lindil
01-15-2002, 01:15 PM
Well some one suggested a thread for each
[classic] album. I thought I would start w/ my
favorite Going for the One.
Realizing I am in a minority position here,
compared to Relayer, CttE and Tales [?], and
now possibly magnification, I wil try and point
out what it is I see in Gft1 that makes it the
peak musical album of all time.
Let me start w/ the flaws [sure to be
controversial ].
Steve's wild steel on the title track - I must be
in the right mood to to really get into it, and
even then there are a few phrases I have yet
to learn to appreciate. The keyboards are
occasionally along for the ride.
Turn of the century , absolutely perfect.
Parallels- the only complaint is Steve's vocals
at the very end are a sore thumb [ ihesitate to
post this lest someoneelse who has never
heard suddenly become annoyed - but how
else to be objective?]. other than another
flawless peice. Is it as good as TotC - no but
within it's scope of composition it is 99.7%
succsessful].
Wonderous Stories and Awaken - again
perfect compositions.
A note about the albums overall tone - Each
album [of any band really] has it's own tone
and one could prob. tell which sessions any
outtakes belong to upon first hearing if one
had no prior info. The tone for Gft1 is to me
the most celestial and heavenly and i would
add Elvish [as in the eldar of middle-Earth].
the title track is a partial exception. Charl8ie
[sp?
] complained about a lack of tension [was it ?]
and it is true there is no Gates, but all of the
tracks [except WS] have plenty for my taste
and lack of some on WS is fine. the tone of the
album which as I said is to me the Highest of
any Yes album is due to a few things I guess.
1> sitzerland and the mountains and daily
skiing - as opposed to England or the US
where as far as I know mostif not all of the
other studio albums are made.
2> their chronological age [their 30's?] wherin
youthful idealism and exuberance have to my
mind harmoniously meshed w/ a noted peak
of restraint , maturity and wisdom.
3> the return of Wakeman, he sometimes
annoy's me w/ his solo's [esp. CttE/ siberian
Khatru and Tales pt1] but I have no serious
complaints w/ his playing on the whole album.
He and anderson and howe were seriously
inspired for the whole album. I think his return
brought the best out of Anderson and Howe.
4> coming off the musically awesome Relayer
and several good tours and especially having
done there studio albums and realized that all
of them are stronger musically together than
apart [imagine Olias as a Yes record!] they
ewre in a perfect space to appreciate each
other. much of the above is supposition but
some I have read in the various yes books.
Now for what i like:
Gft1- Very high energy, all of the instruments
but the drums are their own world, anderson's
lyrics are as far out as he has gone [in
english- and w/ tales and Sib. Khartu
excepted] but still comprehensible and
downright infectious. Squire's harmoies
actually add something [ I am coming to wish
Jon sang alone more and more w/ the later
post BG albums]
the truth of sport plays rings around you ...
after seeing all you r sense of fear diminish...
as you throw away misconceptions... i like the
playful yet inspiring lyrics quite abit , they
remingd me that even in the midst of things
we can be inspireed and Go for the One [
God]. The very ending 'Love, love love, love...]
section is perfect Yes harmonies and a nice
change of time signature
Excellent grumbly bottom end very supportive
of the guitar, honky - tonk keyboards are
nicely back in the mix.
ovreall great for what io consider the weakest
tune of the album.
Turn of the Century - I never paid too much
attention to this song as I considered just 1
great ttrack on a great album until my friend
patrick said it was his favorite song [on the
album and i think his favorite Yes tune period].
Since then i have come to love it's softness
and delicateness. I particularly love Steve's 12
string playing as I have been a 12 stringer
most of my life. Anderson's tells a romantic
story which he had not done since pre-Yes
album [if even then I havn't heard those in 1o
years or so] and does w/ awesome poetry.
'Like leaves we touch' is as beautiful a line as
he has ever written. Wakeman's keyboards
are awesome, steve's electric playing goes
stellar the bass booms in the middle. An
awesome cresendo is reached. Squire's 'ahh's
are truly tasteful ad a welcome addition
before he starts harmonizing again.
It ends w/ more beautiful 12 string even the
hard plucking in places works beautifully.
the little vibe at the ending and between
tunes is perfect.
Parallels - Awesome organ- recorded over a
telephone!!!!!!! Steve's playing is perfect,
effortless cascades of melody [ I am listening
to it as I write :) ] Squire wrote good lyrics
and and he and Anderson do a great job of
blending. 'Create a new dimension ' may seem
cliche on paper but hearing them play this you
feel it is possible.
