Going for the One- Rating out of 5?

[madbear]

I loved this at the time, and it was the first tour i saw them live. But I have come to loathe Awaken, though I like the rest of the album. It's nowhere near Relayer or Topographic Oceans though.

[Bedafra]

Not for me, not keen on overall sound. Listened many times to try to like it!!
Pretty average album for me .

[Chris2210]

That would be The Ice Bridge for example. Just because it’s the only rocking song on The Quest, doesn’t mean it’s any good.

I think it's OK, but I prefer Dare to Know and Leave Well Alone by a fair margin. Just about everything else I think is decent but pretty uninspiring. But to be brutally honest I don't think Yes exists any more in essence. Even if the two great song writers reunited I think the alchemy is gone, as is the inimitable Chris Squire.

I don't think Yes are or ever were a formula, but they were a unique mix of ingredients and inevitably what is left of those is diminshed. That's not to say we can't enjoy what's left or other mixtures, it's just unrealistic now to expect such a heady concoction. I think it's actually a little disrespectful of the very special talents that made up the band in their heyday to imagine you can simply substitute.

I still support the present band, but in my heart of hearts I'm a no-Jon, no-Steve, no-Chris, no-Yes guy.

Literalism be damned.

[Ceasar’s Palace]

But boil Yes down to heavy rock and you distill them to a very pale and insipid essence.

That would be The Ice Bridge for example. Just because it’s the only rocking song on The Quest, doesn’t mean it’s any good.

[Chris2210]

I may be oversimplifying, but I feel heavy rock in general is often guilty of lazy songwriting. “We have a killer attitude and sound, so three chords will do.”
No they won’t. Have the killer sound and attitude after you’ve written a good song. Yes was often good at that. Though of course there’s much much more to our favorite band.

It's perhaps reflective of my own personal tastes, but my two favourite Sabbath tracks are Spiral Architect and Air Dance - both very atypical of their output - but subtle and beautiful in their own ways. I saw them [Sabbath] at the last big reunion gig in Hyde Park a few years back and their set consisted almost exclusively of the grinding heavy metal of vol 4 and earlier. It's what they've become celebrated for I suppose, but it's the crudest stereotype of what they were as a band. I also thought their studio album '13' was disappointing for many of the same reasons.

But boil Yes down to heavy rock and you distill them to a very pale and insipid essence.

[Ceasar’s Palace]

I think Yesshows is interesting and it makes the bass and drums more prominent even than on Relayer - which reveals how important the rhythm section is in anchoring the chaos of GoD. But GftO is the subtlest of all Yes albums and many of its greatest moments rely on an incredible precision and a certain amount of restraint. That's absent in most live renditions and incredibly tricky to pull off. I don't think any of them quite get there on Yesshows which make it something of a disappointment for me on those tracks.

It always surprises me a little bit still that many want somewhat hard-rocking from this band. I think as a heavy rock outfit they were very lacking [although I don't think that's what they were aiming for anyway, so it's no loss so far as I'm concerned]. I was also a fan of Black Sabbath in the 70s and to a lesser degree Led Zeppelin. Who were both while significantly better at visceral rock, not capable of the same sort of dazzling virtuosity and sheer depth of expression of Yes at their height.

I may be oversimplifying, but I feel heavy rock in general is often guilty of lazy songwriting. “We have a killer attitude and sound, so three chords will do.”
No they won’t. Have the killer sound and attitude after you’ve written a good song. Yes was often good at that. Though of course there’s much much more to our favorite band.

[Chris2210]

I had Yesshows before GFTO. And that’s a blessing in disguise. On the up side, I loved those three songs in the punchy live versions right away.
On the downside, hearing them in the studio versions was a bit disappointing, except WS.
Eventually I made a remix of Parallels which is mostly the Yesshows version, but with parts of the studio version dropped in.
( Ideally I would want guitar, bass and drums from the live version and vocals and keyboards from the studio version.)
It was tricky, because of the different tempos, but I slowed the live version down a bit and sped the studio one up, so they could meet halfway.

