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Yes - "Going For The One" (1977) - Atlantic Records
Hello Friends,
It's another Summery Prog Rock Saturday here at the ol' Vinyl in the Valley Headquarters and tonight we're back with some classic lineup Yes on the turntable.
Going For The One is the band's eighth album and their first after a three year hiatus due to extensive touring and the releasing of various solo albums. It also marks the return of Rick Wakeman who left the band after differences over Tales for Topographic Oceans. And while not as proggy as some of their earlier prog classics, Going For The One would be the last truly listenable prog album by the band.
The album would crack the top 10 in the U.S. and reach number 1 in the U.K.
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Fun Fact: Hey kids, when Going For the One reached # 8 on the Billboard album charts in August of 1977, which album occupied the # 1 spot for a solid four months?
If you guessed Fleetwood Mac's Rumours buy yourself a drink!
***************************************************************************************************************
Things get started with the title track, probably one of their most accessible songs since 1971, a five-minute and thirty-second rocker featuring some blistering Steve Howe slide guitar playing. Its like a kick-ass workout song for some late seventies prog nerd with sweatbands and oversized headphones.
That's at the right speed, kids. Jon Anderson's vocals were actually that high!
Next up is the eight minute, New Age-y sounding, "Turn of the Century" which may or may not be vaguely about Russian artist, Marc Chagall, and how he grew distant from his wife when he moved from Russia to France in the 1920's to become a famous and important artist!
Side One closes out with Chris Squire's (R.I.P.) Parallels.
Side Two kicks off with the short, sweet and airy ballad, "Wonderous Stories" which sounds like it could be a love theme on Game of Thrones. Winter is Coming, friends!
The album closes with the 16 minute, Awaken, which in our opinion is a little too long and little too underwhelming but overall the album has held up alright for over 30 years.
For the sleeve art, the band would get Hipgnosis to design the cover art, a stark departure from the fantastical and otherworldly brushwork of artist Roger Dean. The album definitely looks more like Wish You Were Here than it does Fragile.
By the end of the Seventies, Progressive Rock was on its way out and on its way to becoming more of a punchline in the rock & roll history books. Never Mind the Bullocks would be released in October of '77, just two months after Going for the One. Yes's next album, 1978's Tormato, would be a fucking disaster and don't even get us started about 1980's Drama which would attempt to merge Prog-rock with New Wave in a way no one asked for! It would also feature The Buggles(!) on lead vocals and keyboards!
But that's for another Summery Saturday, kids!
The album would crack the top 10 in the U.S. and reach number 1 in the U.K.
***************************************************************************************************************
Fun Fact: Hey kids, when Going For the One reached # 8 on the Billboard album charts in August of 1977, which album occupied the # 1 spot for a solid four months?
If you guessed Fleetwood Mac's Rumours buy yourself a drink!
***************************************************************************************************************
Things get started with the title track, probably one of their most accessible songs since 1971, a five-minute and thirty-second rocker featuring some blistering Steve Howe slide guitar playing. Its like a kick-ass workout song for some late seventies prog nerd with sweatbands and oversized headphones.
That's at the right speed, kids. Jon Anderson's vocals were actually that high!
Next up is the eight minute, New Age-y sounding, "Turn of the Century" which may or may not be vaguely about Russian artist, Marc Chagall, and how he grew distant from his wife when he moved from Russia to France in the 1920's to become a famous and important artist!
Side One closes out with Chris Squire's (R.I.P.) Parallels.
Side Two kicks off with the short, sweet and airy ballad, "Wonderous Stories" which sounds like it could be a love theme on Game of Thrones. Winter is Coming, friends!
The album closes with the 16 minute, Awaken, which in our opinion is a little too long and little too underwhelming but overall the album has held up alright for over 30 years.
For the sleeve art, the band would get Hipgnosis to design the cover art, a stark departure from the fantastical and otherworldly brushwork of artist Roger Dean. The album definitely looks more like Wish You Were Here than it does Fragile.
By the end of the Seventies, Progressive Rock was on its way out and on its way to becoming more of a punchline in the rock & roll history books. Never Mind the Bullocks would be released in October of '77, just two months after Going for the One. Yes's next album, 1978's Tormato, would be a fucking disaster and don't even get us started about 1980's Drama which would attempt to merge Prog-rock with New Wave in a way no one asked for! It would also feature The Buggles(!) on lead vocals and keyboards!
But that's for another Summery Saturday, kids!
RATING: 4 and here you stand no taller than the grass seas out of 5
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