Published on Jan 19, 2002
The artwork on the cover is dark and foreboding. There is the
usual Roger Dean logo, yet the cover art is by Bob Cesca of Camp
Chaos infamy. What, in the name of whatever you might want to
believe in, is going on here?
It’s all about context. Reviewing leads to comparing… the mind
looks for contrasts, changes in color… texture attract the eye,
give us something to judge against. Whether you are judging fudge,
pizza or music; you bring your previous experience with you. It
colors your thinking and whatever ‘objective’ thoughts you may have
quickly melt into a slowly simmering stew of subjectivity.
With
Magnification you have a real problem if you are a Yes fan
of any type… There are some strong divisions in the Yes
community; Troopers, Panthers, YesWholes… to name but a few. But
belonging to any of the various subsets of the Yes faithful will
not necessarily help you digest what amounts to a debut album based
on a completely new idea from the concentrated remains of the huge
soup pot that has contained, over the last 30 years, no less than
16 different members of the Yes family of musicians. As you listen
to
Magnification, subjectivity may have to take a back seat to
wonderment. Gone are the keyboards, gone are the 70’s style guitar
solos, gone is any attempt to remain attached in any real sense to
the Yes ‘way’ of making music; independent virtuoso instrumental
solos, melded with textural vocals and mixed with tempo changes
that could send you reeling off the end of a cliff if you are not
paying attention. What we have here instead is Yes’ debut as a
truly collaborative effort. However, in true Yes style the new
collaboration involves a full orchestra… no point in making
anything too easy.
It’s all about milkshakes. Chunky. Yes music, at least the 70’s
era style Yes music that reached it’s pinnacle with “Close To The
Edge,” is chunky. Like a soup full of various chunks of meat and
veggies it can be viewed as one entity but really is a combination
of various ingredients which when viewed close up are far from
homogenous. Nothing wrong with that. Yes makes great soup, but with
Magnification what we have instead of soup is a velvety
smooth chocolate milkshake. Look as closely as you can and it is
almost impossible to pick out any chunks at all.
The biggest ‘chunk’ in normal Yes soup (barring the Yes-Lite
version from the 80’s) has always been Steve Howe’s unmistakable
jazz/country influenced guitar. Steve can play with the best of
them… he is in many respects one the best guitarists to emerge
from and survive beyond the crucible of the 60’s/70’s rock oven.
The first thing you notice about
Magnification is the total absence of any Steve Howe
five-minute guitar solos. Which is not to say that he is not a
large part of the sound. It is just that his diamond edged guitar
melds so completely with the rest of the music that you tend to see
the music as a whole, rather than constantly moving from player to
player. Steve doesn’t rip through the music here, he hides within
it; shimmering here and there like a bright shiny fishing lure that
sparkles and bedazzles your eyes when it catches the sun just
right.
Chris Squire on bass also displays an remarkable amount of
control. One of the first to live up to the term “Bass Soloist.”
Mr. Squire can take flight just as well as Mr. Howe and go off over
rolling hills of virtuosity if the mood strikes him… and it
frequently does… but not here. Again, a complete blending of
talents seems to be the order of the day for this project. Chris’
bass is omnipresent, yet it is an undercurrent. A steady pull on
the line that lulls you into a false sense of security and tugs you
out of your chair when you least expect it. Yet, it never quite
pulls you into the water…
Alan White on percussion is quite capable of tearing off a piece
of the Yes grandiose style, the percussion piece in the middle of
Ritual comes to mind. But, as with Howe and Squire, White is really
a team player on this one.
