Classic Song 19 - Jon Anderson - "Moon Ra"

Let's talk about classic music.

Classic one-man-band music, as a matter of fact.

And by 'one-man-band', I don't mean Paul McCartney or 

Stevie Wonder or Emitt Rhodes or Prince or John Fogerty or 

Trent Reznor anyone as prodigiously talented as those guys. 

I mean Jon Anderson, the elfin and iconic, original lead singer

for one of my all-time favourite bands, Yes. For those who may

have missed the early to mid 70s on Earth, Yes was, at one

point, one of the biggest bands in the world - playing for

audiences as huge as the 100,000 people that saw them

at JFK Stadium (along with Peter Frampton) in '76.

In 1975, the five Yes men each took time off to write, 

record, master and release solo albums. Chris Squire broke

through significantly with Fish Out Of Water, which sent 

us (mostly single male) Yes freaks into paroxysms 

of pure, prog euphoria, fer shure - right on, eh.

Imagine our collective gasp when in '76, little Jon released 

what is still the most successful and critically acclaimed 

solo 'Yes guy' album of them all: Olias of Sunhillow.

The concept album's storyline reads like a fable, 

but for me, by far the most magical and amazing

thing about this album is that Jon Anderson - 

generally regarded as a brilliant lead singer, 

but a very limited guitarist - single handedly

overdubbed every musical instrument he

could get his hands on, before adding a

virtual multitude of his own vocals.

The result was and still is thrilling for me to hear.

Here's "Moon Ra" from Olias of Sunhillow,

immediately following a circa '75 pic of my band, 

Archer (L-R Sam See, Mozz the Younger, 

Martin Soldat and Colin Walker).

Mozz the Elder

www.vapormusic.com