fare, I think that some of these new features aren't entirely desirable. I must give the group some credit for trying to do something different in their comeback after a 3-year hiatus, and the timbral effects are quite breathtaking at times. But the attempts to be more concise aren't really successful as far as I'm concerned, and many of the songs become too repetitive for their own good.

I believe"Going" is a decent album, but if it weren't for the last two tracks, it would probably only be getting a 2-star rating from me. However, Wonderous Stories and Awaken are enough to boost it up to 3. Good, but non-essential. I would recommend it for nothing other than the fact that it contains "Awaken", which is a true Yes masterpiece.

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