What were the problems with Magnification?

[Mr. Holland]

In a Jambase interview in may this year Jon said the following about performing music from Magnification live:

"Unfortunately a couple of the guys in the band had a tough time with that album. For one reason or another they don't want to do songs from that album on stage. I do. I just did a show with the Cleveland Youth Orchestra and I did song from that album that will only get played as long as I'll sing it because the band won't play it."

Chris has been saying:"When we did the last album Magnification, I enjoyed it and I think the others did as well, let's keep our fingers crossed so that when it comes time to record again we'll be able to pull the good out of it and not worry about the drawbacks." ....so he doesn't seem to have a problem with Magnification, that leaves only Alan and Steve, well and Rick, but he wasn't on the album, so he can't have had a tough time with it.

Has anybody got any inside info on which guys of the band had a tough time with that album and for what reasons? I mean I love the album and would love it if they would play like Dreamtime or Give Love Each Day live!

[Orbert]

Strange. I had not heard any comments like this.

But with Jon and Chris both very positive on record, it remains only to continue the process of elimination.

It may be not be wise to discount Rick's opinion. At some point, they had to discuss set lists, and Magnification is the most recent studio album, and Rick isn't on it. Maybe he wasn't too wild about "being the orchestra" for those tunes. His role would essentially be to mimic arrangements he had no part in, and which he probably doesn't find very interesting.

Steve has said things to the effect that he doesn't feel like he has as much "space" with the Mag stuff, but I can't think of anything more specific than that. Bouncing riffs off a keyboard player is one thing; sharing musical space with a symphony orchestra I'm sure is much more tricky.

Alan seems like the only one who would be positive about it without reservation. But consider that his role, too, would be infringed upon. Orchestras have percussion sections. Alan would effectively be sharing space as well, a prospect which understandably is not necessarily attractive to some musicians.

So actually, only Jon's role is not significantly different. He sings the songs. The band is often "the orchestra" anyways, in Yesmusic. I can actually see any of the others having some reservation about playing the Mag stuff live. Doing the studio album is one thing, and I'm sure they all thought that was pretty cool. But working up live arrangements and putting them in the set list is a different animal altogether.

Orbert

[ANTIOCH]

My only problem was that it ended ! A tremendous effort from our YESmen.