SHORT STORIES

In 1979, Jon Anderson of Yes and Vangelis, once of Aphrodite's Child but latterly a solo performer, finally consummated their years of friendship with a jointly credited album. Vangelis had already enjoyed significant success as a solo artist, although his soundtrack for "Chariots of fire" would not surface for another year. Anderson had left Yes, as it turned out temporarily, the band recording their sole album without him ("Drama") for release in 1980. The two had worked together previously, notably when Anderson sang on Vangelis's "Heaven and Hell" album. Rumour has it that Vangelis may have been lined up as a replacement for Rick Wakeman in Yes on one of the occasions when he went walkabout, but the union never materialised.

The songs are credited jointly throughout, but I am guessing it would be fair to assume that the lyrics are Anderson's and the melodies Vangelis'. Anderson's lyrics are uncharacteristically straightforward, to the extent that we get the unexpectedly amusing examples such as that which headlines this review.

My over-riding impression of "Short stories" is that it has a rather disjointed feel. Anderson and Vangelis do not seem to blend well together, the album largely consisting either of typical Vangelis virtuoso synthesiser renditions or dominant Anderson vocals. When Anderson is singing, Vangelis is providing rather disinterested orchestration. There are exceptions of course, where the two come together well. The single "I hear you now" is one such case, the strong melody of the vocal line being complemented by some excellent synthesiser atmospherics.

"The road" is the only track to feature an additional musician, Raphael Preston contributing pleasant but unobtrusive acoustic guitar. "Far away in Baagad" is reminiscent of songs on Anderson's "Olias.." album, his chanting type vocal being at odds with the more melodic vocal style he adopts for most of the album. Unfortunately, when he returns to the purer style, it is for the slushy, sentimental "Love is", the low point of the album.

One look at the lyric sheet confirms how much more Anderson dominates the second side, reaching a peak on the lyrically intense "One more time". These lyrics are deeply personal but the person they concern is not revealed. The closing tracks "Thunder" and "A play within a play" are linked to form a longer suite, but unfortunately Anderson is still in full verbose mood, preventing them from developing instrumentally as well as they might have done.

In all, a rather patchy first effort from these two luminaries. They would gel together better on their next project, but in this case I would recommend a Jon and Vangelis compilation before proposing investigation of this album.

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