Recorded live on the final night of the 1989 Anderson/Bruford/Wakeman/Howe tour, this two-CD set offers both oldies and improvements upon their new material. You'll probably find yourself listening only to the second CD, as the first CD largely consists of shaky solo medleys. Howe fares the best with delicate renditions of "Mood for a Day" and "The Clap." Anderson's guitar and vocal turn comes off like a coffeehouse gig - not bad, especially when he samples "Teakbois," but not riveting. Wakeman's "Merlin" and "Catherine Parr" solo trades speed for precision, and the crowd is unaccountably thrilled when he wrenches unimpressive blow-bottle sounds out of a keyboard. Bruford blows his solo yet again, just as in Yessongs; infatuated with electronic percussion, he produces a grating assortment of clanks and conks…

Digitally remixed, remastered and expanded 40th Anniversary edition of the Prog band's 1974 album. The CD features a completely new stereo album mix by Steven Wilson plus the two promo singles edits taken from the album. Original artwork expanded, restored and approved by Roger Dean. Presented as a double digipak format in a slipcase with new sleeve notes by writer Sid Smith.
Yes had fallen out of critical favor with Tales from Topographic Oceans, a two-record set of four songs that reviewers found indulgent. But they had not fallen out of the Top Ten, and so they had little incentive to curb their musical ambitiousness…

A collaboration between Yes singer Jon Anderson and other like-minded musicians, In Elven Lands is a celebration of the mythical worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien, featuring an imagining of Elvish music using medieval instruments, early music techniques, and Elvish and Anglo-Saxon lyrics. There's also a cover of Led Zeppelin's "The Battle of Nevermore," done in typically archaic style.

Jon Anderson records naturally sound like Yes records, and not only because of his high, frequently double-tracked tenor. Anderson, who wrote, arranged, and produced Song of Seven, his second solo album, fills his overstuffed arrangements with dense keyboard textures and sparkling acoustic guitar strumming, just like the music of his band. For parts of this album, he evokes touches of early rock & roll and seems to be singing of romance, but by late in the second side, amid sound effects of birds and children, his keening vocals, in melodies seemingly borrowed from Anglican hymnals, are going on about the strength of dreams and stairways of love. Restraint is not one of Anderson's characteristics.

Inspired by the artwork of Roger Dean and the writings of Ver Stanley Alder, Jon Anderson developed an entire story around the idea of an interstellar exodus from Sunhillow, writing this album around the narrative (named for the spaceship's architect, Olias). The idea may seem overly ambitious, but Anderson fills the record with enough magical moments to delight fans of Yes' mystic side. The music is written and performed almost entirely by Anderson, who dubs vocals, plays guitar and harp, and adds percussion and the occasional synthesizer to flesh out his ideas so that at no point does the music lose its spellbinding effect for lack of sonic detail. Olias of Sunhillow is faithful to the spirit of Yes, though decidedly more airy than that band's visceral style - its closest comparison would be Fragile's "We Have Heaven" or Going for the One's "Wonderous Stories"…

With the exception of Peter Banks and Trevor Horn, virtually all the major contributors to Yes in its various incarnations over the previous 23 years, including both of its drummers, threw their hands into the making of Union, which was supported by a massive tour that filled arenas with at least two generations of fans. So even if Union had been as good as one hoped, this was an album that couldn't possibly have met the expectations inherent in the array of talent involved. The material is reasonably solid, and under ordinary circumstances this album would have been considered just fine, if not exceptional. "I Would Have Waited Forever" shows off the group's vocalizing (by Chris Squire and Jon Anderson) at its most melodic and Steve Howe has one of the most beautiful classical guitar showcases of his Yes career on "Masquerade"…

1000 Hands: Chapter One is the fifteenth studio album by English singer-songwriter and musician Jon Anderson, released March 2019. The album originates from sessions for a project to have been called Uzlot (a northern English pronunciation of "us lot") that Anderson had been recording in Big Bear, California, with Brian Chatton in around 1990. Chatton wrote most of the music, played keyboards and also sang. Anderson asked his then Yes bandmates Chris Squire and Alan White to play on the project too. At the time, Yes were preparing for a tour and Anderson put the master tapes in his garage and, as he has recounted, gave them very little thought for many years. In 2016, producer Michael Franklin contacted Anderson about using the tapes and finishing an album. Further recordings followed at Solar Studios in Orlando, Florida. Along with some newly written material, the final result is 1000 Hands.

