MAGNIFICATION

Yes decided to push forward with just the four remaining members for their next album, 2001's Magnification. Rather than hire a new full-time keyboardist, Yes opted to record with a 60-piece orchestra, their first time doing so since their 1970 sophomore album, Time and a Word.

I may gush about The Ladder's weird, poppy goodness and Talk's aggressive prog experimentation, but 2001's Magnification is truly Yes's strongest recent output. I'd call it better than Going for the One and roughly on par with the Keys to Ascension 1 & 2 studio output. It's sad to say that this was the band's last great album.

Magnification opens with the title track. It's a rather light, floating song but not without impact. The rich strings are deftly accented by Chris Squire's bass playing, and the chorus is huge and grandiloquent. Not only is the sound quality rich, but it's a solid, catchy melody?one of the best since the band's classic era output.

"Don't Go" sounds like it could have fit in well on The Ladder. It's a bouncy, quirky, happy song, and the strings fill the space left by keyboards seamlessly. While this is the most Ladder-like song, quite a few songs feature choruses or passing musical ideas which share a lot DNA with that album.

Yes's decision to go full-bore with the strings was a brilliant move. If they'd been less bold, perhaps minimizing them, it could have come off much worse. "Give Love Each Day" opens with two minutes of orchestral music, sans rock instrumentation, before turning into a slinking, slowly-escalating piece.

"Can You Imagine?" is a reworking of a song originally recorded with XYZ and is a rare example of Squire getting lead vocals on a Yes song.

The two strongest songs on this album are also the two longest. Appearing back-to-back, the first is "Dreamtime". "Dreamtime" opens with Howe's speedy classical guitar lines topped with sweet strings and liquidous electric guitar. The verses are dark and oppressive. Chris Squire's bass has a biting twang, and brass is used much like an overdriven organ. Between all this are moments with subtle Middle Eastern influence. The song closes with two minutes of moody, spooky orchestral music, giving equal highlight to the strings and reeds.

"In the Presence Of" is a classic Yes-style multi-parted suite, albeit terser than most. In contrast to the preceding song, this one keeps its tone sunny and uplifting, a task uniquely well-suited to an orchestra.

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2019/03/24/deep-dive-yes/