Jon Anderson - Angels Embrace 1995

While many Jon Anderson fans knew he had it in him to do something very light and airy and perhaps even without vocals (Olias of Sunhillow essentially led the way), the fact that it's something this light and airy is likely to come as a bit of a shock. Anderson presents the listener with a soundscape made up of long, sustained notes and drifting chords, a construction in which the few melodies present take minutes to work through -- there's far more in common with the Hearts of Space catalog here than with much of Anderson's prior work, though the Vangelis influence is to be felt, too (especially on the quarter-hour "New Eire Land"). Another surprise is the mainly instrumental nature of the album --Anderson takes very few vocals. Daughters Deborah and Jade pitch in along the way without much incident. On the whole, Angels Embrace sounds something like a lost Jon & Vangelis album, or Brian Eno in a frothy mood, and just like good background music for meditation, spiritual navel-gazing, and general situations where the alpha waves need a decent boost. AMG.

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Jon Anderson & Vangelis - Page Of Life 1991

Vocalist Jon Anderson and master synthesist/composer Vangelis draw upon their legendary individual histories and more than two decades of classic collaborations to create this very spiritual and musical synergy, which combines elements of rock, classical, symphonic, jazz, soul, electronic new age, and worldbeat. Best known, respectively, as the lead singer of Yes and the Oscar-winning composer of "Chariots of Fire," the duo has released several extraordinary tandem recordings over the years, beginning with the 1976 album Olias of Sunhillow. This is the sixth of the series, and was originally released in 1991, though until Omtown's release, it was only available as an import. Page of Life offers clever social commentary and messages for world harmony in musical landscapes that allow amazing showcases for both Anderson's angelic vocals and Vangelis' multifaceted synth textures. Ballads like the hypnotic "Garden of Senses," the whimsical and elegant "Is It Love," and sweeping piano/vocal duet "Anyone Can Light a Candle" find Anderson at his most passionate and romantic. The one previously unreleased track is "Change We Must," a march-like number that functions as a statement of purpose. AMG. 

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Jon Anderson - Three Ships 1985

This is an oddity: a Christmas album incognito. Save a red and green stripe on the back cover, the outside packaging is conspicuously devoid of the usual holiday trappings, leaving the astute person to deduce from the track listing Three Ships' true intent. Further complicating matters is the fact that half of the songs are new compositions from Jon Anderson, none of which have holiday-related titles (unless "Forest of Fire" warms your holiday chestnuts). On listening to this, the songs themselves do little to clear up the confusion; while the traditional tunes ("Three Ships," "The Holly and the Ivy") are obviously Christmas songs, the new compositions are spiritual in Anderson's typically general sense and rarely address Christmastime directly. "How It Hits You," "Save All Your Love," and "Where Were You" might just as well have come from the Jon & Vangelis albums ("Easier Said Than Done," the album's single, was actually co-written with Vangelis). So Three Ships is really an album inspired by Christmas. Not a bad venue for Jon Anderson in theory, but someone must have been ding-dong merrily on high when they chose Roy Thomas Baker to produce it. Baker, best known for cramming synthesizer pop into tasty two- and three-minute parcels (the Cars, Alice Cooper), is an awful match for the ethereal Anderson. "Day of Days," which like "Easier Said Than Done" would have worked on the island-tinged pop album Song of Seven, is arguably the lone keeper from Three Ships. The Christmas songs are processed with synthesizers, overwhelming Anderson's voice most of the time, and the end result is a disappointing and superficial collection of Christmas classics (including one of the lamest versions of "O Holy Night" on record). As with In the City of Angels, also recorded in Hollywood, fans would do well to let Three Ships sail by. AMG.

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