Artist:     Jon Anderson

Album:     Jon Anderson 

Label:     Solar Music

Release Date:     3.31.2019

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“Activate me! All you gotta do—just mesmerize my heart and soul this time!” Jon Anderson exclaims on his new solo album. Based on this kind of jubilance conveyed by the Yes great, we should be only too happy to oblige.

For Anderson seems back to his ebullient, spiritually uplifting self on 1000 Hands: Chapter One, a work that’s finally seeing the light of day after years of being built and shaped by Anderson and a bevy of rock and jazz luminaries. The results range from WTF (sound effects appearances by “Police Academy’s” Michael Winslow—really???) to Wow! (Chick Corea, Billy Cobham and Jean Luc-Pointy on the same album—Hell yeah!). Yet what’s refreshing most of all is to hear Anderson in top vocal form, bringing forth a power that recalls his re-entry into Yes during the band’s seminal 90125 period.

It’s important to note the album has its flaws. The steel drums on “First Born Leaders” I find to be a major deterrent to the track, even though the piece’s later minutes are fueled by wonderful gospel tinges. Then there’s “Makes Me Happy,” featuring the aforementioned Winslow on beat-box. It’s cute, but Anderson is not an artist I want to associate with cute. Fortunately, the album’s collective inclusion of other great artists like Pat Travers, Steve Morse, Rick Derringer and Robbie Steinhardt offset these moments of head scratching.

Anderson is unafraid to try some new things on 1000 Hands, all backed by musicians ranging from Toto’s Bobby Kimball to Journey’s Jonathan Cain to his former bandmate, the late, great Chris Squire. One terrific example lies in “WDMCF.” The track, which stands for “Where Does Music Come From” and is built largely around this refrain and Anderson’s mantra-like vocals, is all underscored by strong electronic beats that could make Calvin Harris or David Guetta salivate. You can almost envision the mystic arms of Vishnu extending out of Anderson as he sings.

This then segues into the album’s supreme highlight, the eight-and-a-half-minute “Come Up,” a track that begins as an ECM jazz exercise and morphs into something out of Jaco Pastorius-era Weather Report, replete with slap bass and choir that goes toe-to-toe with Anderson to produce something truly memorable. Plus, it’s got Cobham on drums, Corea on piano, Ponty on violin and Larry Coryell on guitar so you know virtuosity runs rampant here.

Overall, hearing a vocal-healthy Anderson hitting notes rivaling his Close to the Edge days is certainly music to my ears. The hope is now other possible album chapters will soon see the light of day.

—Ira Kantor