JON ANDERSON

Let´s face it, I am a BIG Yes fan. And even more so when this album was out. I had to have it and I was completely taken by its lavish cover and pictures. The two gate fold was one of Roger Dean´s best, a real masterpiece and set the right mood to hear the record (something the CD version never did, it only contains part of the cover art and almost none of the lyrics and story). The music inside is very much inspired by both Yes and Vangelis works at the time. There were even some rumours that he played on the album (untrue, but it seems he was a kind of advisor for some parts). Anderson does a great job considering that he up till then was only known for his vocal prowness. His limitations as a musician at the time were enormous, and still, he did it very well. He reportedly played over 20 instruments on the album, including many exotic ones.

And yet I don´t hear Olias Of Sunhillow that much. I have to be in the right mood and it´s clearly not the album to just listen to any time (mostly I only put it on late at night or very early in the morning). It is too attached, too involved to the concept of the story to hold it on its own. It´s the perfect background music for the lyrics and the fantasy universe he created. I can´t see Yes playing any part of it on one of their shows (or even Anderson´s). Too new age-ish, too ambient music, and there´s nothing wrong with that. But I guess most of us fans wanted something musically more eathier at least on some parts. So I can understand both the praising and the criticism this album has got since then. The production was good, but could be much better.

Conclusion: good record by one of the most influential singer/songwriters of all time. He proved capable of doing everything himself and it worked well inside the story-frame. Just don´t expect any rocking moments or any great instrumentation in the vein of Yes or any other band. It´s an interesting musical story and should be seen as just that. Rating: 3,5 stars.

Released after Relayer, this album was played entirely by Jon Anderson. Unlike his fellow Yes-men, Jon Anderson wasn't really the master of any instrument. That being said, on this album he proves that, while perhaps not a master, he is more than capable on plenty, and a master of composition and layering. Olias of Sunhillow features many different acoustic instruments, which Jon layers (as well as his own vocals) with great effect. Some keys are also present, although their use is not quite as prevalent as they are in Yes, and they don't feel as important.

The album tells a tale inspired by the cover of Fragile, where a clan on a planet that is about to explode must build a ship (The Moorglade) to escape. For those that love the pretentious side of prog, this album will appeal with the track names alone - song names like Qoquaq en Transic and Moon Ra are common on this album.

As can be expected of Jon Anderson, this album is full of flights of fancy. It is not a hidden Yes album, but has its own distinct, otherworldly feel, created by the intricate layers of instruments and vocals. Definitely an enjoyable trip for any lover of atmospheric prog music.

There are no real highlights to this album, and it is best consumed as a whole. I have not really heard anything else that sounds quite like it.

A final note: I have the CD version, and the notes are terribly disappointing. It has snapshots of the LP images in the sleeve, but they are too small to read or even really appreciate. But they look like, at full size, they would be beautiful. For album art lovers, I recommend trying to hunt down a vinyl version.

Not later solo works. After I tried to listen some his solo albums (after good debut work) at the very beginning of Anderson's solo career, I just missed any interest to him.

The Promise Ring could be a good Christmas gift ( for Celtic folk lover). Anderson voice is in a good form, the musicians play very competent folk, even with some proggy elements. That's all.

All songs are the same - same melody, same tempo, same vocals range. Just one never- ending song. Anderson is full of optimism (children should like this music). Whenever there is much more folk, than rock, all music sounds very monotonic and faceless.

I believe this work could be a kind of not very successful Christmas gift: you will listen it once, and will forget few hours later. Some enthusiasts could repeat listening during next year Christmas.

Around the time of Big Generator, Jon Anderson recorded this solo album in Los Angeles, the city of angels. Not too surprisingly it has an American sound to it that reminds of bands like Journey and Toto. Some people from the latter band even play on the album. It also sounds very much like a Barclay James Harvest album from the 80's. The music is very slow in tempo, it is slick and it is hardly progressive in any way whatsoever. Needless to say this has absolutely nothing to do with Jon's day job in Yes. Not even with Big Generator or 90125 as those albums are indeed very progressive compared to the present one. There is nothing here that I would consider really poor, it is clearly a very professional recording and Jon actually sounds quite inspired! But one major problem is that all the songs sound quite similar and listening to the whole thing quickly becomes rather dull.

The better songs come at the end and particularly Top Of The World (The Glass Bead Game) is a decent song. The closer Hurry Home (Song For Pleiades) has some tasteful Bagpipes. The rest of the songs are quite ordinary 80's Pop Rock with very slight World influences. If Jon is your favourite singer of all time and you don't mind some slick 80's Pop Rock, then this is for you! Personally, I find it just about listenable and rather boring. This is not my cup of tea at all, and I am quite certain that I speak for most Prog fans.

As I said, this is not a poor product but it is really only for hard core Jon Anderson followers. Sorry Jon, but I cannot bring my self to give this a higher rating than the single star.

When I first heard this, I found it hard to believe that Jon Anderson played all of the instruments here himself, as he never seemed to play much with Yes, save for an occasional acoustic guitar (I always wondered if it was plugged in, or just a prop to keep his hands from flopping around - see "Yessongs" if you don't know what I mean - or sometimes a random small percussion device). But subsequent recordings have shown that Anderson, while not a pure master of any instrument, is no slouch either.

Here, on his first solo album, he weave a mystical fairy tale around somewhat Yes-like, but also new-agey music, with some of the tribal themes he later explored in more depth. The songs are all nicely written, with the lush harmonies that he first showed in in songs like We Have Heaven, from the Fragile album.

For a Yes fan, this is a must. For a prog fan, this is almost a must. But you should at least hear it.

That being said, it's not bad neither. There's a number of tracks that stand out. Meeting has a playful and enchanting chorus like only Jon Anderson can come up with. Another track would be Qoquaq En Transic that could have come right off mentioned Vangelis album. Nice integration of world music influences. Last on my list is Solid Space. Good Anderson harmonies on a sweeping synth melody.

Moon Ra should have been the main attraction here but it lacks the inspiration heard on the three tracks above. By consequence it is 12 minutes of pleasing but rather meaningless sounds. All in all not a bad album that offers a nice change in the Yes canon. I guess fans will dig this.

Another thing - this album is far from prog, at least in it's traditional sense. Could be recommended for quality intelligent pop-rock lovers.

I liked Jon Anderson voice for years, and there he can use it as he wants. ( I think the best demonstration of his voice is Anderson-Vangelis duo albums). This albums has it's atmosphere of light,romantic and warm feeling during all it's long. Generally I don't like new age music at all, but there we are somewhere in very beginning, with still real ( not sweet plastic) emotions and some real ( not plastic) sounds.

For sure, all future Anderson solo albums are grown from there, but no one could show the same level of art. And this is the real SOLO album, what means that Anderson not only sings, but also plays all instruments there! OK, the music is more "haiku" - elegant, clear, not complex, but with strong inside prettyness. Andersons later works are more complex, with full list of added musicians, but never so attractive.

Best Anderson solo album and one of great proto-new age albums. But not similar to Yes works at all.

This albums really stands as a whole. It's the kind of album that you listen entirely, it just flows naturally. I see it somewhat as a stretched version of We Have Heaven (Fragile) with some eclectic elements added to it.

I was also impressed when I heard (recently) that Anderson played every instruments on this records; not that they're particularly good but it is still remarkable. Despite of not being an excellent musician, he is definitely a great (one of my favourite, to tell the truth) singer, and he proves it (once again) in this album.

Excellent album overall.