I think Yesshows is interesting and it makes the bass and drums more prominent even than on Relayer - which reveals how important the rhythm section is in anchoring the chaos of GoD. But GftO is the subtlest of all Yes albums and many of its greatest moments rely on an incredible precision and a certain amount of restraint. That's absent in most live renditions and incredibly tricky to pull off. I don't think any of them quite get there on Yesshows which make it something of a disappointment for me on those tracks.

It always surprises me a little bit still that many want somewhat hard-rocking from this band. I think as a heavy rock outfit they were very lacking [although I don't think that's what they were aiming for anyway, so it's no loss so far as I'm concerned]. I was also a fan of Black Sabbath in the 70s and to a lesser degree Led Zeppelin. Who were both while significantly better at visceral rock, not capable of the same sort of dazzling virtuosity and sheer depth of expression of Yes at their height.

[Ceasar’s Palace]

I had Yesshows before GFTO. And that’s a blessing in disguise. On the up side, I loved those three songs in the punchy live versions right away.
On the downside, hearing them in the studio versions was a bit disappointing, except WS.
Eventually I made a remix of Parallels which is mostly the Yesshows version, but with parts of the studio version dropped in.
( Ideally I would want guitar, bass and drums from the live version and vocals and keyboards from the studio version.)
It was tricky, because of the different tempos, but I slowed the live version down a bit and sped the studio one up, so they could meet halfway.

[pianozach]

Again, not without shortcomings, but giving it only 4 stars seems wrong. So 5 it is.

Again, not without shortcomings, but giving it only 4 stars seems wrong. So 3 it is.

I'm always taken back to the first time I heard the whole album: I found the end of the title track annoying; Howe's slide guitar was irritating - funny though - I thought it was a mini-Moog.

I did love Parallels, but over the years I found Wakeman's use of pipe organ simply pandering, only used for its bombastic effect, and Howe just seems to be trying to prove that he can noodle around a harmonic riff better than anyone else, but falls short.

And I actually dozed off during Awaken. As it seems to be on practically everyone's Top 5 Yes Epics list, my stance on the track has improved.

Turn of the Century seemed like the old "No, we're REAL musicians!" routine. I don't know why it rubbed me the wrong way so much.

Oddly enough, my favorite track is Wondrous Stories.

[Somis Sound]

3. A HUGE drop off from Relayer. Too much reverb and not too keen on the whole sound/mix of the record. They seem to be beginning to lose their fire and unity here musically. I do absolutely love Turn of the Century, one of my very favorite Yes songs! And Wondrous Stories is a nice tune. Love Awaken live, but the album version puts me to sleep. (ducks and covers!!!)

[Chris2210]

The GftO "shrillness".

The thing is supposed to sound chaotic, dizzying. It's a white-water ride. Until you get to the end and then there's that literal harmonic convergence on "Talk about sending love". That's dazzling and sublime, but it relies for its effect on what has gone before. I thin it's a truly brilliant moment and it gives context to what the overall structure of the song, That sounds a bit dry and intellectual, but it's such an emotionally and spiritually satisfying resolution I can enjoy the thing entire, not just for the sake of the closing. But similarly there is a "payoff" the end of Parallels that elevates the whole thing from what [I at least initially saw] as a bombastic rocker.

[Witeskyn7]

5

I'd give it a 10 if I could.

Not all the songs work for me (Title Track Shrillness...Forgiven, but...ouch)
However, Awaken is my all-time favorite track, EVER,
by anyone.

This is the song that will be played at my passing.

[alex peters]

A 5 from me. Going for the One is the only weak link in this great album IMO

[Oldie on the Goldie]

Mine too.

[RelayerI]

4.5
Two things stop him from perfect 5, the overall sound and Turn Of The Century being slightly underwhelming (don't bother, I know).

That's my favourite song.

Ever.