The subdued nature of the two guitarists and the drummer on this
CD inevitably moves Jon Anderson to the forefront of this project
and his choir boy counter-tenor voice is up to the task. Smooth,
doesn’t do justice to the possible descriptive illustrations
regarding Mr. Anderson’s vocals on
Magnification. He is without a doubt at the height of his
talent. Many Yes fans feel that he sings better now than he ever
did. However, Anderson does not dominate to the point of
overpowering the music. His voice mixes well with the orchestra and
many times throughout the CD we are treated to classic
Anderson-Squire harmonies; the likes of which haven’t really been
heard since “I’ve seen all good people…”
It’s all about harmony. I am not going into a lengthy song by
song descripiton of
Magnification. Like any Yes album you could spend weeks
peeling back the layers of musical talent and another month just
trying to figure out what the lyrics mean. There are a few points
that might be of interest though. The opening strains of the title
track can fool you a bit. Ok, there’s Steve and here comes Chris,
and there’s… uh, there’s.. what is that! Woodwinds??! Jon pops up
behind the woodwinds and is quickly followed up by a string
section. It all seems to flow quite naturally and it becomes quite
obvious that the music on this CD was intended from the beginning
to include an orchestra. Blended and mixed with care and attention.
I particularly like the woodwinds in the title track. Escpecially
where they interplay with Steve’s guitar work around the 6 minute
mark. The music builds nicely towards the end but is intentionally
collapsed into an harmonic degeneration that should abolish any
thoughts of easy listening that may be entering the listener’s
mind.
In true Yes fashion,
Magnification flows right into the second track (“Spirit Of
Survival”) with Jon’s pure crystalline tenor emerging from the
orchestral cacophony to announce, in no uncertain terms, that “In
this world, the Gods have lost thier way.” I’ve been trying to
decipher Jon’s lyrics for decades and this may be the most
disturbing thing I’ve ever heard him utter. It is my most humble
opinion that the Gods he refers to are not the dieties above or
below us. No. Mr. Anderson is pointing straight at you and I.
Lyrically, the song is a condemnation of societies greed; the
triumph of power and expediency over balance. Musically, the song
has a great bass line and works the orchestra in wonderfully,
without getting overly symphonic.
Track 3, “Don’t Go,” was resoundingly ignored when played live
during the Yessymponic tour this year. More because of its non-Yes
nature than any problem with musicianship. Musically “poppy” in
attitude it is lyrically a saber slice at the impermanance of
relationships created within the context of the genX “too cool to
care” attitude. You can download the video created for this song
here.
You might as well, cause you ain’t never gonna see it on MTV.
Track 4, “Give Love Each Day.” Well, it’s a love song. A real,
honest to goodness, Love Song. No doubt aimed directly at Jon’s
wife who, according to the lyrics, keeps Jon centered in a hectic
world. A love song, with easy lyrics… on a Yes album! Will
wonders never cease??! There are a few “Yes style” lyrical twists
which reaffirm Jon’s perennial contention that we are in control
of, and responsible for, creating our own destiny and that change
is not only inevitable but imperative. But, it’s a love song
alright. It has a beautiful symphonic entrance and wonderful
harmonic convergence between Jon, Chris and the orchestra. Larry
Groupe, who has won Emmys for his motion picture work, has made
quite an impact as the conductor on this CD and it shows up quite
distinctly on this track.
Track 5, “Can You Imagine.” In an unexpected yet satisfying
twist, Chris Squire takes lead vocal credit for this one. Rumor has
it that this is a “leftover” from the
Drama album of the early 80’s. It’s not a favorite of mine,
but this song is remarkable. Chris Squire has a fantastic voice and
with Jon to do backing vocals for Chris you end up with a sort of
“reverse Yes” sound. It is a palate cleansing icy treat in the
middle of a full course meal.
Track 6, “We Agree.” Yes made this track freely downloadable
from the YesWorld website after the September 11th tragedy for
anyone who made a donation to the red cross. The lyrics try to
remind us that it’s a small planet that we live on; where we can’t
hide from the implications of our actions and the actions of
others, “We agreed to turn our backs, We agreed to turn our face
away..” Rush said something along the same lines a long time ago
with their song “Free Will,”, “If you choose not to decide, you
still have made a choice.”
