THE MORE YOU KNOW

Change he must, and yet the more things change, the more this album of contemporary pop/worldbeat stays within the unpredictable expectations of a Jon ANDERSON album. I didn't blink an eye when the sounds of drums n' bass took their place alongside that familiar voice as if they naturally belonged there. Approaching a Jon ANDERSON album is a dangerous business, so you need to be ready for anything. What I wasn't ready for were two songs that would get under my skin so quickly: "Heaven's Love" and "Take, Take, Take". The former reminds me of "Hearts," the latter could be seen as a cross between "We Have Heaven" and Peter GABRIEL's "Kiss That Frog". For these two tracks alone, ANDERSON's fans should considering picking up this disc.

What remains is not filler; pleasant melodies from Jon are fleshed out by Francis and Bobby Jocky, a little guitar from Jeff Kellner, and the backing vocals of wife Jane Luttenberger Anderson. Despite the lean production (penny pinching purple pyramids prevail), the core quartet do a tremendous job of filling in the arrangements and giving them a suitably grand sound. Listen to "Magic Love", "Faithfully", "Youth" or "The More You Know" and tell me how many musicians you hear (you'll guess more than four). The only knock I have on "The More You Know" is that less might have been more. This infernal CD medium still has everyone struggling to come up with sixty minutes of music, which is just too hard when you're writing four-minute pop songs. Past the midway point, the engaging becomes merely interesting, or (in the efficacious invention of a new word) IntraYesSting, which is to say somewhere between Jon ANDERSON and STING. I don't mean that as an insult (I understand that some folks are highly allergic to STING's music), merely an indication that both artists lack strong self-editing skills.

In Jon's case, he serves as a channel for his muse, so editing is antithetical to his role as a conduit. But where to edit? Maybe "Some TV" and "Ever" could have stayed at home, but cutting anything else might slight a song that resonates with someone. If you enjoyed the anglo/afropop of Paul SIMON and Peter GABRIEL, "The More You Know" could be heard as a modest and more beat-oriented sibling. The goal here isn't authenticity but inspiration (and economy), and this disc scores often on those points. As one of Jon ANDERSON's more straightforward pop albums, this would fall slightly below "Song of Seven" and rise above "In The City of Angels".

I love this Album, maybe because I was not a Real Yes Fan's, I knew Jon Anderson with the song Owner Of A Lonely Heart , and since I was trying to find more on Anderson's songs with in the same Vibes, but in vain. Yes always have very complicate Music arrangements and most of the time one can not even hear the unique voice of Jon. With the More you know, I feel like for one time the songs is made only for Jon, and that's really not a bad thing. A must have Album for many of us who love Jon Anderson's Voice but not Really fan of Yes's Music.

No connection

These days, Jon Anderson seems content to work within the confines of Yes, with only occasional guest appearances elsewhere. He has however, over the years, been second only to Rick Wakeman in terms of the proliferation of solo albums he has made.

While his earliest solo work followed a reasonably progressive path, he quickly settled down to making male vocal AOR based albums. "The more you know" falls very much into this category. Recorded in 1998, this is pretty much Anderson's latest solo album at time of writing, save only for his 2006 Tolkien venture.

As might now be expected, "The more you know" is very much a pop focused album with strong ethnic influences. Anderson's (then) recent marriage to Jane Luttenberger Anderson persuades him to include her in the line up as a second vocalist. Jane's vocals are adequate, but the combination simply serves to accentuate the pop aspects of the sound. The line up is completed by keyboard player Francis Jocky who is also responsible for composing the music (although Anderson credits himself with the "melodies") and his brother bassist Bobby Jocky.

The ethnic influences are particularly to the fore on "SAY" where Francis adds some African lyrics to the strong rhythms. On the title track, Anderson tries to recreate "State of Independence", but the song lacks the strength in depth of that track, with what remains being a rather dull monologue. Titles such as "Gimme love" and "Dancing fool" indicate all too clearly the funk/soul/pop we should expect from them. We should perhaps simply be grateful that Anderson has not so far attempted to allow such sounds to infiltrate Yes.

The low point of the album comes with the oh-so slushy lyrics of "Ever", where even Anderson seems to reach a point of such embarrassment that he resorts to scatting instead. On a more positive note, the gentle ballad "Heaven's love" is pleasing even if it is a rather predictable and unadventurous song.

In all, this is not an album to investigate simply because of the Yes connection. There may well be an audience for this type of music, but I can find little of genuine merit here.