Customer Reviews

Magnification

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Recently I was going through my CD collection, wanting to listen to some Yes but not wanting to choose anything too familiar (i.e. anything pre-1987). I chose the 2001 album Magnification, and was taken aback by just how good it was, and is.
I've nearly "given up" on Yes a time or two (I have everything they've done, save for the Not-truly-Yes album Open Your Eyes), mainly due to frustration with their revolving door lineups. But 1999's The Ladder tweaked my interest again, and after watching the Yessymphonic DVD and later seeing the return of Rick Wakeman for their 2002 Full Circle tour, I found my fandom again and had to get Magnification--so impressed was I with the songs they played from it on those tours.
The first thing that struck me was how well the orchestra works with Yes. Sure, I miss Wakeman or any true keyboardist, but that color is more than compensated for by the marvelous orchestration. Try not to be moved by the glorious 2 minute introduction to the soaring "Give Love Each Day", which could be the 21st century's "And You and I". Other highlights of this fine album are the punchy, Chris Squire-sung "Can You Imagine" (which also features excellent BACKING vocals by Jon Anderson, and makes one think what an interesting vocal dynamic THAT can be!), the jaunty title track with it's clever arrangement, the urgent anthem "We Agree", the lilting "Soft as a Dove" (which particularly moved me, with my first son being born recently), and the majestic "In the Presence Of" which is one of the finest constructed Yessongs of recent memory. The short, unassuming, and tasteful "Time is Time" concludes this album in campfire singalong style.
While this album lacks the show-offy virtuosity that is prevalent on most of their other works, it makes up for it in excellent vocals, positive lyrics (for which Anderson is unfairly maligned , especially in this day and age where ANYONE singing about human potential rather than human failure is a rarity), and glorious, almost Beatles-esque Melodies. Do yourself and the band a favor, and buy this disc. You'll benefit from an uplifted spirit, and the band will hopefully be encouraged to keep producing albums. They are far from done, and Magnification proves it.

I admire artists who, in the face of adversity, stick to their guns and continue to do what they do best. Yes, the band, is nearly 40 years old, and still standing. They have had a revolving door policy as far as personnel goes, and still manage to sound like YES. This album, Magnification, is very, very good. Once again, they are without the services of Rick Wakeman, who has joined and quit this band more than Neil Young in Buffalo Springfield. Still, (and I may be bringing the wrath of Wakeman fans upon my head) they sound as though they don't really need him. The songs are fairly heavily orchestrated, and the strings compliment the songs very nicely. Yes should have tried this years ago. I have personal favorites such as Magnification, Don't Go, Can you imagine (sung by Chris Squire), and the short but wonderful Time is Time. This album proves that Yes is not only alive and well, but relevant and very welcome.
OK, Jon Anderson is still a bit foggy to me in the lyric department, but it's still good stuff, and very much Yes. I bought this CD when it was first released and a live CD has since been added to the package. I don't have that one, but this one is just fine. What I'm saying is this; Yes is still a great band, and Magnification is living, breathing proof of that.

MAGNIFICATION is a huge advance over the past few CDs preceding it, specifically THE LADDER and OPEN YOUR EYES, and in some ways it's the best thing they've done since, oh, I don't know, maybe GOING FOR THE ONE. The use of an orchestra in place of the dreaded "keyboard slot" in the band is one reason why. This orchestra is no protective coloration device used to give the music a smooth coat and nothing more. Their arrrangements are as muscular as the bands and there's a perfect blend between the two ensembles in the songs. The band is also in particularly good form this time out. I have no idea whether everybody was in the same room when they laid down the tracks, but it sure SOUNDS like they were. The one sore point in the whole thing are Jon Anderson's lyrics. Sure, they're a lot more coherent than in years past (What exactly did "Even Siberia goes through the motions" mean, anyway?), but they're also so downright BANAL that after awhile I would've preferred the incoherency. The one exception is "Don't Go," which also features one of the CD's most interesting arrangements. Ah well, it's still a great return to form musically and proves that this band still has the goods.

