YES - Going for the One (1977)

I mostly love Turn of the Century and very specially Awaken from this album. Still, I think the most perfect version of Awaken is the Keys to Ascension one. Though I miss it having a real church organ, it rather makes up with the updated piano intro and extended middle section.

Psychedelic Paul wrote: Have you ever wondered what happened to the lost YES album that should've been released a year prior to Going for the One? Well, wonder no more, because here it is, exclusive to ProgArchives and 100 gazillion listeners on YouTube.   1976: YES - The Lost Album - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYSbOcLOCLE

progaardvark wrote: AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: My main issue is the album cover. Why is a naked man staring at buildings? Isn't that what naked men usually do?

Maybe for the same reason there's a naked indian in Wayne's dream?

I would say the three Yes albums that I really love are The Yes Album, Close To The Edge and Going For The One. The rest I could happily leave.

AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: Big Sky wrote: AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: Big Sky wrote: Psychedelic Paul wrote: YES, today we're Going for the One album that's arguably the most approachable YES album to date - at least until 90125 came along in 1983 - when many new fans would Awaken to the new sound of YES. Undoubtedly, Going for the One was a Big Generator of new interest in YES, and to reflect the change of sound, there was a Dramatic change of album artwork too (from Roger Dean to Hipgnosis), represented by a naked man looking up at the the twin towers of Century City in California, which closely Parallels the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York City that stood for just 28 years, up until the terrible events of 9/11 at the Turn of the Century. Going for the One featured the Dramatic re-Union of the line-up from Tales from Topographic Oceans, when Patrick Moraz was "let go" after the recording of the previous Relayer album, and when Heaven & Earth had to be moved to persuade Rick Wakeman to return after the torturous recording of the Topographic Oceans album, when there was Talk of Rick being driven Close to the Edge of breaking point. Going for the One features the most successful YESsong so far: Wonderous Stories, which climbed to #7 in the UK singles chart. Surprisingly though, Going for the One is only the 9th best-selling YES album of all time, despite ascending The Ladder of success to reach #1 in the UK album charts for two weeks back in 1977. Going for the One also includes one of YES' best-loved songs: Awaken, with Rick Wakeman's magnificent church organ solo rocking the aisles  at St. Martin's church, near to where the album was recorded at Mountain Studios in the picturesque Swiss town of Montreux. Going for the One features just five songs, but after the side-long epics of the last three albums, five songs seems like a relative abundance of Yessongs.   1977: YES - Close to the Edge - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nIFWHKVs0t-mEq-GZ3xEVE1kqqYiV4wZo YES line-up:- Jon Anderson; Steve Howe; Chris Squire; Rick Wakeman; & Alan White Track Listing 1. Going for the One  (5:30) 2. Turn of the Century  (7:58) 3. Parallels  (5:52) 4. Wonderous Stories  (3:47) 5. Awaken  (15:38) Top 10 Best-Selling YES Albums 01. 90125   (Sales: 4,128,370) 02. Fragile  (Sales: 2,300,00) 03. Close to the Edge  (Sales: 1,475,687) 04. Yessongs  (Sales: 1,327,480) 05. Tormato  (Sales: 1,115,380) 06. Classic Yes  (Sales: 1,060,000) 06. The Yes Album  (Sales: 1,060,000) 08. Big Generator  (Sales: 1,022,910) 09. Going for the One  (Sales: 726,380) 10. Tales from Topographic Oceans  (Sales: 672,680) And the worst-selling YES album of all time? Open Your Eyes, with total worldwide album sales of just 3,450   Why am I not surprised.  Paul, Those sale figures are no doubt inaccurate. The Yes Album you have listed as having 1,060,000 sales. The Yes Album went Platinum in the US (1,000,000) and Silver in the UK (60,000). If what you have listed about the Yes Album is correct that would mean Yes did not sell one single album more from the date it was certified Platinum by the RIAA or Silver by the BPI or one copy in any other country.The Dutch Charts show that the Yes Album charted as high as #7 in that country and year end was the 52nd best selling album in that country. So, it appears there were some copies of that album sold in that country. Close to the Edge is listed as having 1,475,687 copies sold. CTTE went Platinum in the US (1,000,000), Britain (300,000) and Canada (100,000). That is 1,400,000 copies sold. The RIAA last certified CTTE on April 10, 1998. The BPI certified CTTE Platinum on May 12, 1984. If you look at the BPI chart, it shows not one single copy sold since that date as it is just a flat line since that date. You can see that here: https://www.bpi.co.uk/award/1381-1295-2 CTTE charted #1 in the Dutch Charts, #16 in Japan, #14 in Italy, #36 in Germany and #21 in Australia. I would suspect that the figures you have listed are probably far lower than what the real figures would be. Another example is the Kansas albums Leftoverture, Point of Know Return and Best Of are listed by the RIAA as going 4x Platinum respectively. Howeve, Kansas has stated those albums sold each more than 6,000,000 copies in the US. My understanding is that the certification process is expensive and bands feel like it is not worth the cost. Some labels don't want to do the certification process not only because of cost but, want to keep the actual real sales figures hidden from the band. Well, it's certainly possible that the two best selling Kansas albums have sold 2 million more copies each of those two albums since 1995 but how would the band know that if they haven't consulted the RIAA? The answer is probably dust in the wind. Yes has probably sold more than what is listed also. All we can really do is guess. Aflowerkingcrimson, Since royalties paid to the band are based on the tracking of what is sold I'm sure the label, band management, accountants, etc are getting these figures. It is certainly in the interest of these bands to stay involved in the business side so they are getting the money they have earned. One way is through Nielsen SoundScan. They track sales through the various merchants, retail and online stores by the UPC bar code when it is scanned for a sale. Billboard uses this data for their music charts. Of course, this doesn't account for all sales. As for the various certifications from the RIAA, BPI, etc, I don't think it carries the same weight as it use to due to the way music is consumed by the public today. I believe that it was Martin Popoff who commented that some of the bands, especially back in the day when physical sales were the way you purchased music, would want to know if the album went gold or platinum upon its initial release and when sales were at their highest and there was evidence of physical copies of albums, CDs and tapes being moved. RIAA, for example coming in and doing its certification process that the album went gold or platinum gave the album and the artist the stamp of approval of their success. Some artists and bands, just don't think it's worth the cost of a recertification process that now shows the album is now 6x Platinum instead of 4x Platinum by the RIAA as is the case with the aforementioned Kansas albums. The numbers that the band Kansas quotes is probably more accurate than what the RIAA lists. As long as the members continue to get their royalty checks, they probably don't care. Where exactly did you read that Kansas said their albums have sold more than what the RIAA has? I'm sure that's the case with a lot of albums. For example, does anyone really think David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust album has only gone gold after over 50 years after it's release? Yet that's all it is listed as on the RIAA site which I visit frequently. A lot of bands and labels don't care much about sales only money and don't want to pay to see the actual sales or certification (if there even is one) like you said. I find it interesting and frustrating at the same time.

