"Review Tuesday" - Olias of Sunhillow by Jon Anderson

 

 

Olias of Sunhillow 

by Jon Anderson

This is less of a review and more of a discussion of one of my favorite YES side-projects, the Jon Anderson solo album from 1976, Olias of Sunhillow. 

 

This story actually begins in 1971. When Roger Dean was hired to paint an album cover for the YES album, FRAGILE, he came up with a series of artwork showing the fragility of a planet, breaking apart and the survivors escaping on fantastical winged space crafts. Jon Anderson was immediately taken by this imagery and together with his love for JRR Tolkien, it had sparked his imagination. 

 

Fast forward to 1975. Rick Wakeman had left YES (for the first of several times over the years) and was replaced by Patrick Moraz. Patrick, who had been a fan of the group before joining convinced the band, after the mediocre reception of the album RELAYER, that it was a good time to take some time apart, vent creativity and produce solo albums. I owned copies of them all. They were mostly pretty good and fun for a YES fan to listen to, to get a feel of when the members were capable of doing without the influences of others. Possibly, the most eclectic one of the bunch was the one by Alan White, with the music spanning the entire range. However, the most wonderful one of the bunch was what Jon Anderson created. 

 

Over the years Jon had collected an assortment of instruments while on tour. He had some musical ability with some of those instruments, and with an idea in his head, he locked himself in his garage for five months and to to work. In his mind, he wanted to write a theme album based on the idea he had going back to the al bum cover of FRAGILE. Olias of Sunhillow would save the people of a world that's coming apart and transport them in an amazing space craft called the Moorglade, with help from his friends. A very Tolkien-esque journey into music and fantasy.  

 

Jon got to writing, but quickly learned his limitations. We didn't have the skill to play many of his instruments well, so he improvised, did the best that he could, and relied heavily on his vocals to paint the scenes he envisioned.    

Side one

1. "Ocean Song" 3:12
2. "Meeting (Garden of Geda)"/"Sound Out the Galleon" 3:28
3. "Dance of Ranyart"/"Olias (To Build the Moorglade)" 4:14
4. "Qoquaq Ën Transic"/"Naon"/"Transic Tö" 7:03
5. "Flight of the Moorglade" 3:22

Side two

1. "Solid Space" 5:16
2. "Moon Ra"/"Chords"/"Song of Search" 12:48
3. "To the Runner" 4:26

Some fun facts about this album. He is the only musician in the recording. He did have some studio people helping, but no one else played on it. Of all the YES solo albums that came from that period, this was the only one that there was no musical assistance. Jon wasn't able to get Roger Dean to do the artwork for this record, which is funny given that his artwork was what had inspired it. A friend had recommended David Fairbrother-Roe who was responsible for the actual album artwork. When the record came out, Vangelis got into trouble with with record company. They stated that he CLEARLY collaborated with Jon on this record and they they weren't angry, but it would've been nice if he let them know. He informed them that he had NO IDEA what they were talking about since he wasn't involved AT ALL. This album has been re-issued many times over the years, and might even be one of the few to get that treatment. I am pretty sure Patrick and Alan's didn't get re-issues... And, finally, Jon has been talking about writing a follow-up record for DECADES. Ever since YES unceremoniously handed Jon his walking papers several years back, it might be a good time to get back to this. 

This is one of favorite records. I can, and DO, listen to it over and over. It's beautiful and thoughtful. In my opinion, it's some of Jon's greatest work, ever. I highly recommend it!

Surprisingly, you can get it on AMAZON