Jon Anderson's voice immersed in South American music might seem an unlikely match, but the rich and vibrant tones of Deseo provide a strikingly fresh setting for the singer. Augmented by well-known artists from across South and Latin America, the Yes vocalist seems content to recede into the background on many of the tracks, retaining a native flavor with stellar cameos from Maria Conchita Alonso, Boca Livre, Milton Nascimento, and many others. The songs, which generally clock in around three-and-a-half minutes, are warm and upbeat, mixing English, Portuguese, and Spanish vocals with propulsive percussion, acoustic guitars, bass, and synthesizers. The melodies are lovely and atmospheric, uncomplicated but evocative…

A concept album, Jon Anderson's (Yes) "Toltec" is made up of 13 cuts divided into three parts. It tells the tale of the Toltec, a Native American concept of a group of people who have been all over the Earth, existing within different cultures throughout the centuries. They are described in the liner as "Creators of the circles of power, color, perfume, and music healing domes." Musically, this one is arguably Anderson's most ambitious solo effort. It is set in a style that is definitely progressive rock, but focuses less on the rock and more on other elements. Among those elements are new age (no surprise as the CD was released on the Windham Hill label), world music, electronic, and even jazz. Anderson not only provided the expected vocals, but also wrote, arranged, and produced the disc…

In 1988, Jon Anderson quit Yes for the second time and released his first regular solo album in six years, In The City Of Angels. Stewart Levine, best known for his work with Culture Club, was brought in to produce; Anderson worked with a team of L.A. session stars and wrote a couple of songs with ex-Motown ace Lamont Dozier. All of this seemed to portend a more commercial-sounding, straightahead pop effort from the usually ethereal Anderson. The result is about half and half: when writing with Dozier, Anderson expresses conventional romantic sentiments, for which he doesn't really have a feel. His tenor is so chaste and angelic, it's hard for him to be believable on earthly love songs. And soon enough, especially on later tracks, Anderson is once again in spiritual outer space, where he seems most comfortable. The compromise, however, did not appeal to fans, who avoided this album.

This is an oddity: a Christmas album incognito. Save a red and green stripe on the back cover, the outside packaging is conspicuously devoid of the usual holiday trappings, leaving the astute person to deduce from the track listing Three Ships' true intent. Further complicating matters is the fact that half of the songs are new compositions from Jon Anderson, none of which have holiday-related titles (unless "Forest of Fire" warms your holiday chestnuts). On listening to this, the songs themselves do little to clear up the confusion; while the traditional tunes ("Three Ships," "The Holly and the Ivy") are obviously Christmas songs, the new compositions are spiritual in Anderson's typically general sense and rarely address Christmastime directly…

Short Stories is the debut album by Jon and Vangelis, the collaborative effort between Jon Anderson of the prog rock band Yes and electronic music pioneer Vangelis. This was not the first time that the two had worked together: Vangelis had auditioned to be Rick Wakeman's replacement in Yes in 1974, but the role was given to Patrick Moraz. In 1975, Jon Anderson sang on "So Long Ago So Clear" from Heaven and Hell.

The most influential and enduring progressive rock group ever, Yes has expanded the frontiers of musical onsciousness since 1968. Revered for instrumental virtuosity and bravura vocals in a signature sound fusing rock, classical, pop, folk, metal, and more, their sonically adventurous albums are matched in renown by the sheer force of their concert spectacles. Spanning 1969-2001, and a number of the band's legendary line-ups, this remarkable 2-CD compilation pulls masterworks from throughout their career for a revealing overview of their artistic evolution. 2-CD collections by legendary artists.