Aflowerkingcrimson,

It's on the Kansas official website. According to them they have 8 gold records, 3 sextuple platinum albums (Leftoverture, Point of Know Return and Best Of), and a platinum selling live album.

I think it's interesting that you bring up Bowie. 8 RIAA Gold certifications and 5 RIAA Platinum certifications. By the RIAA standards that's 9 million albums sold in the US. If you want to say round up those certifications just being one sale shy of 8 gold albums being platinum and the platinum albums being 2x platinum, that brings Bowie up to just shy of 18 million albums sold in the US (However, that's not how the RIAA calculates albums sold).

Yet, worldwide Bowie sold 140 million albums. Granted, Bowie was an international artist, but there is no way that the biggest market by far, the US, accounts for just 9 million of those 140 million album sales.

Another example is ELP. 9 albums certified gold by the RIAA. 4.5 million albums sold in the US according to the RIAA. Worldwide they sold 48 million albums. During the 70s, ELP was massive and played before huge crowds, selling out arenas wherever they went. There is no way that less than a tenth on their albums were sold in the US. Also, to show how depending on the certification process is questionable in determining albums sold, ELP's Brain Salad Surgery album has been certified Gold by the BPI (100,000) in Britain. The last time BSS was certified by the BPI was January 3, 1974.

At the end of the day, certifications may mean something to some artists and bands, but to others, apparently Bowie and ELP for example, it's not worth the expense. The accountants know how many albums were sold and as far as Carl Palmer and the families of Keith Emerson, Greg Lake and David Bowie are concerned as long as those royalty checks come in that's all that matters.

^Now, you might say Open Your Eyes deserved that many sales, but that isn't the question, besides, this topic is Going for the One, which DID sell pretty well. 

Frets N Worries wrote: ^Now, you might say Open Your Eyes deserved that many sales, but that isn't the question, besides, this topic is Going for the One, which DID sell pretty well.  I've never understood why Wonderous Stories gets hate, I think it's a fine track

Although Wonderous Stories would be my last choice to hear from the album, it is still a good track. GFTO is an excellent album. Depending on the day either 5 or 6 on my Yes album rankings. Some days it's ahead of Tales and some days I have it behind TFTO.

I have two complaints about GFTO. Production and the album cover. I wish the master tapes could be found so the album could be remixed and the cover would have been done by someone other than Hipgnosis. Hipgnosis may have served Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin well, but they did a disservice to Yes, especially the Tormato album cover. Personally, I find Hipgnosis to be overrated.

I really like GFTO. I was very young when it came out and I don't remember clearly the first time I listened to it, but obviously after Tales and Relayer it was a significant shift to more accessible music and more song oriented. It's understandable that for some at the time it may have been perceived as a step down, but we must remember that those were the times when Prog had been strongly accused of being too pretentious. Considering everything, it was a shift, yes, but one which attempted to make more focused music without losing actual quality.

Edited by Gerinski - January 11 2024 at 10:48

We must also consider Rick Wakeman's situation at the time. After the quite successful The Six Wives, his solo projects became more and more ambitious, opulent and expensive. In particular the tour for The Myths and Legends of King Arthur caused him serious financial losses. He had to sell several of his cars including the Rolls Royce. 

They realized that progs time in the sun had come to an end. But they had one more epic, a swan song if you will. Marking the end of the era. Yes knew they wouldn't return to really long form songs, so they made Awaken, and the rest is history