Octo_Russ

Yes [Going For The One] 

This is the only Yes album i own, and i'm sure it's the only Yes album i will, i've tried countless other Yes albums, and i've always come away disappointed, i remember listening to 'Wonderous Stories' on the radio at work, the first job i ever had, wow those were the days, i was just getting into LP Vinyl then, this was one of those albums i bought, i got rid of all my Vinyl albums in 1985, and i re-acquired this on disc in 1983, by today's standards 39 minutes is a short album, but then that was a standard full LP then, and certainly this disc is almost over before you know it.

Yes are an English Rock band, formed in 1968, they're still going today over 40 years later, though shorn of some members, they recorded this album in 1977, the album cover art is by Hipgnosis, who did lots of album art during the Seventies, a nice idea i guess, notice the clever Yes logo in the sky.

Well listening to this again today, i was struck by how varied the album is, and apart from 'Parallels', all the songs are great in their own way, the longer songs take more time to learn to love, but it's the shortest song that entranced me this time, and one of their rare outings into the singles market, 'Wonderous Stories' was a top ten hit, but even more surprising was the fact that the album reached No1 in the charts, the song has whiffs of the Harpsichord on it, but in fact the keyboardist Rick Wakeman plays a Polymoog Synthesizer, the Harpsichord effect comes from Steve Howe's Vachalia, a Portuguese type of Lute, but it conjures up a feeling of Bach and the old world, and with Jon Anderson singing ghostly high lyrics, the scene is set for a great song, the ethereal opening words cast a perfect vibe,

I awoke this morning

Love laid me down by the river

Drifting i turned on up stream

Bound for my forgiver

in the chorus Wakeman uses a gorgeous trill, really adds to the piece [0:35-0:39], Wakeman also gets an extended solo after the second chorus [1:29-1:54], and Howe gets to twang his Vachalia [2:09-2:15] just before the third verse, with lots of background vocals ['hearing'...], and some nice guitar by Chris Squire.

Here's Yes playing Wonderous Stories on YouTube.