Yes - Going For The One and Tormato. Yes experts what say you?

big yes fan and I like em both but neither are in my top ranks.

poor covers as mentioned.

I probably actually listen to tormato itself more often just cause going for the one is very well represented in live shows which I tend to listen to a lot.

silent wings of freedom is classic arriving ufo could have been great.

I will take Drama over either of them though.

 

I disagree with the premise of this thread.

Going for the One is generally liked or loved by most Yes fans.
Tormato is generally disliked by most Yes fans.

I found it amusing that someone above talked about how Going for the One was OK, but he only liked four of the songs a lot. Well, there are only five songs on the album, so that also means he liked all but one song!

IMHO, Going for the One is great. The title track is a convincing rocker. Parallels is good. And side two is a winner start to finish. Wonderous Stories is a terrific pop song and Awaken is arguably their best epic ever.

 

I only love one song on Thick as a Brick

 

The premise of the thread is not critical of the two albums in question.
The point of this thread is to find out why these two albums didn't reach the same status of - The Yes Album,Fragile, and Close To The Edge .
I'll give you a hint though...... no radio airplay and a dramatic change in album cover art.....

 

It's because they weren't as good.

 

I could agree with you with regard to Tormato, it's a little spotty.
But are you telling me that Going For The One is not as good?
I would say it's as ambitious as Close To The Edge, and as musical as Fragile.
Whats missing?

 

I consulted my friend google wondering what the heck "Tormato" even meant. I post this as a public service.

Howe pitched the album's original title of Yes Tor, referring to Yes Tor, the second highest hill on Dartmoor, an area of moorland in Devon, England.[18] Wakeman claimed to have thrown a tomato at the pictures taken for the album as he recalled the band were disappointed with the initial artwork which had cost a lot of money.[6] The album's title and cover was changed accordingly.

 

I love Going for the One, but don’t think much of Tormato. Awaken, Turn of the Century, and Wondrous Stories (from Going for the One) are right up there with the best of Yes IMHO.

 

Listen to any of those 3, and then put on GFTO. It's like falling off a cliff. Seriously, that was an amazing 3 album run. Those albums are literally majestic and soaring. GFTO sounds awkward in comparison.

 

I firmly believe Tormato would have been better liked if it had been better engineered. The songs aren't that bad, it just sounds terrible. GFTO, while not the best recorded album ever, has better songs and feels more like a classic Yes album. BTW, it's always a good idea to make sure you get that album's acronym in the right order.

 

Not to me! Going for the One is classic Yes through and through. Thankfully, I’m not the only one who shares this opinion.

 

I don't find most of GFTO to be terribly ambitious. With the exception of "Awaken", the songs are a lot more conventional and straightforward. I think that they made a conscious effort to streamline their sound after the experimental excesses of the previous two albums. Not that there's really anything wrong with this, mind you, they were successful in what they set out to do, but I think that it's generally rated a notch below their peak by many fans because it wasn't pushing boundaries anymore.

 

My reaction is very different than yours.
I often play several Yes albums in a row and have played the sequence you just referred to.
When I hear GFTO I hear a triumphant comeback.
I thought Yes had lost a little bit of their mojo on Relayer (although there is a lot of excellent material on that album).
What I hear on GFTO is a creative and re-energized band.
"Awaken" is a crowning achievement.
The energy of "Parallels" is nothing short of exhilarating.
I think it's one of Yes's finest efforts... and Wakeman's return was very important, his playing of that Gothic cathedral pipe organ is fantastic!

 

I'm just going to admit it; I prefer Tormato to Going for the One. I just can't get into GFTO, no matter how hard I try. There was a point where I thought it grew on me, but 2 more recent listens have left me feeling mixed about the album. Future Times/Rejoice, Onward, and On the Silent Wings of Freedom are enough of a reason to for me to return to Tormato. I won't argue with people who hate Circus of Heaven; that song is pretty bad IMO. However, it's not enough to ruin the album for me.

 

I think an argument can be made that it's more outside to do weird things to pop tunes.

