GOING FOR THE ONE

In my opinion, Going for the One is up there with Close to the Edge as far as musicianship and song composition. This is an astonishing album without any weak songs. Steve Howe's slide guitar work on the title track is great. It starts off sounding like a sort of traditional blues song for about the first 5 seconds, and then turns into the classic symphonic Yes sound. At one point the song builds and builds by repeating the same melody with different lyrics, and then it all ends in a satisfying, bombastic way. Turn of the Century is a beautiful song with touching lyrics. Again, Howe's classical and electric guitar shine. During the song there is an instrumental part that represents an artist fashioning a sculpture out of clay, and you can tell when he finishes his masterpiece by how the music changes. Genius. Next is Parallels which features some great organ work from the master himself Rick Wakeman. This songs also does a shift towards the end, similar to the title track, which gives the song a very satisfying ending.

Wondrous Stories is the shortest song, but is still great with interesting chord changes and also great keyboards. The last song is one of Yes' best songs, probably my second favorite Yes song of all time. Awaken is a beautiful, powerful song that features some incredible guitar work from Steve. During his guitar solo, it sounds like his guitar is going to spontaneously combust! After that tasty treat, is some mind-blowing keyboards. Then the song slows down and becomes very delicate only to slowly build into one of the most satisfying, emotional endings of a song ever!

Even though this isn't the most popular album by Yes, I think that it is one of their best. Every musician is great but I think that Howe steals the show, with Wakeman coming in at a close second. In my book, this one is definitely essential!