Going for the One

Going for the One is the eighth studio album by English progressive rock band Yes, released on 12 July 1977 For their next move, the group decided to take an extended break so each member could record and release a solo album. They regrouped for their Solo Albums Tour from May to August, which saw Yes perform some of their highest attended concerts. By October 1976, the band had become tax exiles and relocated to Montreux, Switzerland, to record a new studio album at Mountain Studios,

thumb|left|The album marked the return of keyboardist [[Rick Wakeman]]

In the first two months of writing and recording, Moraz was fired from the band, which he did not expect. Anderson thought he "just wasn't playing like he was involved", and that his sound was not "too good, and that affected his vibe ... it was obvious that he just wasn't getting off on what we were doing." Several months after his exit, Moraz said he had to leave because of "the enormous psychological pressures at the time within the group ... I felt there were a few things going on that I didn't know ... Unfortunately some people did not play the game fair, although the final decision was taken by all members." The decision was made after Rick Wakeman, who had left Yes in 1974 over differences surrounding their ambitious double album Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973) and whom Moraz replaced, was invited to play on Going for the One as a session musician by Yes manager Brian Lane and business partner Alex Scott. Wakeman had pursued a successful solo career, but by mid-1976 he faced financial problems after his tour earlier in the year had met its minimal targets. He became interested in playing with Yes again after he had heard a tape of early versions of two of their new songs, "Going for the One" and "Wonderous Stories". Upon his arrival in Switzerland, Wakeman was surprised by how much the band had changed. "We began relating to each other for the first time. I think we had all grown up and became much more mature. Maybe I had to grow up more than them."

At a subsequent party held by Claude Nobs, Lane and Squire convinced Wakeman to become a full-time member as the group would have difficulty in finding a suitable replacement to play Wakeman's parts on their upcoming tour, but did not tell him that they had already informed the press of his return. Wakeman found out when he saw himself on the front cover of Melody Maker, which had printed the news on 4 December 1976.

Recording

thumb|right|upright|Wakeman played the organ at in on "Parallels" and "Awaken", while the rest of the band played in the recording studio.

The album was recorded from October 1976 to April 1977. In a departure from their previous four studio albums, Yes recorded Going for the One with new engineering personnel. Since 1970, they had worked with Eddy Offord who also mixed their sound in concert. After the Relayer tour, Offord thought the band's style had become "a bit stale", and thought a split was needed to work with other bands. Yes employed recording engineer John Timperley who was assisted by David Richards. In a first for the band, the album was solely produced by themselves. Squire recalled numerous heated arguments over the use of echo on the album, as the group were divided over its use.

The album marked a shift in the band's musical style. Having based Tales from Topographic Oceans and Relayer around extended or conceptual tracks, Yes decided to scale things back and record shorter and more accessible songs that critic and band biographer Chris Welch described as "user friendly". In one instance, Howe recalled the band had started to arrange a five-minute introduction to a song before they scrapped the idea, as the group realised "there are more ways of getting into songs [...] it was time to go back". Anderson spoke about the group's direction at the time: "The album is a kind of celebration [...] Over the last two or three years we've been experimenting a lot and we're happy to have been given that chance. [...] We've come back to a happier medium. [...] If we wanted another 'Tales' concept we would have gone in that direction, but we needed to relax for a while—a little more laughing and jive."

In addition to recording at Mountain Studios, "Parallels" and "Awaken" features the church organ at St. Martin's in the town of Vevey White also wrote the section where the drums incorporate the tympani towards the end. The opening minutes of the track became one of Howe's favourite pieces of music by the band.

"Parallels" was part of a collection of songs that Squire had written for his solo album Fish Out of Water (1975), but were left out due to the limited capacity of a vinyl record. He also felt the song did not fit with the style of the other tracks on his album. When it came to selecting songs for Going for the One, Squire suggested the song for the group to record, which was received well by the other members. Squire noted the juxtaposition of musical styles coming into play with his blues-oriented bass playing against Wakeman's church organ. In its rough form, the song contained no guitar riffs. Squire said the lyrics are about "a spiritual kind of love" that offer a message of hope, a recurring theme of his lyrics.

Side two

"Wonderous Stories" is the second track on the album solely written by Anderson. Anderson wished to incorporate the harp into the song's middle section and "dream the audience, sort of Vivaldi", and later considered the song's lyrics and its final section with Wakeman's keyboards to be particularly strong. The track features choral passages performed by the Richard Williams Singers, whose musical arrangements were directed by Wakeman, and the Ars Laeta of Lausanne, recorded at the Église des Planches, a church in Montreux. An early version of the song's introduction was performed live during the band's final gig on the Relayer tour, in 1975.

Artwork

In addition to a change of producers and engineers, Going for the One also marked a departure in the cover artists. Since 1971, they had worked with Roger Dean who became known for his surreal and fantastical landscapes and designed their distinctive logo. While the band were recording Dean presented his idea for the cover painting, which had pieces of rock floating in the sky with the largest piece containing trees and a pool of water. The design was to be a conceptual sequel to his work produced on their first live album, Yessongs (1973). Dean said he flew to Montreux to discuss his ideas with the band but only met with Anderson, who was uninterested in his suggestions and instead, presented a rough design of what he wanted Dean to create. Anderson, however, claimed that while the band approached Dean to design the cover, he was unwilling to visit them. Howe claimed "a certain member" was no longer interested in working with Dean, which ended their collaboration until Drama (1980); in Howe's 2021 memoir All My Yesterdays he attributes that to a "misunderstanding".

thumb|upright|[[Century Plaza Towers]]

