MAGNIFICATION

"Magnification" is the eighteenth studio album of Yes and was released in 2001. It became a kind of a mark in band's history. It was the band's second album with a full orchestra. The first was their second studio album "Time And A Word", released in 1970. It was their second studio album without their charismatic vocalist Jon Anderson. The first was their tenth studio album "Drama", released in 1980. It was the band's last studio album, to date, with Jon Anderson. It was also the last studio album for a decade until their nineteenth studio album "Fly From Here", released in 2011. It was also the only album in the band's history to not feature any keyboardist. It was also the only studio album involving only four Yes band members. And the last but not the least, it's generally considered the best studio album released by Yes since "Drama". So, due to all things I mentioned before, somehow, "Magnification" is a very special album for Yes.

"Magnification" has ten tracks. All songs were written by Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire and Alan White. The first track is the title track "Magnification". It's a very interesting and good song to open the album in the same vein of the old classic Yes' songs. This is a song with very complex harmony parts and where the bass guitar line is excellent, as is usual. The flute parts sound also very well. This is a great song and a very strong opener to the album. The second track "Spirit Of Survival" is another excellent and very powerful track on the album. One of the reviewers on Progarchives mentioned James Bond and I agree with him. It reminds me a song of a soundtrack of a James Bond film, but much heavier and progressive. The performance of Steve Howe on this track is simply amazing. The third track "Don't Go" is clearly a Jon Anderson's song. It isn't as good as the two previous songs but it remains for me a very good one. It has truly amazing backing vocals performance, one of the best I've heard on any Yes' album. The fourth track "Give Love Each Day" is a very sweet track but it's also, at the same time, a very powerful track. It's a slow and a very beautiful song, one of the most beautiful songs ever written by Yes, in the same vein of "And You And I", but more powerful. The orchestral arrangement is absolutely beautiful and astonishing and it's one of the best I've ever heard. The fifth track "Can You Imagine" is another great track and where Chris Squire takes over the job of lead vocalist and Jon Anderson sings the backing vocals. Probably, it's because of that that it reminds me his debut solo studio work "Fish Out Of Water". It's a very short track but it's also very good. The sixth track "We Agree" is a very calm and beautiful song that seems to do a pause in the big musical intensity of the album, till now. It's a song with a very simple musical structure that flows gracefully and beautifully since its beginning to its end. Once more the guitar performance of Steve Howe and the orchestral arrangements on the song are excellent. The seventh track "Soft As A Dove" is one of the smallest tracks on the album, with "Can You Imagine" and "Time Is Time". It's clearly another Jon Anderson's song with a very beautiful medieval folk tune. This is a very nice and simple song, all acoustic and only performed by acoustic guitar, flute and Jon Anderson's voice. The eighth track "Dreamtime" is the first of the two epic tracks on the album. This is the first real highlight on the album and we may say that we are in presence of a true classic Yes' song. It's a very dense song, very intense and with great harmonies. The instrumentation used with the orchestra is simply amazing and the performance of all band's members is absolutely irreproachable. The ninth track "In The Presence Of" is divided into four parts: "Deeper", "Death Of Ego", "True Beginner" and "Turn Around And Remember". This is the second epic track on the album, the second highlight and it's also, for me, the best track on the album. The song begins very slowly and intensifies all over the song to reach its climax. This is a majestic track full of strings and guitar solos, and represents another classic Yes' track. The tenth and last track "Time Is Time" is the shortest song on the album. It's a very soft song, nice but completely out of the place after the two previous epic tracks. It represents a weak way to close the album. I agree with Zitro when he says that "In The Presence Of" should have been the end of the album.

Conclusion: I must say that "Magnification" is, in my humble opinion, a great album and one of the best Yes' studio albums. It's also probably the best studio album released by the band since the good old 70's. My only doubt is about "Keystudio". I really don't know if I prefer "Magnification" or "Keystudio". So, "Magnification" became as one of my favourite Yes' albums. What impresses me most on this album is the use of an orchestra on the album instead of the use of the keyboards. Sincerely, I never thought possible that this formula found by the group to replace the keyboards could result as well as it resulted. It reminds me a Portuguese expression which means something like this: "Who doesn't have a dog, hunts with a cat". So, "Magnification" proves why Yes is considered one of the best progressive bands ever existed and also shows why Yes is probably the best band of the 70's, still active nowadays. Amazing!

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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