Going for the One- Rating out of 5?

[A Venture]

My all time favourite! I love it from beinning to end, the loud rocking title track, the emotional uplifting Turn of the Century, the driving Parallels, the lyrical Wonderous Stories and my favourite epic, Awaken.
There are albums with songs I like more, than some on this album, but there's not a album I like more.

I feel exactly the same - it is my favourite album of all time. Also, the '77 GFTO tour was the first time that I saw the band , which may influence my feelings, but I consider it to be a masterpiece.

[Chris2210]

I just don’t get all this loathing for the production. The work as a whole is very middle to high range, but there is bass there. It’s subtle, it’s subdued, but I also think it’s deliberate. And sublime.

Apart from perhaps the title track and parallels, the rhythm ’section’ is hardly used at all in the standard way of rock n roll keeping the beat - and even in those there are some very interesting things going on with rhythm- more typical of classical as opposed to rock music.

The airy sound space suits that and I think it’s something (understandably) missing from the live performances which struggle to reproduce that sort of finessed nuance.

My only caveat with the whole album is that slow section in Awaken. I think it makes perfect sense from a structural point of view, I just don’t think the noodling of Wakeman and the strumming of Anderson match the musicianship of the rest. It’s supposed to be meditative and still, but for all its relative brevity it just seems to meander without much to recommend it. The transition is magnificent. For all that I see that as a slight flaw I still think Awaken is the most brilliant and cohesive of all the long tracks and again what it does with rhythm is jaw-dropping.

I’m not going to score, but I would say this album along with a few others in the catalogue are among the finest achievements in the entire history of art-rock. Comparing them with pop… if that’s your taste fair enough, but I’m not in that book, let alone the same page.

[pjt]

My all time favourite! I love it from beinning to end, the loud rocking title track, the emotional uplifting Turn of the Century, the driving Parallels, the lyrical Wonderous Stories and my favourite epic, Awaken.
There are albums with songs I like more, than some on this album, but there's not a album I like more.

[Sharp On Attack]

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).

[rabin105]

the cover is just kind of what brings it down for me that being said its a good album.. I wish Rabin had done Parallels as much like Drama I think His style would of fit the piece but sadly yes only played that songs without Jon after the 77 tour

Hearing tony kaye do it on the chris squire tribute a few years back was really awesome to be honest.


the album as it stands is good but sadly I can hear the division between Anderson/wakeman and the rest of the band on this album.

[Gilly Goodness]

Oh yes! Just had a closer look at the naked guy on the cover, a really close look, and there are indeed what appear to be bubbles. How creative those Hipgnosis chaps were! I'll never be able to stop seeing them now....

And you know they never photoshopped anything. 😜

[Ash Armstrong]

I’m not going to post a screenshot. But it’s on his buttocks, also on his shoulder and then some on the left beside him.
Little rings that you can see through. I call that bubbles. And now I vow to never raise the subject again.

Oh yes! Just had a closer look at the naked guy on the cover, a really close look, and there are indeed what appear to be bubbles. How creative those Hipgnosis chaps were! I'll never be able to stop seeing them now....

[Ceasar’s Palace]

Bubbles?
Is that only on the limited special edition?

I’m not going to post a screenshot. But it’s on his buttocks, also on his shoulder and then some on the left beside him.
Little rings that you can see through. I call that bubbles. And now I vow to never raise the subject again.

[Mr. Holland]

I'm less keen than I was. Over time I think the shrillness of it, the overall sound, has become a thing for me. The title track is banshee-wailingly horrible. Turn of the Century is lovely, as is Wonderous Stories, and Awaken is a masterpiece. I don't really think much about Parallels at all. But the big problem, and it's a BIG problem for me now, is the quality of the sound of the thing! How they could have listened to this back at the time and thought, Yeah, this record sounds great, with no bottom end, distorted top, and a buzzy, reverb-sodden middle!
Thankfully we have plenty of very good live performances of all of these pieces to enjoy. I was so hoping we'd get a remixed, reverb-free Steven Wilson makeover of it, but that seems vanishingly unlikely now.
I saw three shows on the Going For The One Tour in the autumn of 1977, in London and Stafford, and they were amazing, so despite all of the above, and its sonic shortcomings, I retain a lot of affection for the material, but not for the album so much.

Yes, I agree absolutely on the production. It's the main thing that keeps it from 5 stars for me. So 4 stars it is. I think the songs are great, Awaken and Parallels being my favourite (but my to go to version of that song is the Yesshows version), I like the title track, albeit the finale, where Steve's squealing pedal steel gets too much. Wondrous Stories is good, but I think even less would be more, which is why I like the acoustic version on Songs From Tsongas better than the original.

