Going For The One

Progressive Rockを代表する名バンドの一つ、英Atlanticから発表された'77年作が、先に発売の『CLOSE TO ～』に続き米Audio Fidelityから'12年スリップ・ケース付SACD/CD Hybrid仕様盤で発売決定。キーボードにリック・ウェイクマンが復帰し、再び黄金期メンバーで制作された一作(邦題『究極』)。スティーヴ・ハウによるRock n' Rollリフと変拍子を組み合わせた、YESらしい軽快さと屈折さを備えたタイトル曲をはじめ、英シングル・チャート7位の'Wonderous Stories'や'Turn Of The Century'等、多くのアーティストからも度々カヴァーされるファン人気の高い楽曲を収録した70年代後期の代表作。マスターはAudio Fidilty独自の新規リマスタリング音源を使用、Warner/Rhino盤リマスターCDとは異なるアナログ的な温もりのある音像を再現。歌詞及びオリジナル・アナログ盤デザインを掲載したブックレットを別途添付、初回盤のみスリップ・ケースに通しNO.入りタグ・シール付。

Going for the One is perhaps the most overlooked item in the Yes catalog. It marked Rick Wakeman's return to the band after a three-year absence, and also a return to shorter song forms after the experimentalism of Close to the Edge, Tales from Topographic Oceans, and Relayer. In many ways, this disc could be seen as the follow-up to Fragile. Its five tracks still retain mystical, abstract lyrical images, and the music is grand and melodic, the vocal harmonies perfectly balanced by the stinging guitar work of Steve Howe, Wakeman's keyboards, and the solid rhythms of Alan White and Chris Squire. The title track features Howe on steel guitar (he's the only prog rocker who bothers with the instrument). "Turn of the Century" and the album's single, "Wonderous Stories," are lovely ballads the way only Yes can do them. "Parallels" is the album's big, pompous song, so well done that in later years the band opened concerts with it. Wakeman's stately church organ, recorded at St. Martin's Church, Vevey, Switzerland, sets the tone for this "Roundabout"-ish track. The concluding "Awaken" is the album's nod to the extended suite. Again, the lyrics are spacy in the extreme, but Jon Anderson and Squire are dead-on vocally, and the addition of Anderson's harp and White's tuned percussion round out this evocative track. ~ Ross Boissoneau|