JON ANDERSON

1000 Hands SELF-RELEASED

Anderson shines with a little help from his friends.

With Yes Featuring ARW off the road and very possibly finished, it’s an unexpected delight to hear a new album from Jon Anderson. Although ‘new’ isn’t quite the right word. Anderson first started working on this material in 1990 with Chris Squire and

Alan White, but the best-laid plans of mice, men and rock singers often go astray, and other commitments and projects kept pulling Anderson away from it. Fast forward almost three decades and producer Michael Franklin suggested they dig the tapes out and finish the tracks. The result is 1000 Hands: Chapter One, the title a reference to the huge cast of musicians who contributed to the record, including Jonathan Cain, Rick Derringer, Bobby Kimball and Ian Anderson to name just a handful.

It’s not an album as firmly rooted in progressive rock as 2016’s Invention Of Knowledge by Anderson/Stolt, but it’s a strong collection of songs that cover a surprisingly diverse range of styles. Ramalama is built around a vocal loop, then pulls in an electronic drum beat, sitar and banjo in a weird and wonderful dance-world-pop mash-up. First Born Leaders has a Calypso vibe with steel drums – and happily Anderson isn’t tempted to do a faux-Jamaican accent like 10cc’s Dreadlock Holiday.

The album does make forays into prog territory, notably on Activate and Twice In A Lifetime. The former doesn’t boast the most memorable melody on the album, whereas the latter features some rather lovely harpsichord and violin. Come Up takes Anderson into jazz fusion territory, aided by a dream team line-up of Chick Corea, Jean-Luc Ponty, Billy Cobham and Larry Coryell. The song begins with a gorgeous piano intro from Corea, Cobham’s drumming is just as nimble and articulate as you’d expect from a player of his stature, and Ponty solos with style and grace.

Far removed from the fusion of Come Up, the reggaeinflected pop of Makes Me Happy bounces along on a ukulele riff buoyed by the energetic brass of the Tower Of Power horns. Those two tracks are the immediate standouts from the record. I Found Myself is a fairly straightforward ballad, while WDMCF – or Where Does Music Come From – feels like a less effective re-run of Ramalama as the song is built around another vocal loop and more EDM-style drum beats. The closing track, Now And Again, reunites Anderson with Steve Howe, who lays down some classical guitar shapes.

The chemistry between the pair will have any Yes fan longing for a full reunion, but for the meantime this will do very well indeed.

A STRONG COLLECTION COVERING A DIVERSE RANGE OF STYLES.