To be an ever- openng flower, to build a
shining tower....
The bridge/chorus is awesome - " we will find
we need to be where we belong... display our
rights and wrongs.'
Wakeman then delivers one of his best solo's
ever [outside of awaken], A beautiful organ
/guitar duet before returm=ning to lyrics... ' It
is the begining of a new loveinside' , The
music is so high that the the final lyric 'making
love towards perfection ' almost never calls to
mind sex, but a 'higher' love.
Powerful ending.
Wonderous Stories. In my mind the ultimate
hit tune. It along w/ a few other tunes like
And you and I and Future times rejoice and
this album sum up Yes in song for me. I also
like the fat that I can rather easily play it on
guitar for my girls].
Beautiful vocals from all, the only good use of
the Bass 'harmonizer' I will admit too. Squire
sings above [!] jon on the harmonies and is
mized in perfect. cool portugese guitar and
Jazzy solo works well at the end.
Awaken - the ultimate Yes tune [in Anderson's
book at least , whatever one may think of my
opinion]
Howe's telecaster solo's fit in even better than
relayer where they are a bit twangy at times [
i know some would call that an
understatement]. The whole song beging to
end is perfect so what can I say? The central
section w/ harp[ is particularly haunting and
beautiful. One of Howe's best solo's early on.
doubled partly by Wakeman.
!!The Choir!! and later them Wakeman's and
Howe's Steel at the Cresendo are up their w/
Collins singing the last three sentences of
Suppers Ready
Seeing them do this on the Union tour was as
i had missed the Tormato/ Gft1 tours was a
once in alifetime thing.
The whole thing weaves a Imladrisian magic
about my mind.
" [Frodo] stood still enchanted, while the
sweet syllables of the elvish song fell like clear
jewelsof blended word and melody. 'it is a
song of Elbereth' said Bilbo they will sing this
and other songs of the Blessed Realm many
times tonight, Come on!..."
I always wished
I have often wished they had stayed to listen and tolkien had continued
the description, but as compensation yes wrote Awaken!
so while I give Fragile, CttE, Relayer A+'s only
Gft1 gets the A++
respectfully,
lindil
[lover of song]
[classic] album. I thought I would start w/ my
favorite Going for the One.
Realizing I am in a minority position here,
compared to Relayer, CttE and Tales [?], and
now possibly magnification, I wil try and point
out what it is I see in Gft1 that makes it the
peak musical album of all time.
Let me start w/ the flaws [sure to be
controversial ].
Steve's wild steel on the title track - I must be
in the right mood to to really get into it, and
even then there are a few phrases I have yet
to learn to appreciate. The keyboards are
occasionally along for the ride.
Turn of the century , absolutely perfect.
Parallels- the only complaint is Steve's vocals
at the very end are a sore thumb [ ihesitate to
post this lest someoneelse who has never
heard suddenly become annoyed - but how
else to be objective?]. other than another
flawless peice. Is it as good as TotC - no but
within it's scope of composition it is 99.7%
succsessful].
Wonderous Stories and Awaken - again
perfect compositions.
A note about the albums overall tone - Each
album [of any band really] has it's own tone
and one could prob. tell which sessions any
outtakes belong to upon first hearing if one
had no prior info. The tone for Gft1 is to me
the most celestial and heavenly and i would
add Elvish [as in the eldar of middle-Earth].
the title track is a partial exception. Charl8ie
[sp?
] complained about a lack of tension [was it ?]
and it is true there is no Gates, but all of the
tracks [except WS] have plenty for my taste
and lack of some on WS is fine. the tone of the
album which as I said is to me the Highest of
any Yes album is due to a few things I guess.
1> sitzerland and the mountains and daily
skiing - as opposed to England or the US
where as far as I know mostif not all of the
other studio albums are made.
2> their chronological age [their 30's?] wherin
youthful idealism and exuberance have to my
mind harmoniously meshed w/ a noted peak
of restraint , maturity and wisdom.
3> the return of Wakeman, he sometimes
annoy's me w/ his solo's [esp. CttE/ siberian
Khatru and Tales pt1] but I have no serious
complaints w/ his playing on the whole album.
He and anderson and howe were seriously
inspired for the whole album. I think his return
brought the best out of Anderson and Howe.