If you are a Yes fan and have not purchased Magnification, I strongly recommend it!!! I don't know why I waited so long to get it. Yes never ceases to amaze me. The symphony orchestra adds a whole new dimension to the Yes sound. I do not understand why classic rock stations do not play new music by classic artists such as Yes!!!

This might have been a better idea say, 10 years before they did it. Coming this late in the game it seemed like a stretch, or an act of desperation. It is ultimately, better than that. Songs like Spirit Of Survival, We Agree, Dreamtime and the title track sound like holdovers from the Keys To Ascension sessions, which is a compliment. What is left are songs that make up Jon Anderson usual peans to love and peace, harmonic convergance, et al. In The Presence Of actually builds from a piano intro written by Alan White, but the lyrics are pure Anderson - as Yes ballads go, its pretty good, and lends itself well to orchestral intergration, which most of this material does very well.

This album is better than most would have figured. If the idea of an orchestra on a rock album bugs you, I could understand, but since Yes has always been symphonically inclined, it makes sense they'd have done this more than once (Time And A Word included some string arrangments but was not written as an orchestral project). This album actually comes across as an intergrated effort, and the orchestral parts sound natural and not forced, probably because they were written with an orchestra in mind from their inception, or at least the album sounds that way.

Not all is perfect with any Yes album and this one is no exception. Don't Go is like any other of Yes' stabs at adult contemporary and its an instant skipper for me, as are most of the short songs on this album, save for the last song, Time Is Time, which is a nod to Time And A Word, some 33 years before. Its a bittersweet, short song with soaring guitar and strings and is as syrupy sweet as anything Yes has ever done, but I can't help but wish it were longer.

I doubt this album won new fans or brought anyone back to the fold, but if you've bought Yes albums up to this point, you may as well buy this one too, as it posesses the most endearing aspects of classic Yes. No, it isn't Close To The Edge, and it isn't even Tales From Topigraphical Oceans, but it couldn't be any other band but Yes.

And just to show how NOT farfetched the orchestra idea was, the subsequent supporting tour with orchestra (captured on DVD) shows just how symphony ready most of Yes' material really was. Epics like Gates Of Delerium and Ritual will never be the same w/o orchestral accompaniment. Looking back, I may not have been bowled over by this album when it came out, but in hindsight, its a good album in that at least the strong material outweighs the weaker material. And if it be their last album proper, Magnification isn't a bad way to go.

I just picked this one up the other night and was going to do a quick run through the tunes, well I ended up playing the disc three times (my 4.99 copy is just the first disc). Well worth the money if you're a Yes fan. The only negative is there's no Wakeman or Kaye, but with those parts being well executed by the orchestra, it really becomes a plus instead of a drawback. Still, if you're hoping to hear some dynamic keyboard parts, you may be disappointed. Overall this is musically their best recent disc (tie with The Ladder). Jon Anderson's singing is quite good here too.

Yes' Magnification was recorded in the Spring and Summer of 2001 in Southern California with an original release date of September 10th 2001 for Europe and a December 4th 2001 U.S. release date. This is the deluxe two disc reissue on Eagle Records on November 16th 2004. This album features the band working with a full symphony which hadn't happened since Time and a Word. This is currently the only Yes album to NOT feature a keyboard player. This is currently the last album to feature Jon Anderson.

The album starts off strongly with Magnification and it's pretty easy to see why the band kept this in their live set lists for years. Spirit Of Survival is a strong harder edge rock tune and is followed by "the single" Don't Go which I actually think is really good. Give Love Each Day is pretty good and the Chris Squire sung Can You Imagine is very cool. We Agree and Soft As A Dove are good songs. Dreamtime is nice while In The Presence Of... and Time Is Time are brilliant. Overall, the album starts and ends strong with a couple of okay numbers in the middle.

