Going For The One by British prog rock band Yes was released in July 1977, just a few days after The Grand Illusion by Styx. Keyboardist Rick Wakeman returned to Yes after leaving in 1974 to focus on his solo career, which I don’t get. There was a period in 1972 when he was recording a solo album and the Yes album Close To The Edge simultaneously, so that didn’t stop him. And if you’re thinking that sounds like a lot of work, do you know how many solo albums Rick Wakeman has? The man never tires, but I digress.
A reliable source informed me that Going For The One is considered one of the band’s best albums. Like Pink Floyd’s Animals, Going For The One is comprised of only five songs. Unlike Animals, however, Going For The One was more accessible than its immediate predecessors (relatively speaking) and it also had a single. “Wonderous Stories” was a top 10 hit in Ireland, it was the band’s highest-charting single in the U.K. where it peaked at #7, and it was decently big on American rock stations. Sadly, it did not chart on the Hot 100. Sadder still, the album’s original multi-track master tapes have reportedly been lost, making a proper remaster impossible. Even if Going For The One hadn’t hit #1 in the U.K., it’s still messed up to know that could happen to one of the biggest progressive rock bands ever. But the album is at least on streaming in some capacity.
Full disclosure: I’m not really a Yes fan. I understand their appeal, and I acknowledge that the 6,891 members across the band’s history were all talented. Heck, I enjoyed “Wonderous Stories.” Weird as it sounds, I hear the song and picture it being used in the animated Hobbit film that came out later in 1977. Seriously, play it over the end credits and see how well it works. Yet for reasons I can’t articulate, I just haven’t heard a Yes album that had me hooked from start to finish. Not that the album is bad, by no means. But if you’re a big fan of progressive rock, you will probably get more out of Going For The One than I did.
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