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Olias of Sunhillow by Jon Anderson.
This album is very strange indeed. Jon plays almost all of the instruments here (guitar, harp, percussion, synthesizers, bass) and all the backing vocals. No he is not a virtuoso like his bandmates, though I'm surprised by his harp playing chops, shame he never got to use them in Yes (except Wonderous Stories if I recall).
The emphasis here is Jon's vocal harmonies, the layering of instruments and the ambient and ethereal atmosphere throughout.
This is a hard album to describe, some have called it proto new age music, I dunno about that, but there is no "rock" in here whatsoever, the emphasis is on repetition and atmosphere rather than complex rock suites and musicianship, and it sometimes has an oriental vibe to it. The lyrics are a change of pace for Jon. There's actually a story and coherent narrative here, which is inspired by the art for Fragile, about an an alien civilization who make a trip to a new world.
And that's pretty much the best possible metaphor I can make for the music itself. Certainly not for all tastes. But I really love it.
I think people forget that Jon really is a great songwriter and his contributions to Yes are really underestimated.
