MAGNIFICATION

Yes in 2001 finaly managed to put out brilliant album. Well, their studio stuff on "Keys to ascension" 1 and 2 from the late 90-s (a.k.a Keystudio) was great too but was buried among live performances of older material while it should be heralded as their return to form and put out as proper album. Their three albums before this one (Talk, Close Your eyes, Ladder) had some (quite many) pleasant moments and were way better than three pop disaters (90125,Big Generator, Union) but here the band suported by orchestra (instead of usual keyboards) plays exeptionaly well bringing tears of joy and moments of pure awe for prog-hungry ears. There is one borderline poppy track ("Don't go") but after getting used to it, it's still perfectly listenable as even this one has some tasty arrangements. I'm more than happy to say the rest is mostly flawless. The orchestra sound, rather sparse drums parts and not so dense motives (there is a lot of space here which is nice as the clarity is excellent and cinematic grandiose is achieved) make this one distinct from their glory days. Although Time and a Word from 1970 was recorded with the orchestra too, but if the orchestration was merely tried then (with really good results) here it is mastered. Modern take on Yes with some modified aproach but still full of classic Yes element I love so much. Sadly it was their last great album to this day, but at this point it was a huge surprise as probably not many of us had any faith (but there is always hope!) in hearing Yes in such a great shape again. I think it's probably best prog rock with orchestra album ever! At this point of their career it's undoubtely an unexpected achievement. Beautiful. 4,5 to 5 stars rounded up to 5 for making my hopes come through.