Jon Anderson has been working on a sequel to his first solo album ‘Olias of Sunhillow’ for the past 6 years.
Jon Anderson photo by Tim Cashmere
Jon describes the album, to be called ‘The Songs of Zamran: Son of Olias’ as a slow baking cake.
“It is ongoing. I have written the story now five times. It is driving me crazy,” the former Yes singer tells Noise11.com.
In the six years so far he has been working on Zamran Jon has released other music. “I put out an album called ‘Survival and Other Stories’ last year. Then I put out a piece of music called ‘Open’. ‘Open’ is a 22-minute work and it explains where I am going musically and how Zamram will enventiually appear. It’s not ready yet. It’s like a cake. I have all the ingredients but I haven’t put it in the oven yet,” he said.
For Zamran, Jon has been working with collaborators online from all over the world. “I have written with a lot of musicians through the internet, including with a guy in Australia and someone from France and America. It is a slow process. It will happen when it happens,” he said.
‘Olias of Sunhillow’ was released in 1976. “It is a special album. It was my first solo album and people really loved it,” Jon says. “It still sounds good today. I listened to it about a month ago for the first time in 20 years because a young guy out of Philadelphia started learning the whole album with his friends and he wants to perform it with me next year. So I had to go and learn the songs. I don’t remember any of them”.
Jon wrote, sang and played all instruments on ‘Olias of Sunhillow’. “I locked myself away and went crazy out of my brain,” he said. “If you go to do a solo album you should be by yourself. That’s what I was thinking. I had all the instruments I was going to use like sitar and drums and things. It came out the other end four months later and for the first time I put ‘musician’ on my passport knowing that I was a musician”.
Jon Anderson will tour Australia for Bluesfest.
Sideshow dates are:
March 28, Brisbane, Powerhouse
April 3, Newcastle, Lizottes
April 6, Sydney, Factory Theatre
April 10, Melbourne, The Corner Hotel
April 14, Adelaide, The Gov
