YES - Going for the One
Side One
1. "Going for the One"
2. "Turn of the Century"
3. "Parallels"
Side two
1. "Wonderous Stories"
2. "Awaken"
Jon Anderson � lead vocals, harp
Steve Howe � steel guitar, acoustic and electric guitars, vachalia, pedal steel guitar, vocals
Chris Squire � bass guitar, fretless bass, 8-string bass, vocals
Rick Wakeman � piano, electric keyboards, church organ at St. Martin's in Vevey, Polymoog synthesizer, choral arrangement on "Awaken"
Alan White � drums, percussion, tuned percussion
Released: 15 July 1977
Recorded: October 1976�April 1977
Studio: Mountain Studios, Montreux, Switzerland
Genre: Progressive rock
Length: 38:43
Label: Atlantic
Producer: Yes
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Going for the One is the eighth studio album by English progressive rock band Yes, released on 15 July 1977 by Atlantic Records. After taking a break in activity in 1975 for each member to release a solo album, and their 1976 tour of the United States and Canada, the band relocated to Montreux, Switzerland to record their next studio album. During rehearsals, keyboardist Patrick Moraz left the group, which marked the return of Rick Wakeman who had left to pursue a solo career after differences surrounding Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973). In a departure from their previous albums, Going for the One, with the exception of the fifteen-minute "Awaken", features shorter and more direct songs without an overarching concept, and saw Yes record with new engineering personnel and cover artists.
In August 1975, Yes wrapped their 1974�1975 tour of the US, Canada and the UK in support of their seventh studio album, Relayer (1974). The line-up during this time was lead vocalist Jon Anderson, bassist Chris Squire, guitarist Steve Howe, drummer Alan White, and keyboardist Patrick Moraz. 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, their first studio album recorded overseas. They arrived at the studio when Emerson, Lake & Palmer were supposed to have finished Works (1977) but they were running overtime, leaving the group to work at a rehearsal space nearby for several weeks. A substantial amount of writing and arranging of their new material was done during this time.
In the first two months of writing and recording, Moraz was let go 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 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". Howe said that some songs originated from ideas "from other eras" of the band's history, specifically "Turn of the Century" and parts of "Awaken"; Squire said that others were almost completely improvised in the studio, such as the long keyboard section to "Awaken" and various closing keyboard and guitar solos on other songs. 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."[wiki]
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YES, High Vibration Go On-Going for the One Live
t01 - Going for the One, 1977-09-23, Los Angeles, CA
t02 - Turn of the Century, 1977-08-12, Boston, MA
t03 - Parallels, 1977-09-26, Long Beach CA
t04 - Wondrous Stories, 1977-10-24, London, ENG
t05 - Flight Jam, 1977-08-25, Atlanta, GA
t06 - Awaken, 1977-08-25, Atlanta, GA
Bonus Tracks
t07 - Turn of the Century, 1996-03-04, San Luis Obispo, CA*
t08 - Wondrous Stories, 2004-07-11, Oxford, ENG
t09 - High Vibration, 1975-08-23, Reading, ENG
t10 - Awaken, 2004-09-22, Monterrey, MX
YES (the players):
Jon Anderson - lead vocals, percussion
Steve Howe - guitars, backing Vocals
Patrick Moraz - keyboards
Chris Squire - bass Guitar, backing Vocals
Rick Wakeman - keyboards
Alan White - drums, percussion
*Forgotten Yesterdays verifies that the track used on the official release, "Ascensions 2," is from 1996-03-05.
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Anderson's quote above is well taken: there is a maturity to the group's performances that comes with age, yet they are all still young enough to have the drive and energy of musicians rediscovering a shared joy in this new music.
For this compilation, I relied on recordings from the 1977 GFTO tour. We open with Millard's 9/23/77 Forum recording of "Going for the One," led by Steve Howe's brilliant pedal steel guitar work. The Alan White inspired "Turn of the Century" follows with its tale of regret and missed oportunity.
"Parallels," played as an opener during the GFTO tour, is a terrific, high energy rocker. "Wondrous Stories" is a light reminder of Anderson's songcraft and beautiful vocal ability. And we close with the brilliant "Flight Jam > Awaken" from the 8/25/77 Atlanta recording.
The bonus tracks begin with a performance of "Turn of the Century" almost 20 years after its initial release, and demonstrates the staying power of the classic 5 lineup and, more importantly, the music from the Going for the One album itself. The same goes for the delicate acoustic "Wondrous Stories" from 2004. The "Awaken" snippet entitled "High Vibration" comes from a 1975 performance (one of two that year) that shows the classic tune's early development. We close with Awaken's final performance in 2004 by the classic 5 (and original GFTO) line-up.
Tapers: Millard, BLG, various
Lineage: N/A
All Audience Recordings except as noted
Notes on Sound Quality: SQ is Good to Excellent throughout
All tracks are from the original filesets as previously torrented. New checksums created with TLH.
Please share only LOSSLESS recordings - Convert to lossy for personal use only.
All tracks adhere to DIME's NAV and NAB requirements and have been verified as non-official releases through Forgotten Yesterdays:
http://forgotten-yesterdays.com/index.asp
NOT FOR SALE-PLEASE SHARE FREELY
Please support this artist-purchase official recordings, attend live performances regularly, and visit the websites:
http://yesworld.com/
http://forgotten-yesterdays.com/
A word about compilations: This compilation is diguised as an album. I put together these performances for my personal enjoyment, and share them for the same reason. There are many Yes compilations available; "Wondrous Stories," "Ultimate Yes: 35th Anniversary Collection" and "Word Is Live." This collection is not meant to replace, but complement, the official releases. Nothing beats the original tracks themselves.
I urge you to seek out the torrented performances contained herein (they�re all available out there). Thanks to the tapers, uploaders and all who share this great music. And, of course, thank you to Yes.
Enjoy,
1chucho
"Live Music is Better"
May 2023
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The Live Album Series
BRUCE COCKBURN, Stealing Fire Live
NEIL YOUNG, On the Beach-Live
NEIL YOUNG, Rust Never Sleeps-Live
NEIL YOUNG, Waging Heavy Love-Eldorado Live
YES, Sister Bluebird-The Yes Album Live
YES, A Million Miles Away-Fragile Live
YES, I Get Up-Close to the Edge Live
YES, Soon the Light-Relayer Live
YES, High Vibration Go On-Going for the One Live
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