Going For The One Yes

This may sound a bit silly to begin with, but "Going For The One" is an immaculately packaged affair. A three-section fold out with graphically stylised skyscrapers ricocheting laser beams around and around and a rear view of a naked man. Eerie correlations here: man's alienation in the technological - concrete jungle . . . light years away from the extra-terrestial landscapes gracing their mid-period albums. The music, however, only partially succeeds in [unclear: onveying] an aural equivalent to such portentous symbolism; though that too has moved away from the mystical tripped up lyricism evident earlier.

Not that that's likely to worry the assorted members of Yes much. Because, at the moment, "Gfto" (interesting capitalisation there) is nestled about thirteen amidst those charts that adorn the green and beige sacking tacked on to the walls of the room where the records are kept. So it's selling by the proverbial bucketfuls, but the old bogey about popular taste not necessarily reflecting quality rears its head yet again.

Yes are all extremely accomplished Studio technicians, and Rick Wakeman's return to the fold has strengthened their hand immeasurably. Every role here is played with the N-th degree of precision, almost frightening in its perfection—crash, bang, rat-a-tat-tat, v-e-r-y far out, but sometimes leaves me cold, and that's cold as in cold, not as in spine-tingling shivering.

For starters, the leaden-footed approach adopted by Yes following Fragile is here developed to its logical extreme - near terminal paralysis.

That's perhaps a little too harsh, but I do like to hear the vocals too, and here Anderson is mixed way, way back behind the rhythm section, almost among the deafening barrage of electronic wizardry.

This is not to infer that "Going For The One" is all over-volumed drivel. In fact, there are some really beautiful passages interwoven into the profundity. Delve into the middle section of "Awaken" and you'll become entranced by the evocative mood picture. But what can you say about a lyrical progression from "taken so high" to "nothing's taking you higher" in the space of three songs. You'll be flabbergasted.

—Horatio Axeman.