If something is too far afield from any norms (not that I'm saying that Yes ever fit that bill--I'm thinking of stuff like some John Zorn or John Cage, say), it loses some of the effect of being weird, because it's the contrast to norms that makes something sound outside.

 

I don't feel that at all. In fact when I listen to the "Main Sequence" of Yes albums from "The Yes Album" to "Going For The One" I feel that "Awaken" is the perfect climax for this amazing stretch of albums.
Nothing akward about the album at all.

 

I think the main difference between the lineup that made Topographic Oceans and then reuniting and making Going for the One was the passing of time as well as returning to familiar ground, versus from what Patrick Moraz had done earlier on Relayer. I think the band sort of calmed down a bit from the epic long pieces that began on Close to the Edge through to Relayer, although, the creativity that was pouring from them during this time period was astounding, especially for serious and devoted fans, but in order to re-establish commercial favor and it must be pointed out that the reason Wakeman jumped ship around Topographic was that he felt the music was becoming monotonous and bigger than the band itself. In some ways, he was right, as I think Jon, Chris and Steve became so immersed in the art of creativity that they forgot about keeping it simple to a point; at least as simple could be within Yes music during that time. With Going for the One, they recaptured a fine balance between the two worlds of deep improvisation as well as catchy, melodic material which is what they established on earlier albums like Yes Album and Fragile.

For Tormato, it became pear shaped and the fact that the music was less than inspiring on the whole, didn't help matters. I also agree that Howe and Wakeman seemed to be in each other's way for much of the album, but that's where they needed a producer to rein them in and Eddy Offord, by that time, simply didn't have the energy or perhaps, wasn't there fully as on past releases of before to knock heads together and shape Tormato into a properly formed release. Of course, during the Paris sessions in early '79 and hiring Roy Thomas Baker to oversee them, based on the bonus material offered on the '04 remaster of Drama, showed that the band was even less than inspired as the sessions for Tormato. I do enjoy the Drama album itself, once all was said and done; to me it was a catalyst for what would happen a few years later with Trevor Rabin and 90125, but that's another matter entirely.

 

Absolutely love Going For The One! Absolutely abhor Tormato!

 

For me, GFTO is the last of the classic Yes albums that I can (really must) listen to from start to finish. I think Yes became more song focused after that. Tormato has some great songs but there is a fair amount of filler there too and, for me, this sort of set the blueprint for how Yes albums would be from then on. Not entirely bad but much more uneven than before.

 

I remember that at the time GFTO was considered a kind of comeback album for Yes, for a number of reasons. It had been a few years since their last studio album of new material (a lifetime back then), and Wakeman had returned to the fold. Very positive reception.

I don't think I was actually a big fan of Yes until I heard GFTO, and that got me checking into their earlier albums like Fragile and CTTE. GFTO is pretty solid from start to finish. I would probably have to say that every song on this album would count in my all time favorite Yes songs, and only bettered by CTTE and The Yes Album as a favorite album.

In contrast, Tormato is sort of a mixed bag. There's a few good tracks, and a few odd ones. I liked the album when it was initially released, but it definitely hasn't stood the test of time, although I enjoy listening to it once in a while. I saw the 'in the round' show they toured for this album. It was great. But yeah, I have to admit that Tormato isn't a highlight in their catalogue.

 

An album with Future Times/Rejoice...Don't Kill The Whale...Release Release....Onward...On the Silent Wings of Freedom CAN NOT be one of their worst. In my opinion.

As I've said in other Tormato threads: perhaps it's a case of a great band having to live up to past glories.

 

Going for the One is my third-favorite YES album, right after Close to the Edge and The Yes Album and right above Relayer. It shows a rejuvenated band working together with a common vision, and the results are beautiful...

..until it all falls apart on Tormato. You can just feel the friction in the band, as Jon's lyrics become borderline nonsensical and Steve and Rick try to out-virtuoso one another.

 

Close to the Edge, Tales from Topographic Oceans, Relayer, and Going for the One are the only Yes albums I return to in any kind of frequency.