Track 7, “Soft As A Dove.” Ok, it’s all woodwinds and quiet fret
work. And it sometimes sounds like Robin Hood and Maid Marion
should be dancing through the greenwood in the background. But if
you’re a father and you have a daughter you’ll get it.
Track 8, “Dreamtime.” Despite being somewhat ripe, having now
attained my 43rd ticket to ride around the sun, most of my friends
are between 25 and 35. So far this is their favorite track. It
starts off with a mix of Spanish influenced Howe guitar and Squire
bass mixed with violins, stops for a minute to intro the lyrics,
and then launches into an orchestral backed, rock/pseudo-Latin
rhythm beat that every once in a while threatens to break out into
a neo-Alan Parsons/I Robot 80’s style techno undercurrent biased
“tune”; throws in some more Spanish guitar and then exits with a
quiet orchestral end piece. Bizarre! I love it!
Track 9, “In the Presence Of.” Yes fans looking for another
classic style masterpiece need look no further than this. While
“Don’t Go” was, politely received by audiences during this years
tour, “In The Presence Of,” was given the true Yes fan standing O.
In keeping with the new collaborative paradigm at work on this CD
it is Alan White on piano who starts us off here. This large piece
is broken down into 4 “movements” in the Yes tradition. Following
that tradition, the lyrics are sibylline enough to require some
time to interpret if you are in the mood. Even though this track
takes some of its genesis from the traditional elements of true Yes
music it still adheres to the general “blending” paradigm of this
CD. No one is allowed to go careening off on a tangent, everyone is
tightly focused building towards the climactic release at the end
of the final movement. It is, quite simply, a Yes masterwork.
However, if there is a missed opportunity anywhere on this CD it is
here at the end of “In The Presence Of” where they should have cut
the duct tape off of Steve, scrapped the next track, which is a
filler anyway, and let Steve rip for 3 or 4 minutes. Sometimes
focus becomes obsession…. sometimes it’s best to let go a
bit.
Track 10, “Time is Time.” Looks like they had some “Time to
Fill” to me. The lyrics are interesting enough and the melody is
nice enough but it’s definitely an underdeveloped idea.
Maybe it’s all about trees. After returning to their roots with
the Masterworks tour of 2000 the Yes tree has clearly sprouted a
new branch. But where on the tree does this fit? Is this a
masterwork along the lines of
Close To The Edge? No, clearly not. Is this a pop breakdown
like
90125? Thank God, no. So, where do we put this? In terms of
genre it reminds me of
Tales From Topographic Oceans. Not that it sounds like
Tales, but thats the point.
Magnification doesn’t sound like anything else, and niether
did
TFTO. I always considered
TFTO a genre unto itself [place editors requisite
disparaging remark here].
Magnification is a new Yes genre. Call it “Classical Rock.”
Call it “Symphonic Rock.” Call it what you will. From an objective
(as much as possible) viewpoint; musically this is the equivalent
of
Fragile. Solid work; a precursor to greatness; a B+ CD.
Who will listen to
Magnification? Yes fans will. They already are. If you are a
Yes fan then hop on over to
www.yesfans.com and say hi.
You are not alone. But you will never see
Mag on a chart, or hear it on the air. There is no pre-fab
context to place it in. Brought up on the insipid meanderings of
Britney, or the goalless expletives of rage rock, the MTV herd
hasn’t got the background to digest it. And choice is not something
that the corporate music mongers want the herd to ponder. It’s
easier to market to the lowest common denominator.
It’s all about changes. We have had Yes the dreamers. We have
had Yes the mystics. We’ ve even had Yes the pop band. Now we have
Yes the fathers role. Matured and loving… yet disgruntled with
the way some of it is turning out.
They didn’t know it at the time, or perhaps they did… but Yes
wrote the chapter headings of their own continuing story decades
ago: Perpetual change spurs us all on and so it is with Yes. So,
get comfy and dream in that chair that really fits you, put down
the pot and reach for the merlot. Let the summer change to winter;
there is no disgrace in that. I like snow angels.