Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Olias of Sunhillow (1976)

I think it is useful to think of bands as systems, whose sound is an emergent property of the whole. Not too sophisticated a notion, but interesting to keep in mind when listening to solo projects, such as I did when listening to Yes vocalist Jon Anderson's premier solo album, Olias of Sunhillow.

I came upon Jon Anderson's Olias of Sunhillow on a list of concept albums I found on the Internet. I am definitely a Yes fan. However, of the numerous albums that Yes band members have put out during their solo careers, this is the first solo work I have listened to. It has taken me a couple of weeks of consistent listening to really get into this album. The Auricle has had to overcome an aversion to some of the more ambient sounds here; the synthesizer work smacks too much of new-age music for this ear at times. Admittedly, it does help to know that this album came out in 1976, before (to my knowledge) that particularly awful ambient, "mystical" music decidedly developed a genre for itself. Were it not for Anderson's stellar voice and lyricism this disc would not have remained in my player long enough for me to realize that is actually overall a very fine album.

Anderson's work here sounds a lot like Yes only thinner, though not any less multi-layered than Yes' work. Really there is not much to differentiate it from something that Anderson put together alone rather than with his other band mates except that he is not as skilled as his Yes band mates at their various instruments; Anderson's mastered instrument is certainly his vox. I haven't quite found there to be similar ambient, "mystical" sounds on any of the Yes albums I listen to (1969-1977).

The narrative/concept of this album has the same quintessential mythopoetic quality that Anderson brought to Yes. The story is developed out of the concept artwork created by Roger Dean for many of Yes' album covers. According to Dean, the collected artwork created for Yes' album covers illustrates a tale about a planet that breaks apart and whose inhabitants are whisked away to safety. The architect of the glider, Moorglade, which rescues the four tribes of this destroyed planet, is one Olias of Sunhillow. The Moorglade is featured prominantly on the cover of this album but can also be seen on Yes' Fragile. Apparently, Roger Dean is trying to raise enough money to put together a full-length animated film, called Floating Islands, which will tell the Yes album covers tale complete with Yes musical accompaniment.

So, I am not saying very much about the actual sound of album here because, well, if you're already a Yes fan then you already know what it sounds like (well, plus the ambient bit). If you don't know Yes' sound then, well, hopefully it won't be long until I put together an extensive review of the Yes discography that I appreciate. Conceptually, I think the fact that Jon Anderson chose to tell the story of Roger Dean's album covers is completely awesome. I haven't heard any of Anderson's (or any other Yes members) other solo music, so I can't personally compare it to anything from his solo catalogue. However, what I have read is that Olias of Sunhillow is Anderson's best solo work. Unlike his later solo work, on this album, Anderson played all the instruments including guitar, harp, drums, and synthesizer. Clearly Anderson is an all around skilled musician, but I don't think the instrumentation here is of the same high quality as Yes'. Conceptually and lyrically, though, Jon Anderson does not disappoint at all. I definitely think it should be included in any Yes fan's catalogue with the understanding that when the part is taken from the whole, the emergent sound invariably changes.

Jon Anderson - Flight of the Moorglade

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey Jeremy --

Ambient music has its roots in things that predate Olias... I'm thinking of Fripp & Eno's "No Pussyfooting" which came out in 1973, or even minimalist composers such as Cage and Reich. "Music for 18 Musicians" was first performed in 1976. Tangerine Dream's seminal early albums "Alpha Centauri," "Zeit," and "Atem" were 1971-3.

And before you decide that "mystical" music is really so bad, you should put on Eno's "Thursday Afternoon" on a rainy day... Or Reich, for that matter, or Arvo Pärt.