Now then.
I can't place
Going for the One, or many other Yes albums in any kind of ordinal sequence…. Broadly speaking, they fall into four categories, and as I only really go up to 1983 (at a push) with Yes, I'd break down their 1968-1983 catalogue like this:
1. Albums that every fan of rock music should own for information purposes at least, if they're going to rack up thousands of posts on a message board discussing music.
- Close to the Edge
- The Yes Album
- Going for the One
2. Excellent Yes albums
- Relayer
- Drama
- Yes
- Time and A Word
3. Good Yes albums
- Fragile
- Tormato
- 90125
4. Kak.
- Tales from Topographic Oceans
Going for the One is outstanding for several reasons. Firstly, there's just 5 tracks, and broadly speaking (excluding
Tales…, the few tracks on a Yes album, the better developed they tend to be. Secondly, it captures the more temperamental members of the group (Anderson & Wakeman) at a point in time when their ideas and motivation are actually really flowing, unlike the successor
Tormato, on which there is a sense of going through the motions at too many points in the album. Anderson has gone on record as saying that
Awaken is the consumate Yes composition, and the one track that defines the group above all other. He might be right, an'all. It has everything you need in a Yes number - different textures, intricate rhythms and styles, the complex, yet absolutely beautiful guitar work of Steve Howe, who if he played
Ace of Spades, it would still sound like a worshiipful paean to some higher deity…. and it has Jon Andersons voice and lyrics all over it (like them or not), accompanied by an arrangement in which I imagine Rick Wakeman took the lion's share of the work. It is an outstanding piece of music, and they've every right to be jolly proud of it.
Personally though, if I were to play somebody one song which captures Yes, it'd be
Parallels from the same album. Alan White added to Yes a definate sense of drive to Yes's music, and his rhythms tend to be a lot more grounded than Bill Bruford's snazzy jazzwork. I actually really like both, but for numbers like this, you need a drummer who grew up studying Ringo Starr, and not Tony Williams. And of course, there's the keyboard work, which is my absolute favourite Rick Wakeman recorded work. See, after you've enjoyed this track at high volume, you don't fancy listening to music that isn't propelled by church organ solo again for while. Stunning. And it's not just the fluidity and taste in his playing on this track, there's hundreds on Yes and solo tracks that proves he can play. It's the way that Steve and Chris are absolutely in support the whole way through, carefully tidying up in the gaps and bringing out the best in him by giving him space - even in the verse parts when he's providing the rythmic backing to Jon's vocal.
What else is on there… lemme see…
Wondrous Stories is a rather charming song, though it's difficult to imagine being in the mood specifically for that track… it's a pleasant interlude between other things for me.
Turn of the Century is far from boring, as Simon remarks. It's an interesting composition that would have been the highlight of any other prog group's album in 1977… and then of course there's the explosive title track, with Steve's incendary guitars and Chris Squire locking down that groove with (I imagine) a very smug grin on his boatrace knowing that he's the best in his field. In this month's Prog magazine, there's some chap or another (can't remember) commenting that Chris Squire defined a very English style and sound of playing rock bass. I reckon if he referred to McCartney at the same time, he'd have a point.
Lovely, lovely stuff. There are two factors holding this album back from the acclaim it deserves:
1. The cover is rubbish.
2. It was released in a year when prog was aparrently dead in the water, and Yes were supposedly irrelevant. Absolute nonsense. See… future generations aren't going to read back copies of Melody maker from 1977. They're just going to check out the records, and decide for themselves that this is one of the finest examples of British music in the 1970s.
That'll do for now.
There's already a comprehensive Yes thread I started a few years back, and I don't feel like repeating meself. I'd update some of my thoughts on the debut album perhaps, coz it's been on at least once a week for the past year, but the rest of it stands.
Previous Topic
Index
