Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Yes
Label: Eagle Records
Release: 2001
Length: 60:32
Rating: 4/5
The prog-rock titans Yes greeted the start of the 21st century in unusual circumstances: as a quartet, without a keyboardist, which had never happened before and probably never will again in their rich career. Fans of this legendary English band feared the worst and seriously lowered their expectations, but Yes ended up pulling off their 2001 studio project far better than most would have dared to imagine. »Magnification« was their second studio album with an orchestra after »Time And A Word« (1970), and the first and only studio effort recorded without a keyboardist.
Before recording started, Yes tried to get back in touch with the legendary Rick Wakeman, but no luck. Rick was up to his neck in his solo career at the time, though he later regretted not joining his old pals on »Magnification«, where his absence is definitely felt. Later on, once he was back in Yes, he said in an interview, half joking and half serious, that he ‘simply had to come back, because the remaining four members of Yes were obviously so desperate that they decided to make an album without a keyboardist’.
Yes actually had a pretty good reason for losing all appetite for working with keyboardists for a while, and that’s exactly why they decided to join forces with an orchestra again after thirty years. Before recording »Magnification«, they had let go of the Russian keyboardist Igor Khoroshev, with whom they’d worked quite successfully on the previous album »The Ladder« (1999), which pleasantly surprised plenty of longtime fans. During the 2000 ‘Masterworks’ tour, Khoroshev allegedly got tangled up in a bizarre sexual incident with two female security guards, under circumstances that still haven’t been fully cleared up, and after a court hearing it cost him his spot in the band. The rest of Yes naturally distanced themselves from the incident and their former bandmate in an instant.
Later on, for the »Magnification« tour, Yes did hire the keyboardist Tim Brislin, but he never became an official member, so it was only in 2002, when Wakeman returned to the band, that they got a ‘regular’ keyboardist back. The American bassist/guitarist/singer/producer Billy Sherwood also had to leave the band in 2000, before the ‘Masterworks’ tour, even though in the second half of the nineties he’d been one of the key stabilizing factors for these somewhat ‘rusty’ prog-rock legends.
So on »Magnification« the band was once again made up of just four ‘old tomcats’: singer Jon Anderson, bassist Chris Squire, guitarist Steve Howe and drummer Alan White. Anderson had no idea at the time that »Magnification« would be his last outing with his longtime companions for a long while. Yes worked with a 60-piece orchestra on »Magnification«, with the individual arrangements done by the renowned film composer Larry Groupe.
The album opens with a very solid title track featuring an exceptionally melodic central orchestral arrangement, while the indestructible Jon Anderson makes sure to conjure up an awakening, epic atmosphere right from the start, ‘preaching’ his peculiar green tongue with a heaping gallon of unobtrusive spirituality. The backing vocal harmonies, courtesy of comrades Squire and Howe, are traditionally excellent, while ‘Mr. Owl’ casually serves up some distinctive guitar lines. These blend nicely into the orchestral backdrop and are evenly represented in the production.
Even though Anderson can’t escape his own skin on most of the lyrics on »Magnification«, ‘preaching’ about personal and social ‘awakening’ in the style of an incorrigible utopian, not every lyric belongs to the spiritual sphere. In places Yes also touch on some pressing sociological and personal themes. A fine example is the song »Spirit Of Survival«, where Jon voices his disappointment in today’s thoroughly apathetic youth, who have lost their ‘compass’ and are better known for chasing instant hedonism and drunken rampages than for fighting for social justice. This track, with its handful of resolute guitar moves and a mighty chorus, is a constant tug-of-war between a melancholic, almost gloomy atmosphere and an optimistic one, while the thickened bass lines of Squire’s Rickenbacker bass hold the complex time changes together nicely.
On the compactly arranged »Don’t Go«, which has a very personal lyric and also came out as a video, Jon touches on his relationship with his daughter Deborah, who had clearly been quite disappointed by his life choices at the time. You wouldn’t know it from the vibe of the song, though, which is optimistic and cheerful, at moments almost slapstick (probably memories of good times past), while the central spot goes to the multi-voiced chorus, carried on the wings of a pleasant and exceedingly tastefully arranged melody.
»Give Love Each Day«, which opens with a pompous orchestral arrangement, features an almost stereotypical ‘green-tongue’ lyric. Interestingly, the awakening, multi-voiced chorus only kicks in halfway through, where the melodic nature of this romantically spiced composition jumps up at least three notches. »Can You Imagine«, where Anderson and Squire swap vocal roles (Chris on lead and Jon on backing), is a fun experiment with roots in a 1981 demo called »Can You See«. It was originally supposed to come out on the never-realized XYZ project between Squire and White. Chris handles the lead vocal role very well, as he has proven more than once in his rich career, though he shines brightest when backed by Jon’s ‘angelic’ voice. The central guitar phrase sounds unusually punchy for Howe’s usual approach to the instrument.