The band commissioned Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis to design the artwork. They came up with a marked change in direction that represented a new, revitalised attitude within the band and their return to more direct and concise songs. Artist George Hardie contributed to the graphical design. Presented as a triple gatefold sleeve, the front cover depicts the back of a standing nude male looking at the Century Plaza Towers in Century City, California against a blue sky. By the time the album was released Yes had acquired full ownership of Dean's logo, which they previously had co-owned, and used it on the cover. Dean is credited in the liner notes. Anderson said the lines intersecting through the male define "points of the anatomy relative to our development." It became a commercial success for the band, reaching number one on the UK Albums Chart, their second album to do so following Tales from Topographic Oceans, for two weeks in August 1977 and peaking at number 8 on the US Billboard 200. Elsewhere, the album went to number 7 in Norway. It was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on 2 August 1977 for selling over 500,000 copies in the US. In the UK, the album reached silver certification by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on 19 September 1977, signifying 60,000 copies sold and sales worth over £150,000.

The album spawned two singles, both released in 1977. "Wonderous Stories" was released with "Parallels" as the B-side which peaked at number 7 in the UK singles chart. To help promote the song, Yes filmed their first music video for the song which received airplay on the BBC television music show Top of the Pops. It remains the band's highest-charting single in the country. The second, "Going for the One" with an edited version of "Awaken Pt. 1" on the B-side, reached number 24 in the UK.

Reception

In his review for Los Angeles Times, Steve Pond believed the album succeeds because the band had "lowered rather than raised its sights. By going back to basics rather than trying to top its previous 'extravaganzas', Yes has produced its most appealing collection" since Close to the Edge. He praised the "refreshing energy" the album brings, but noted their "kitchen-sink approach to song-writing, throwing everything into a composition but sometimes failing to smoothly integrate the disparate elements". In Record Mirror, reviewer Robin Smith gave the album five "+", the highest ranking which means "Unbeatable". He praised the title track, which opens the album with "an uncharacteristic piece of boogie" and has atmosphere and an effective ending. Smith concluded that with the album, "Yes dispel all your fears that the band are over the hill and finished [...] they're back stronger than ever." Billboard gave a positive review, noting the band "is clearly going all out here to create its most ambitious and awesome work yet", and picked the title track, "Wonderous Stories", and "Awaken" as the best cuts.

In a retrospective review, biographer and reporter Chris Welch welcomed the album after the more complex material on Tales from Topographic Oceans and Relayer, citing its "melodic simplicity" which was "a breath of fresh air" and still stood up strong at the time of his review. He praised Wakeman's performance and the band's choice in incorporating his talents into the music more effectively, which was not the case on Tales. He praised every track, calling "Wonderous Stories" a tune that allowed the group "to fly without really trying" and the closing moments of "Awaken", in particular, "quite beautiful ... the kind of music making now almost a lost art". Ross Boissoneau, for AllMusic, described Going for the One as "perhaps the most overlooked item in the Yes catalog ... In many ways, this disc could be seen as the follow-up to Fragile (1971). Its five tracks still retain mystical, abstract lyrical images, and the music is grand and melodic, the vocal harmonies perfectly balanced by the stinging guitar work of Steve Howe, Wakeman's keyboards, and the solid rhythms of Alan White and Chris Squire". He called "Awaken" an "evocative track" with lyrics "spacey in the extreme", but praised Anderson and Squire's vocals and the addition of Anderson's harp and White's tuned percussion. Paul Stump's 1997 History of Progressive Rock noted Going for the One was a surprise triumph for Yes, achieving both critical and commercial success despite arriving in the middle of the "summer of Punk" and after a nearly three-year hiatus from the studio. He singled out "Turn of the Century" ("a masterstroke of textural finesse") and "Parallels" ("a bullying piece of music-making which careers along with intimidating speed and violence, culminating contrapuntally in one of Yes's most adrenalized climaxes yet") as the highlights.

Tour

thumb|right|Yes performing on the 1977 tour

Yes supported Going for the One with a tour of the US, Canada and Europe that ran from 30 July to 6 December 1977, and featured Donovan as their opening act. The stage set had a much simpler design compared to the band's previous three tours, which centred around a series of illuminated shapes which gave a three-dimensional effect. Wakeman's keyboards were arranged on two levels. Anderson was illuminated in multiple colours as he sung an excerpt of "The Beautiful Land" from the musical The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd. The tour included a record six consecutive sold out nights at Wembley Arena in London that were attended by over 50,000 people. In order to play the different bass parts on "Awaken", Squire used a custom triple-necked bass made in 1975 by Wal for Roger Newell, the bassist in Wakeman's band the English Rock Ensemble. Recordings from the European tour were released on Yes's second live album, Yesshows (1981).

Yes selected Going for the One for their first Album Series Tour from March 2013 to June 2014, with the album performed live in its entirety and in track order.

Reissues

Going for the One was first reissued on CD across Europe in 1988. A digitally remastered CD followed in 1994 made by George Marino at Sterling Sound studios. In 2003, Rhino and Elektra Records released a new digitally remastered CD with seven bonus tracks. 2013 saw two remastered "audiophile" versions put out, one by Audio Fidelity for the Super Audio CD format and the other by Friday Music releasing a 180-gram LP using analog tape dubs since the original tapes were missing.

Track listing

Notes

• "Montreux's Theme" and "Amazing Grace" first appeared on Yesyears, released in 1991.
• The version of "Vevey (Revisited)" featured here is different from the ones released on Yesyears.

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's 1977 and 2003 liner notes.

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Year-end charts

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Certifications

References

Sources