4> coming off the musically awesome Relayer
and several good tours and especially having
done there studio albums and realized that all
of them are stronger musically together than
apart [imagine Olias as a Yes record!] they
ewre in a perfect space to appreciate each
other. much of the above is supposition but
some I have read in the various yes books.
Now for what i like:
Gft1- Very high energy, all of the instruments
but the drums are their own world, anderson's
lyrics are as far out as he has gone [in
english- and w/ tales and Sib. Khartu
excepted] but still comprehensible and
downright infectious. Squire's harmoies
actually add something [ I am coming to wish
Jon sang alone more and more w/ the later
post BG albums]
the truth of sport plays rings around you ...
after seeing all you r sense of fear diminish...
as you throw away misconceptions... i like the
playful yet inspiring lyrics quite abit , they
remingd me that even in the midst of things
we can be inspireed and Go for the One [
God]. The very ending 'Love, love love, love...]
section is perfect Yes harmonies and a nice
change of time signature
Excellent grumbly bottom end very supportive
of the guitar, honky - tonk keyboards are
nicely back in the mix.
ovreall great for what io consider the weakest
tune of the album.
Turn of the Century - I never paid too much
attention to this song as I considered just 1
great ttrack on a great album until my friend
patrick said it was his favorite song [on the
album and i think his favorite Yes tune period].
Since then i have come to love it's softness
and delicateness. I particularly love Steve's 12
string playing as I have been a 12 stringer
most of my life. Anderson's tells a romantic
story which he had not done since pre-Yes
album [if even then I havn't heard those in 1o
years or so] and does w/ awesome poetry.
'Like leaves we touch' is as beautiful a line as
he has ever written. Wakeman's keyboards
are awesome, steve's electric playing goes
stellar the bass booms in the middle. An
awesome cresendo is reached. Squire's 'ahh's
are truly tasteful ad a welcome addition
before he starts harmonizing again.
It ends w/ more beautiful 12 string even the
hard plucking in places works beautifully.
the little vibe at the ending and between
tunes is perfect.
Parallels - Awesome organ- recorded over a
telephone!!!!!!! Steve's playing is perfect,
effortless cascades of melody [ I am listening
to it as I write :) ] Squire wrote good lyrics
and and he and Anderson do a great job of
blending. 'Create a new dimension ' may seem
cliche on paper but hearing them play this you
feel it is possible.
To be an ever- openng flower, to build a
shining tower....
The bridge/chorus is awesome - " we will find
we need to be where we belong... display our
rights and wrongs.'
Wakeman then delivers one of his best solo's
ever [outside of awaken], A beautiful organ
/guitar duet before returm=ning to lyrics... ' It
is the begining of a new loveinside' , The
music is so high that the the final lyric 'making
love towards perfection ' almost never calls to
mind sex, but a 'higher' love.
Powerful ending.
Wonderous Stories. In my mind the ultimate
hit tune. It along w/ a few other tunes like
And you and I and Future times rejoice and
this album sum up Yes in song for me. I also
like the fat that I can rather easily play it on
guitar for my girls].
Beautiful vocals from all, the only good use of
the Bass 'harmonizer' I will admit too. Squire
sings above [!] jon on the harmonies and is
mized in perfect. cool portugese guitar and
Jazzy solo works well at the end.
Awaken - the ultimate Yes tune [in Anderson's
book at least , whatever one may think of my
opinion]
Howe's telecaster solo's fit in even better than
relayer where they are a bit twangy at times [
i know some would call that an
understatement]. The whole song beging to
end is perfect so what can I say? The central
section w/ harp[ is particularly haunting and
beautiful. One of Howe's best solo's early on.
doubled partly by Wakeman.
!!The Choir!! and later them Wakeman's and
Howe's Steel at the Cresendo are up their w/
Collins singing the last three sentences of
Suppers Ready
Seeing them do this on the Union tour was as
i had missed the Tormato/ Gft1 tours was a
once in alifetime thing.
The whole thing weaves a Imladrisian magic
about my mind.
" [Frodo] stood still enchanted, while the
sweet syllables of the elvish song fell like clear
jewelsof blended word and melody. 'it is a
song of Elbereth' said Bilbo they will sing this
and other songs of the Blessed Realm many
times tonight, Come on!..."
I always wished
I have often wished they had stayed to listen and tolkien had continued
the description, but as compensation yes wrote Awaken!
so while I give Fragile, CttE, Relayer A+'s only
Gft1 gets the A++
respectfully,
lindil
[lover of song]