The 60s was this revolutionary time, emotionally, physically and spiritually...

BY any standard, Jon Anderson’s latest album has been a long time coming. The co-founder and former frontman of progressive rock titans Yes, started work on 1,000 Hands 30 years ago, during a writing retreat in the Big Bear Mountain ski resort in southern California.

With friend and long-standing collaborator Brian Chatton, he laid down some tracks.

But life got in the way.

Jon went on tour with Japanese new-age pioneer Kitaro while Chatton took off to play keyboard and organ for R&B greats like the late BB King.

The tapes spent decades gathering dust in Anderson’s California garage. That was until two years ago, when he was contacted by Orlando-based producer Michael Franklin, who had secured an investment to complete the record.

“Life happens,” Jon chuckles from his home studio, surrounded by various synthesisers, drums and stringed instruments from around the globe.

“I promised to go on tour in America and Japan with Kitaro, so off I went, while Brian went the other way to work with BB King and other people like that.

“He had an idea of how he wanted to hear the tracks and he actually spent time and money working on it. “He sent me the mixes and I said: ‘Actually Brian, it’s a little bit too overproduced. Love you man! But let’s leave it for now.”’ Jon initially dubbed the project Uzlot – meaning “us lot” a droll reference to his Lancashire upbringing – until Franklin suggested they change the name to 1,000 Hands, a nod to the number of artists who contributed to the record. “He surprised me every week with new ideas. He was very dedicated to it,” Jon says in his quivering alto-tenor voice, his accent only slightly softened by years of living in the States.

“We are connected to do chapter two and we have already done half a dozen songs.

“We are going to do some more in the new year, and release that next Christmas.”

The title is no exaggeration – the record features an array of guests including jazz pianist Chick Corea, legendary drummer Billy Cobham, French jazz violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, the Tower of Power horn section and more.

Most importantly, it also features recordings from Jon’s former Yes bandmates – drummer Alan White and bassist Chris Squire.

This makes the album special indeed following the death of

Squire in 2015 from a rare form of leukaemia.

“We were like yin and yang,” he recalls of his late partner.

Like his music, conversation with Jon darts from the technical to the