------------------------------------------------- OCTOBER 10, 2001 ------------------------------------------------- Source: Rock Ahead http://www.themusicindex.com/rockahead/reviews/yes3.htm YES  Magnification  Eagle EAGCD 189  by Jon Kirkman The latest album from Yes finds them throwing themselves headlong into an orchestrated project.  This is not the easiest of undertakings and some bands have come unstuck with this approach in the past. 'Magnification' works incredibly well for a number of reasons. First of all, the material was written and arranged with the participation of an orchestra in mind. How many times have we heard orchestras used to simply pad out overblown arrangements? With this album, band and orchestra are totally integrated, a credit not least to Larry Groupe for his incredible arrangements.  The title track is an incredible song that builds to a crescendo at the end, rather like The Beatles 'Day In The Life', but the highlight for me is track 4 'Give Love Each Day' arguably one of the best Yes pieces for years.  There are two longer tracks which will satisfy Yes fans' thirst for the epic: 'Dreamtime' opens with Steve Howe's almost Spanish-sounding acoustic work and runs the full range from hardrock through to acoustic and with the band's trademark shifting time signatures and harmonies. 'In the Presence Of' is more like Classic Yes of the seventies.  This is the first Yes album to fully utilise an orchestra since 'Time And A Word' in 1970. You wonder why it has taken so long to repeat the exercise. The live gigs will be much-anticipated and I am sure will confirm the excellence of this album. Close Window YesInThePress.com For site comments, problems, corrections, or additions, contact YesinthePress@aol.com