Lay down some spiffy analog keyboard noise on your tunes these days and laud sophistication. So it's totally no surprise to hear layered synth sounds on the third album from these Oz whiz kids that sold four million albums of modern pop music (Note from Jenny: Uh, since when was silverchair categorized in the genre "pop"?) while still grinding through high school. Now they've graduated, and are apparently focusing strongly on songwriting for the first time.

Maybe the guys are spending too much time on and attention to it 'cuz the resultant tunes are dense and rich orchestrations: too much going on for those who like it poppy and simple, and too pretentious for classical rock purists - like Yes fans - who like it lofty. With arena rock hits like "anthem for the Year 2000" it'll sell millions - youth culture continues to be mined. Have fun you guys - Yes sucked.

Donald M. Bailey