Yes Magnification 25th Anniversary Half-Speed Remaster Brings Jon Anderson's Final Yes Studio Album To Vinyl

Yes will mark the 25th anniversary of Magnification with a new half-speed remaster, scheduled for release on September 18, 2026 through Mercury Studios.

The anniversary edition brings the 2001 album back on vinyl as a black 180-gram 2LP half-speed remaster. A limited-edition cassette will also be released, capped at 500 units across the United States and United Kingdom.

For collectors and progressive rock listeners, the reissue returns to one of the most unusual chapters in the Yes catalog: a studio album recorded without a dedicated keyboardist, built around a four-piece lineup and expanded with orchestral arrangements performed by the San Diego Symphony Orchestra.

Magnification was originally released in September 2001 as Yes’s 19th studio album.

The new 25th Anniversary Edition presents the album as a half-speed remaster cut for vinyl and pressed across two 180-gram LPs.

The format is important because this anniversary edition gives Magnification a new collector-focused vinyl presentation, placing one of the band’s later orchestral works back into a physical format long associated with the classic Yes catalog.

The collector value of this release comes from several elements working together.

The album has been cut as a half-speed remaster, a mastering process often used for vinyl editions when the goal is to improve detail, stereo image and frequency response.

The anniversary campaign also includes a very limited cassette edition restricted to 500 units in the U.S. and U.K.

The album itself occupies a unique place in Yes history because it became Jon Anderson’s final studio album with the band.

Magnification carries historical weight because it was the last studio album by Yes to feature founding vocalist Jon Anderson.

The lineup on the album featured:

Jon Anderson - lead vocals, MIDI guitar

Chris Squire - bass, backing vocals, lead vocals on “Can You Imagine”

Steve Howe - acoustic, electric and pedal steel guitars, backing vocals

Alan White - drums, piano, backing vocals

That four-piece configuration gives Magnification a distinct identity inside the band’s catalog.

One of the most unusual details of Magnification is that it was recorded without a dedicated keyboard player.

Keyboardist Igor Khoroshev had left the previous year, and Rick Wakeman would return to the band in 2002. That left Yes operating as a four-piece during the sessions.

Instead of filling the space with a new keyboardist, the band leaned into orchestral arrangements and harmonic openness, giving the album a different shape from many other Yes records.

Magnification was only the second Yes album to feature a full orchestra, following Time And A Word from 1970.

The orchestral arrangements were performed by the San Diego Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Larry Groupé, the three-time Emmy-winning film composer.

That orchestral presence gives the album a symphonic scale without turning it into a standard keyboard-heavy Yes record. The result is a late-period progressive rock album where guitars, bass, drums, vocals and orchestra carry the harmonic weight together.

The album moves between extended progressive structures and more accessible melodic writing.

“Dreamtime” and “In The Presence Of” stretch into broader instrumental and structural territory, connecting the record to the band’s long-form progressive tradition.

Songs such as “Can You Imagine” and “Time Is Time” reflect the more direct melodic side of Yes that developed after the 1980s.

That contrast makes Magnification a transitional album: symphonic in scale, progressive in spirit and still connected to the band’s later melodic identity.

After the release of Magnification, Yes supported the album with the Yessymphonic Tour.

During that tour, songs including “Magnification,” “Don’t Go” and “In The Presence Of” were performed live with a full orchestra.

That stage presentation extended the album’s orchestral concept beyond the studio and made Magnification one of the band’s most clearly symphonic late-career projects.

The original Magnification artwork was created by Bob Cesca, rather than longtime Yes visual collaborator Roger Dean.

For this reissue, Cesca created a newly designed LP-exclusive cover based on his original illustrations.

That artwork decision gives the 25th anniversary vinyl edition another collector angle. The LP presentation revisits the album’s visual identity through new packaging connected to the original artist.

TRACKLIST

SIDE A

1. Magnification

2. Spirit Of Survival

3. Don’t Go

SIDE B

1. Give Love Each Day

2. Can You Imagine

3. We Agree

SIDE C

1. Soft As A Dove

2. Dreamtime

SIDE D

1. In The Presence Of

i. Deeper

ii. Death Of Ego

iii. True Beginner

iv. Turn Around And Remember

2. Time Is Time

FORMATS

Magnification 25th Anniversary Edition will be available in the following formats:

Black 180-gram 2LP vinyl

Half-speed remaster

Limited-edition cassette

500-unit cassette release in the U.S. and U.K.

Yes remain one of the defining bands in progressive rock history.

Their catalog is closely associated with long-form composition, complex arrangements, high-level musicianship, fantasy and philosophical themes, distinctive cover art and a constant willingness to restructure the band’s sound across different eras.

Magnification sits in a special position within that history. It is not part of the classic 1970s run, but it speaks directly to that legacy through orchestral scale, ambitious arrangements and the presence of Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Steve Howe and Alan White.

The album also became a closing studio chapter for Anderson inside Yes, which gives the 25th anniversary edition added emotional and historical weight.

COLLECTOR DETAILS

Artist: Yes

Album: Magnification

Original release: September 2001

Anniversary edition release date: September 18, 2026

Label: Mercury Studios

Formats: 180-gram 2LP vinyl, limited cassette

Mastering: Half-speed remaster

Vinyl note: Black 180-gram 2LP half-speed remaster

Cassette note: Limited to 500 units in the U.S. and U.K.

Orchestra: San Diego Symphony Orchestra

Conductor and orchestral arranger: Larry Groupé

Original artwork: Bob Cesca

New LP-exclusive artwork: Bob Cesca, based on original illustrations

For collectors, Magnification’s 25th anniversary edition gives a late-period Yes album a new physical chapter built around half-speed mastering, black 180-gram 2LP vinyl, a limited cassette and new Bob Cesca artwork. The deeper importance lies in the album’s place in Yes history: a four-piece orchestral record featuring Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Steve Howe and Alan White, and the final Yes studio album to include Anderson’s voice.

Written by Gino Alache – Music Journalist

PHOTO CREDIT: Mercury Studios

Watch Yes’s official video for “Can You Imagine” below: