Going For The One

About

Going for the One is the eighth studio album by British progressive rock band Ye. It was released in 1977 after an extended break for solo activity, and is especially notable for marking the return of keyboardist Rick Wakeman, who had departed in 1974 in the aftermath of the Tales from Topographic Oceans tour. His re-entry was facilitated by the departure of Patrick Moraz, after having only played on Relayer, although Moraz is thanked in the credit. After their extended break, the band regrouped in Switzerland, refreshed and ready to record in late 1976. The album was recorded at Mountain Studios by recording engineers John Timperley and David Richard. After constructing epic tracks for the last few year, Yes felt inspired to scale things back a bit and recorded some of their most direct and concise material since Fragile. Wakeman also varied his sound by largely forsaking his mellotron and experimenting with church organ to pleasing effect on "Parallels" and the sole extended track, "Awaken". After many successive album covers with Roger Dean, Yes (who also produced the album entirely by themselves) instead commissioned Hipgnosis (known for designing album covers for Pink Floyd) to create the artwork for Going for the One. The album cover features the Century Plaza Towers in Los Angele, also known locally as the Twin Tower. Yes' return at the height of the punk movement was an unexpectedly successful one, with Going for the One reaching the pinnacle of the UK charts and even having a Top 10 hit single with "Wonderous Stories" - something that would have been considered impossible during the days of Tales from Topographic Ocean. The album was another U.S. Top 10 charting album for the band reaching #8 on the Billboard album chart in 1977. With its confident and natural qualitie, Going for the One is still generally regarded by most critics as one of Yes' finest, and many time, most underrated album. In addition, the song "Awaken" is considered by many fans to be Yes' finest work, and Jon Anderson has said "We had a hit record! I loved listening to 'Awaken', at last we had created a Masterwork" and has indicated in some interviews that he considers it to be Yes' most complete composition. Side one "Going for the One" (Jon Anderson) – 5:32 "Turn of the Century" (Jon Anderson/Steve Howe/Alan White) – 7:56 "Parallels" (Chris Squire) – 5:53 Side two "Wonderous Stories" (Jon Anderson) – 3:49 "Awaken" (Jon Anderson/Steve Howe) – 15:31 Bonus Tracks Going for the One was remastered and reissued by Rhino in 2003 with several bonus tracks: "Montreux's Theme" (Steve Howe/Chris Squire/Jon Anderson/Alan White) – 2:38 "Vevey (Revisited)" (Jon Anderson/Rick Wakeman) – 4:46 "Amazing Grace" (Trad. Arr. Chris Squire) – 2:36 "Going for the One" (Rehearsal) (Jon Anderson) – 5:10 "Parallels" (Rehearsal) (Chris Squire) – 6:21 "Turn of the Century" (Rehearsal) (Jon Anderson/Steve Howe/Alan White) – 6:58 "Eastern Number" (Early version of "Awaken") (Jon Anderson/Steve Howe) – 12:16 Reception Going for the One (Atlantic K 50379) reached #1 in the UK. It also reached #8 in the US during a chart stay of 21 week. Personnel Jon Anderson: Vocal, percussion, harp Chris Squire: Bass guitar, vocals Steve Howe: Electric and acoustic guitar, Portuguese 12 String ( incorrectly listed as a vachalia at the time ), lap steel guitar, vocal Rick Wakeman: Piano, organ, Polymoog and Minimoog synthesizer, pipe organ Alan White: Drum, percussion Reissues 1988 - Atlantic - CD 1994 - Atlantic - CD (Remastered) .

via Last.fm

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