Going for the One- Rating out of 5?

[Yorkshire Square]

Three stars only I'm afraid. The title track is a real demerit. I'm not sure what they were trying to achieve. Jon goes punk? The big downer is Steve's outro, real nails on blackboard stuff. TOTC is okay but the whimsy grates after a while. The other three tracks are fine, but I can see why Chris didn't put Parallels on Fish. Wonderous Stories needs spellchecker but I quite like it. Awaken could do with a bit of trimming.

Highly overrated IMHO. The beginning of the end. Luckily they bounced back with some quirk on Tormato.

[RelayerI]

Six.

This and Relayer.

Perfect, pop, rock, ballad and longform genius. All things and everything in one package.

As to the sound - spacious, cool and fantastic. If accidental.

[Old Frothingslosh]

4

Awaken alone makes it above average. As Caesars Palace mentioned above.. The terrible production of Parallels just grinds my teeth every time I play that album. Going For The One after the first minute is just annoying to me as well. The rest for me is just top notch. Turn of the Century has some of Steve's best moments I think and Wonderous Stories is about as beautiful as a piece of music can be.

[Gilly Goodness]

5


Majestic.Powerful. Lots of piano and organ. Tight, taut songs plus an expansive epic. TOTC is the most romantic song in the canon apart from The Game.
Parallels has great interplay from Rick and Steve. Dizzyin'. Wondrous Stories is so a lullaby to the magic of the world, I sung it to my baby. Awaken's guitar solo is my fave. Even like the cover. It was a big deal in the newspapers down here with Rick returnin'


Happy time for the band. Skiin' in the mornin' and rockin' for the rest of the day.

[Ceasar’s Palace]

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...

[soundchaser09]

My favourite of them all- does this album awaken you with its wondrous stories?