The melancholic ballad »We Agree«, one of the album’s better moments, is also one of the few socially critical efforts on »Magnification«, dealing with the tragic aftermath of the war in Bosnia, which had ended barely five years before 2001. Gentle, almost fragile guitar passages rule here, while vocal harmonies paired with majestic orchestral arrangements gradually break up the sorrowful ambience, even though Jon doesn’t hold back in the lyrics with criticism of Western hypocrisy and looking the other way. Still, hope and light always win out in his poetry, and this time is no different, as an uplifting and decidedly positive atmosphere eventually takes over. The short folk-rock ballad »Soft As a Dove« is a rather atypical offering for Yes. It could easily pass for one of Jon’s solo creations, with a gentle, pastoral acoustic guitar melody up front, dressed in rustic arrangements, while his distinctive ‘angelic’ voice holds the central spot.
»Dreamline« is the first of the two ambitious closing symphonic epics, where Yes, backed by the eager orchestra, show off all their instrumental skills and their finely tuned ability to build layered atmospheres. The mood on »Dreamline«, which is full of exceptionally dynamic rhythmic shades, keeps shifting, while the inspiring vocal harmonies, led by the ‘cooing’ Jon, are completely ethereal in color. By 2001 Steve Howe already looked like the ‘wrung-out coat hanger’ he is today, but as a guitar maestro he still impressed with some bold moves, as the intelligent variations between the individual instrumental sections of »Dreamline« prove.
The next epic suite, at over ten minutes, »In The Presence Of«, is even more ambitiously conceived than its predecessor, split into four sections that tell the story of a gradual spiritual awakening and the final enlightenment of an individual’s soul. Sound familiar? Jon’s enthusiasm for all things spiritual and ethereal only grew over the years, and even if not everyone shared it, you have to give him credit for presenting it all in a very beautiful way. His faith in the ‘green tongue’, despite the ample material comforts of a rock star, was never in question. Out of all the band members, he’d always had his firmest ally in Howe, who, as plenty of Yes fans will confirm, doesn’t personally live by all the bright principles of the ‘green tongue’.
The opening section, »Deeper«, is a gorgeous ethereal ballad with an awakening chorus and mighty orchestral arrangements that sound like they’re coming from some parallel dimension. After the thoroughly dramatic section »Death Of Ego« comes a turnaround in the vocally, very tastefully harmonized »True Beginner«, where ‘the little guy’ Anderson feels cosmic energy within and, together with his pals, sets the stage for the triumphant finish through the section »Turn Around And Remember«. In The Presence Of« is a grand album finale in the style of some of their past masterpieces, while the closing two-minute love ballad, »Time Is Time«, is an utterly endearing farewell for all the incurable romantics of Jon’s stripe.
»Magnification« is stuffed with quality compositions that now and then recall the ‘good old days’, so it’s no wonder it pleasantly surprised even some of the most skeptical fans when it came out. Unlike on »Time And A Word«, Yes found just the right, equal sonic symbiosis with the orchestra here. »The Ladder« was already a turn in the right direction, while »Magnification« sent a clear signal that Yes were slowly and carefully returning to the quality level of their best days. It wouldn’t sound exaggerated at all to call »Mangification« their most ambitious effort of the last two decades (with the possible exception of the ‘groundbreaking’ album »90125«, 1983). Had Rick Wakeman played on it, it would surely have been even better and might even have deserved a comparison with their key studio achievements.
Line-up
Jon Anderson – lead vocals, MIDI guitar, acoustic guitar
Steve Howe – acoustic and electric guitar, pedal steel guitar, mandolin, backing vocals
Chris Squire – bass guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on “Can You Imagine”
Alan White – drums, percussion, piano, backing vocals
Orchestral music was composed, arranged and conducted by Larry Groupë
Production
Yes and Tim Weidner
Track List
1. Magnification (7:15)
2. Spirit Of Survival (6:02)
3. Don’t Go (4:27)
4. Give Love Each Day (7:44)
5. Can You Imagine (2:58)
6. We Agree (6:30)
7. Soft As A Dove (2:18)
8. Dreamtime (10:45)
9. In the Presence of (10:24)
i) Deeper
ii) Death of Ego
iii) True Beginner
iv) Turn Around and Remember
10. Time Is Time (2:09)
