Going for the One [Bonus Tracks] [Remaster]

Performer: Yes
Engineer: John Timperley
Producer: Chris Squire; Yes; Bill Inglot; Bobby Warner
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Yes: Jon Anderson (vocals, guitar, harp); Steve Howe (acoustic & electric guitars, background vocals); Rick wakeman (piano, organ, keyboards, Moog synthesizer); Chris Squire (bass, background vocals); Alan White (drums, percussion). Recorded at Mountain Studios, Montreux, Switzerland; Saint Martins Church, Vevey, Switzerland and Advision Studios, London, England between 1976 & 1977. Originally released on Atlantic (19106). Personnel: Jon Anderson (vocals, guitar, harp); Steve Howe (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, steel guitar); Chris Squire (vocals, bass guitar); Rick Wakeman (piano, organ, keyboards); Alan White (drums, percussion). Audio Mixer: Bobby Warner. Audio Remasterers: Dan Hersch; Bill Inglot. Liner Note Author: Tim Jones. Recording information: Advision Studios, London, England (11/04/1976); Eglise Des Plaches, Montreux, Switzerland (11/04/1976); Mountain Studios, Montreaux, Switzerland (11/04/1976); St. Martins Church, Vevey, Switzerland (11/04/1976). Photographers: Jaques Straessle; Hipgnosis [Design Group]; Neal Preston; Richard Aaron; Alex Grob; Rory . Arrangers: Chris Squire; Yes. Upon the release of 1977's GOING FOR THE ONE and its predecessor, RELAYER, the gap between albums was the longest to date for Yes. In the interim, keyboardist Patrick Moraz, who replaced Rick Wakeman, departed, and Wakeman returned to the fold. Thus re-energized, the band found its feet again and recorded the finest of their mid-period releases. While the artful ambition of RELAYER hadn't totally disappeared (this was still '70s prog rock after all), there was a new level of visceral energy and concision on the title track and "Wonderous Stories," the latter as close as Yes got to a pop single at the time. The more expansive side of the group is represented best on the epic "Awaken," a multi-hued piece that would remain a concert favorite decades later. After two albums of increasingly diminishing returns, Yes bounced back from the brink with Going for the One, an album that might not, for the most part, have deviated too far from the band's traditional pastures but which, if you paid attention only to its attendant singles, at least suggested that Yes was over the worst. Both the almost-folky "Wondrous Stories" and the electric passion of the title track took steps that earlier incarnations of the band would never have braved -- stark simplicity on the one hand, unadulterated electricity on the other. And, if one skips the other five LP tracks that open the 2003 remaster of this album, it is clear that Yes was simply sparking with ideas and enthusiasm once again. The first three bonus tracks, the delicate "Montreux's Theme" and "Vevey (Revisited)" and a snorting bass blast through "Amazing Grace," have all appeared aboard past Yes compilations, but how much more fun would it have been had they inserted all three into the original album, in the same way as sundry snippets were slipped into Fragile? Unanimously blessed with both humor and humility, they portray Yes as a band once again, as opposed to five virtuosos with too much time on their hands. Listeners then move into a series of studio rehearsals, including a surely early instrumental drive through "Going for the One," effected with little technical expertise but positively gallons of energy. Similarly sourced versions of "Parallels" and "Turn of the Century" are less remarkable, but they, too, remain enjoyable snapshots of the band simply kicking back and enjoying itself. The highlight, however, has to be the CD closer, an early version of the album's own final track, "Awaken," cut while it was still known as "Eastern Number." Bereft of the grandiose keyboard flourishes that establish the familiar version as a "traditional" Yes epic, "Eastern Number" has a delicate na�vet� that is more reminiscent of the group's earliest flowering than anything else. With the best Yes album in five years appended by the best bonus tracks in the series so far, it seems churlish to complain about any aspect of the reissue. However, it's worth pointing out that the slipcased digipack format that housed the last four of the group's earlier albums, and which brought a genuine sense of occasion to each of them, has been abandoned for a return to the unadorned jewel case employed for the first three reissues. It's a shame -- Going for the One sounds so great, it's a shame it doesn't look good as well. ~ Dave Thompson

The longest-running prog-rock group in the business, Yes flew on the strength of Jon Anderson's high, angelic voice and the group's instrumental virtuosity. The band began in England, rising from the ashes of pop-psych outfits like Tomorrow, Bodast, and Mabel Greer's Toyshop. Extending the technical facility of psychedelia and downplaying the trippiness, it helped forge the template for progressive rock and reigned as its most popular practitioners in the '70s. Over the years, Yes has weathered personnel changes, lawsuits, and changing public tastes while holding on to its original vision.

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