YES - Going for the One (1977)

Gerinski wrote: 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. The title song was Yes attempt at making a rock song, and personally I like Howe's steel playing and for being a rock song it's much better than the average rock song released by most bands. And live it provided a lot of positive energy. Turn Of The Century, what can we say? Surely one of the most beautiful songs ever by Yes. Parallels is quite good too, with the majesty of the pipe organ and great bass by Chris. Wonderous Stories is also beautiful and Awaken one of the great epics of all times. So, where's the problem really, in the album cover? I may agree that the production is not one of their best, but not IMHO reason enough to critizise much the album.

I don't know what Moraz could have done for Yes if they had kept him, but Awaken is one of the best songs Yes has recorded, and it would certainly have sounded very different if Moraz had stayed with the band, so I can't really say I'm sorry for the way things turned out.

Big Sky wrote:   According to Billy Sherwood in an interview back in 2017, He stated Open Your Eyes sold about 200,000 copies worldwide. The album was a Sherwood and Squire project with songs written originally for the Conspiracy band. Stop me if you have heard this before with a non-Yes project becoming a Yes album. It was Yes's new management (Left Bank) that pushed for these songs to be reworked into a Yes album. Steve Howe was reluctant to join the project and felt the material was to pop oriented. Furthermore, the Keys to Ascension 2 had already been recorded with the studio material on that album having the classic Yes sound. In fact, Keys to Ascension 2 was released on November 3, 1997 and Open Your Eyes three weeks later on November 25, 1997. Originally, Open Your Eyes was supposed to be released in 1998, but Left Bank wanted Yes to get back on the road in 1997 and pushed the release date up. Now, if you guessed that Keys of Ascension 2 was recorded under a different label (Castle Communications) you would be correct. They found out Yes was going to tour and were recording a new album and got Keys into the record stores. Howe has stated that neither he or Anderson had much input in the song writing process for Open Your Eyes as they arrived toward the end of the project. Open Your Eyes is indeed not rated highly by Yes fans and is one of the poorest selling Yes albums.

Psychedelic Paul wrote: Big Sky wrote:   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.

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Paul,

According to Billy Sherwood in an interview back in 2017, He stated Open Your Eyes sold about 200,000 copies worldwide. The album was a Sherwood and Squire project with songs written originally for the Conspiracy band. Stop me if you have heard this before with a non-Yes project becoming a Yes album. It was Yes's new management (Left Bank) that pushed for these songs to be reworked into a Yes album.

Steve Howe was reluctant to join the project and felt the material was to pop oriented. Furthermore, the Keys to Ascension 2 had already been recorded with the studio material on that album having the classic Yes sound. In fact, Keys to Ascension 2 was released on November 3, 1997 and Open Your Eyes three weeks later on November 25, 1997. Originally, Open Your Eyes was supposed to be released in 1998, but Left Bank wanted Yes to get back on the road in 1997 and pushed the release date up. Now, if you guessed that Keys of Ascension 2 was recorded under a different label (Castle Communications) you would be correct. They found out Yes was going to tour and were recording a new album and got Keys into the record stores. Howe has stated that neither he or Anderson had much input in the song writing process for Open Your Eyes as they arrived toward the end of the project.

Open Your Eyes is indeed not rated highly by Yes fans and is one of the poorest selling Yes albums.

Edited by Big Sky - January 13 2024 at 00:15

Big Sky wrote:   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.

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No way is "Parallels" at the bottom of any list.

Thus, Rick's return yielded "Parallels" and (especially) "Awaken," and I wouldn't change a thing in hindsight!

^ GFTO was certainly a triumph of pragmatism and good sense over having an actual vision. It played firmly into the idea that prog was done and had nothing new to say IMO. Also Wakeman would likely have not rejoined without the financial issues which you document perfectly. What they didn't lose at all though was being a great live band, I well remember a BBC broadcast of them playing at Wembley Arena on the Tormato tour (Tourmato) and it was excellent. 

Steve Howe & Annie Haslam - Turn of the Century

^I'm guessing that Yes did have some say in the album cover. Punk was looming large and loud and Roger Dean fantasy covers were not cutting it anymore even if they went back to him for Drama for reasons of presumably trying to placate a fan base that was not happy with the Buggles invasion. GFTO is certainly a good album but they bottled it by not continuing with Moraz IMO. Relayer was a proper progressive rock album in old money while GFTO was a collection of Yes songs that showed little appetite for change. I quite like it but it seems largely irrelevant in their catalogue. TYA, CTTE and Fragile made Yes the behemoth of prog they were to become and maybe the quintessential English symphonic prog band. Relayer was an important album but personally then I would put Drama next. Never been a great fan of TFTO but even non prog fans are aware of it due to it's notoriety! GFTO just seems a band not all on the same page and is not that different to ELP Works Volume One in those terms. Yes were maybe disguising it better though.

richardh wrote: Yes sold more than ELP by quite a long way so if ELP were at 48 million ( their record company said they sold over 40 million) then Yes must be up around 60-70 million sales worlwide at least. Open Your Eyes never sold just 3,450 copies worldwide, possibly the most hilarious 'inaccurate' fact by a long way. You are talking countless 1000's of Yes fans in their 40's and 50's with plenty of disposable income deciding not to purchase their latest album, it's not even if Anderson had left or streaming was such a big thing at the time.

Richardh,

I agree. The artist, band, label, etc, has to request the RIAA to do a certification. If they don't, there will not be a certification of whether the album went gold, platinum, multi-platinum or diamond no matter how fast the records are flying off the shelves. The date listed by the RIAA is also the last date the album was requested to be certified.

With ELP, all the certifications were done in the 1970s. There has not been a recertification since then. Yes's Going For The one was certified Gold on August 2, 1977. Another example is Deep Purple. The RIAA has Deep Purple selling 7.5 million records. Yet, Deep Purple is credited with selling more than 100 million records worldwide. No way the US only accounts for 7.5 ℅ of the total number of albums Purple sold.

The firm that does the audit for the RIAA for certifications is Gelfand, Rennert and Feldman. They have offices in New York, Los Angeles, Nashville, Boston and London. I would imagine that the cost is expensive for that type of audit.

As for the Open Your Eyes album, the 3,450 copies quoted as sold is no doubt inaccurate. If true, a label would not have given Yes the budget to work on their next album, The Ladder with a major producer, Bruce Fairbairn (Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Cranberries, Kiss, Chicago) at a major studio, Armoury (AC/DC, REM, Seal, Elvis Costello, Norah Jones to name a few who recorded at Armoury) that took 3 months to record.


Edited by Big Sky - January 10 2024 at 21:48