Perhaps that's the thing; the songs are great compositions, but from an excecuting and production point of view for every song there's another live version out there that is actually better than the original studio version (Awaken on KTA or Live in Montreux).

[Soundwaveseeker]

Going For The One - a masterwork. Also the first Yes album with possible quality control issues, though minor. Almost a 5, almost. 4.65 for me. Here it is.

The GOOD:

Rick comes back. A few shorter songs for the first time since Fragile. Everybody sounds happy and wondrous. Great playing. All 5 members are in a state of creative camaraderie. It's 1977's Going For The One album, what can I say? Awaken is a masterpiece not only for Yes but for 70's prog in general. And I like the long and spacey middle section. I wouldn't lose a note of it. Wonderous Stories is a beautiful song, and one that didn't need to be incorporated into a larger epic. Turn Of The Century is emotionally sublime. It has a lot of heart, and is one of Yes' more romantic moments. Parallels is a great Chris Squire rocker, with excellent Wakeman church organ solo. And this song only really existed in its full glory for this album & tour. I know the Drama lineup and later lineups with Jon D did the song live, but never quite nailed it. Parallels was a lightning strikes once sorta song. Almost every song is 5 stars.

The BAD:

The title track is my least favorite on the album, kinda repetitive. I like the live Yesshows version better.
The cover - no Roger Dean. Instead we got the Rush' s naked starman from 2112 with some skyscrapers. How did that happen?

Chris Squire: "hey, can we borrow the naked 2112 guy for our new album? We influenced you, so you guys kinda owe us."

Geddy Lee: "Yeah, sure. Just send him back later, we need him for the cover of Hemispheres".

Chris Squire: "Thanks".

Geddy Lee: "No problem. See you at the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, eh".

Chris Squire: "Yeah, right. Like either of us will ever get in there..."

Actually I do like the strange graphic lines and bubbles and all that. That would have been a cool cover without the skyscrapers or the Rush guy, but maybe that would be a bit minimalistic for Yes at that stage.

The UGLY:

Production, sound quality - not as good as previous albums with Eddie Offord, and even not as good as Tormato.
Also - Patrick Moraz. A second Relayer album never came to being. We got this instead. This is great. But the 'what if' always intrigues.

GFTO is a classic Yes offering that I don't revisit as much as I used to, despite being so good. Only 5 songs, all 5 great more or less.

[Davy]

Yep, some of the best songs they ever came up with, swamped with overdubs and reverb, resulting in the worst-sounding record of their career.

Not sure if this has ever been adequately discussed or explained, but, sonically, none of the albums after CTTE were up to snuff until Drama - five records later.

[Yesed]

A Masterpiece. Could have ended it all right there. Up there with CTTE and TFTO, primarily for Awaken. The title track gets criticized a lot, but it’s got all rocking Yes has to give .

[Ash Armstrong]

I'm less keen than I was. Over time I think the shrillness of it, the overall sound, has become a thing for me. The title track is banshee-wailingly horrible. Turn of the Century is lovely, as is Wonderous Stories, and Awaken is a masterpiece. I don't really think much about Parallels at all. But the big problem, and it's a BIG problem for me now, is the quality of the sound of the thing! How they could have listened to this back at the time and thought, Yeah, this record sounds great, with no bottom end, distorted top, and a buzzy, reverb-sodden middle!
Thankfully we have plenty of very good live performances of all of these pieces to enjoy. I was so hoping we'd get a remixed, reverb-free Steven Wilson makeover of it, but that seems vanishingly unlikely now.
I saw three shows on the Going For The One Tour in the autumn of 1977, in London and Stafford, and they were amazing, so despite all of the above, and its sonic shortcomings, I retain a lot of affection for the material, but not for the album so much.

[Ash Armstrong]

Again, not without shortcomings, but giving it only 4 stars seems wrong. So 5 it is.
Every song a winner, nice balance of heavy and mellow, dark and light.
Everyone playing and singing excellent.
What’s not to like?
Well, there’s Steve’s screeching guitar at the end of GFTO the song.
The mid bit of Awaken that would need
either editing, or some more Wakeman parts on top of it.
And the terrible production of Parallels. The band, and especially Steve sound like they’re in a bathroom.

Oh, and the naked guy with bubbles coming out of his backside...

Bubbles?
Is that only on the limited special edition?

[Oldie on the Goldie]

I find the title track extremely annoying but the rest of the album is great, one of my very favorites. A solid 5 from me.