The bonus disc is recorded on the Symphonic Tour but isn't from the show featured on Symphonic Live. It sounds like it's a standard soundboard recording and not a professional multi track recording. That being said, the sound isn't bad at all and Tom Brislin keyboards are louder in the mix here which is nice. The Close To The Edge is very well performed while Long Distance Runaround is it's usual short sweet self with a nice flourish from the symphony. The Gates Of Delirium rocks with everyone giving it their all. Unfortunately, this disc is only 46 and a half minutes which makes me wonder why they didn't stick more on it. Where the heck is Ritual or even live versions of the Magnification songs?!?!?!

This also brings up a gripe on the way that Yes releases have been distributed in the last few years. This album was released as a 10 song set in 2001 as well as a dvd audio version which was fine. Shortly after, there was an import version which included Heart Of The Sunrise. Okay. Then, in 2002 a two cd set was released featuring different stuff on the second disc as well as a cd-rom interview with Jon Anderson but without Heart Of The Sunrise. The album was then re-released as a single disc set a year later only to have this version released a year after that. I wish Yes or their marketing team would stop doing this and simply put out everything in one place and not string them out on a bunch of different versions. As I pointed out earlier, the second disc here is short and could've included Heart Of The Sunrise from the import as well as the other live songs from the 2002 deluxe version. The band's newest album, Fly From Here, as well as Asia's more recent stuff has also been issued this way.

I like Yes' Magnification (2001). The symphonic sound is great, and the songs are interesting and inspiring. It was recorded without keyboards (other than Alan White playing a simple piano sequence on In The Presence Of), but the orchestra fills in nicely, and the album lacks none of the magnificent and big sound that you would expect from Yes. The themes are mostly New Age and spiritual, and the lyrics sometimes reference God (something Jon Anderson has never been afraid to do). In Magnification, everything in the universe is connected.

Teach me to teach me
How the keys unlock the door
As we open it we surrender
Holding hands with many more

Don't Go is a radio-friendly, optimistic plea for trust and a caution not to take love for granted.

I can see you had to be your own father
I know he walked out on you
Hey, but that's in the past
You see you don't have a leg to stand on
You're just fooling yourself again

Soft As A Dove begins as an acoustic guitar and flute duet that sounds sort of like music you might hear while browsing in a New Age gift shop. It's the story of a father wishing his daughter all the best as she leaves home. There are plenty of big moments here, too, like when Chris Squire gets his powerful bass in high gear on Spirit Of Survival, or when Jon Anderson's vocals soar into the heavens on the title track. Steve Howe plays the steel quite often here, and some of his better moments are somewhat reminiscent of Duane Allman's slide guitar solo at the end of Eric Clapton's Layla.

In The Presence Of: Deeper/Death Of Ego/True Beginner/Turn Around... is the epic here, and a song that I think could be a Yes classic. It builds on the foundation of a simple love song and works it's way into a highly charged emotional realization of the sanctity of life.

Turn around and remember that
Now you're standing tall
You're standing on sacred ground

The new symphonic sound on Magnification is strong, sweeping and satisfying. Jon Anderson's voice is in great shape, and his interpretations are enthusiastic. The utopian and optimistic songs sound perfect in this setting, and Yes is playing their music as well as they ever have. Magnification is not in the same league as Close To The Edge or Fragile, but it's a solid and unique album, and quite a pleasurable listen.

I don't think this one fits very well in the "prog" pigeon hole (and that's fine by me). Very different to the previous albums: The Ladder, Keys, etc. This one is more consistent and cohesive, and quite enjoyable and accessible, without being poppy. Very good music with a couple of filler tracks. 3.5 to 4 for me.

First let me say, I love 1999's "The Ladder". I think it is excellent. But, I feel that Magnification is a spectacular album (ie; body of songs). It is a completely enjoyable classic YES album. I listen to it alot and enjoy with their best works.
You won't be disapointed. I feel that it hold a very timeless sound (again, like the best works) but, Though, "Big Generator" was an excellent record. I like "Magnification" tremendously.