GOING FOR THE ONE

What a glorious return of the 'glitter-caped-vintage-keyboard-wizard' Rick Wakeman! No more jokes about chicken- curry snacks, no more cardboard cows in the studio, no, only happy faces, room for everybody. So wonderful Swiss city Montreux welcomed an inspired Yes that went into the studio and made a masterpiece named Going For The One. And how ironical, in 1977 no punk band reached the #1 position, but Yes did!

1. Going For The One (5:30) : Pure prog 'n' roll, fueled by exciting work on the steel guitar by Steve Howe, powerful vocals by a very happy Jon Anderson and sparkling Grand piano and Polymoog runs by Rick Wakeman, what a sensational start!

2. Turn Of The Century (8:58) : First a dreamy climate with tender acoustic guitar, warm vocals and soaring keyboards, then gradually the atmosphere turns into compelling. Enjoy the sparkling Grand piano, sensitive electric guitar and the sumptuous eruption with howling electric guitar and dazzling Grand piano runs, wow!

3. Parallels (6:52) : Glorious church organ, angelic vocals, powerful bass, fiery electric guitar and flashy Polymoog runs, in this song Yes delivers great dynamics, excellent ideas and virtuosic musicianship. It was written by Chris Squire and that's obvious, what a stunning bass play.

4. Wonderous Stories (3:45) : The Yes single that reached #7 in the UK charts, including a nice videoclip. What a wonderful contrast between Wakeman his electronic Polymoog flights and Howe his acoustic Portuguese 12-string guitar (the vachalia, also used in Your Move) in this dreamy gem, so tastefully arranged.

5. Awaken (15:38) : One of the best epic compositions, so varied, compelling and loaded with virtuosic play and great musical ideas, from the Grand piano intro and fiery electric guitar (evoking Roundabout) to the mindblowing break with church organ (some Close To The Edge drops) and bombastic eruption featuring a female choir (no Mellotron!), church organ and powerful electric guitar, goose bumps.

Bonus tracks on my 2003 remaster edition : tracks 6-8 from YesYears (2001) and tracks 9-12 previously unreleased.

6. Montreux's Theme (2:38) : A mellow track with jazzy guitar.

7. Vevey (Revisited) (4:46) : Nice work on harp by Anderson and church organ by Wakeman, it epitomizes the renewed friendship between them.

8. Amazing Grace (2:36) : The USA anthem on distorted bass guitar, I wish this will be played during a Major League Baseball game!

9. Going For The One (Rehearsal) (5:10) : Very embryonal, the fiery electric guitar (instead of steel guitar) is in the vein of Howe his Relayer sound.

10. Parallels (Rehearsal) (6:21) : No sparkling version, no church organ, only a strong steel guitar solo and a short bass solo, pure melodic rock.

11. Turn Of The Century (Rehearsal) (6:58) : Another very embryonal version, without the wonderful acoustic guitar and piano, what a great final result on the album!

12. Eastern Numbers (Early version of "Awaken") (12:16) : In this version the focus is on Howe his electric guitar, how amazing that this led to one of Yes their most acclaimed epics.

Late 1977 I witnessed the GFTO tour, what a pleasant pompous progrock party: Steve Howe with his 'guitar museum', Chris Squire with his huge triple-neck bass and Rick Wakeman with his array of keyboards put on three different levels, the perfect celebration of a masterpiece!