YES- Magnification @25- Jon Anderson,Tony Kaye, Steve Howe,Trevor Rabin,the late Chris Squire & Alan White
In 2001, buoyed by the success of the previous year’s YES Symphonic Tour, seminal Progressive Rock pioneers YES decided to incorporate actual orchestral accompaniment on their 19th (!) studio albumn, Magnification. In spite of their music being described as “orchestral rock” over the five decades of YES, in fact Magnification was only the second time YES had employed an actual symphony in the studio. Streamlined to a quartet, the results on “In the Presence Of” and “Magnification” were splendid indeed but, fatefully, the album was scheduled for a mid-September release in 2001 and suffered a direct hit in the shadow of the terror that overwhelmed the Western world twenty-five years ago.
YES’s worldwide success in the first half of the Seventies decade became inversely proportional to the vitriolic Punk Rock/New Wave diatribes they had to endure along with the other Prog Rockers in the second half. For the conclusion of the best of YES, In the Studio miraculously assembled everyone pictured below to share the saga, focusing in this part two on the music and challenging years beginning with the comeback of the decade in 1983, 90125; Big Generator in 1987; Union in 1991, Talk, and the vastly under-appreciated September 2001 album Magnification.
The voters of the annual Rock Hall inductions appear to be finally acknowledging certain iconic bands that have been dying to be admitted, and in the cases of Deep Purple, The Ramones, and YES, quite literally. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame finally employed some “affirmative action” with the induction of progressive rock icons YES. Co-founder Jon Anderson sang with YES for the first time in over a decade after inductors Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson of Rush welcomed the veteran band, with Lee subbing for the deceased Yes co-founder Chris Squire on a performance of “Roundabout”.
(Little name, big band. L-R: the late Chris Squire, Tony Kaye, Rick Wakeman, the late Alan White, Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Bill Bruford, Steve Howe)
A sprawling band whose family tree has enormous branches, YES was one of the first wave of post–Beatles London art school bands which included the Moody Blues, King Crimson, Genesis, and Emerson Lake and Palmer. The Rock Hall has employed a perpetual “wait ’til next year” attitude for certain bands that resulted in Deep Purple co-founder Jon Lord, legendary singer Joe Cocker, and YES co-founder Chris Squire passing away before the honor was granted. The voters of the annual Rock Hall inductions appear to be finally acknowledging certain iconic bands that have been dying to be admitted, and in the cases of Deep Purple, The Ramones, and YES, quite literally. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame finally employed some “affirmative action” with the induction of progressive rock icons YES. 
YES electronic keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman went public to claim that he was boycotting the ceremony specifically to protest the Hall of Fame’s delay until Squire’s death shamed them into reluctantly admitting the band, but instead Wakeman opted to not only attend but do a stand up comedy routine that brought down the house! Co-founder Jon Anderson sang with YES for the first time in over a decade after inductors Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson of Rush welcomed the veteran band, with Lee subbing for the deceased Yes co-founder Chris Squire on a performance of “Roundabout”.
It was the long-dreamed-about, too-good-to-last summit meeting of both Seventies and Eighties-era YES members on the album Union thirty-five years ago, with Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Steve Howe, Tony Kaye, the late Alan White and Chris Squire ALL here In the Studio. “Lift Me Up and turn me over…”, indeed! 
This episode of In the Studio is dedicated to YES drummer Alan White who died suddenly May 26, 2022. Alan was a musician with a resume second to none, playing with John Lennon on “Instant Karma”,”Imagine”, and “Jealous Guy”, and George Harrison on All Things Must Pass including “My Sweet Lord”, before replacing Bill Bruford in YES on the Close to the Edge tour. Alan White was a soft-spoken gentle soul, a real sweet guy, and it’s a real loss. –Redbeard
