In 2016, to mark the fortieth anniversary of his debut solo album, former Sure singer Jon Anderson appeared advised Prog concerning the quantity of drive he’d laid on himself to create virtually each side of Olias Of Sunhillow on my own.
One morning round morning time in spring 1976, Jon Anderson burst into tears. Sure’ lead vocalist used to be in his storage/house studio in Buckinghamshire, recording his first solo album, Olias Of Sunhillow. The singer had spent days making an attempt to synchronise drums, bells, voices and what he calls “a Heart Jap guitar” to create a very important passage of song. In 2016, this may all be accomplished on the contact of a button – however all the ones years in the past it used to be nonetheless a painstaking procedure. Anderson used to be additionally taking part in each tool at the report.
Past due one evening, after seeking to co-ordinate the tracks all over again, he’d dozed off on the console. When he woke up, he had no thought if the method had labored. Because the morning time refrain started out of doors and hazy daylight peeked during the studio window, he pressed ‘play’.
A superbly synchronised one‑guy mini-symphony floated out of the audio system. Anderson felt a hurry of reduction and pleasure – and that’s when the tears flowed. “I used to be in a state of insanity making that album,” he says now. “However on every occasion I concentrate to it, I thank the gods.”
He’s revisiting Olias Of Sunhillow on its fortieth anniversary, which additionally coincides with the discharge of Invention Of Wisdom, his collaboration with The Flower Kings’ bandleader Roine Stolt. The 2 albums are attached, and no longer simply by having Anderson’s identify at the duvet. Invention Of Wisdom is some other degree on its co-creator’s religious adventure. The 71-year-old nonetheless marvels on the energy of nature and the human thoughts, simply as he did 4 many years in the past on his debut solo LP. However the tale of his 1976 album started lengthy sooner than he ventured into his studio.
“I’d been eager about Olias Of Sunhillow for an extended whilst sooner than I in reality wrote it,” says Anderson. “When Roger Dean began developing art work for Sure, I noticed the send he’d drawn crusing across the planet for Fragile [in 1971], and idea it used to be an excessively fascinating thought.”
Anderson then spent “a length of a 12 months” composing a tale a couple of magician/hero who rescues his other people from their demise planet in a galleon-style Noah’s Ark-cum-spaceship.
Within the interim, despite the fact that, his day task supposed he used to be nonetheless busy conquering some other planet. Sure’ imperial section started with Fragile and persevered, unbroken, till 1974’s Relayer. Every of the 5 albums they launched all through this era, together with the reside Yessongs, went Most sensible 10 in Britain and Most sensible 20 in the USA, with Stories From Topographic Oceans attaining No.1 at house.
Those figures make sense of the industrial and musical panorama during which Anderson created his brain-boggling thought album. Sure have been an enormous hit crew, so if Sure sought after day off to each and every make a solo album – even the drummer – then Atlantic Data indulged them.
Sure’ transient separation started on 24 August 1975, the day once they headlined the Studying Pageant above Supertramp and southern rockers The Ozark Mountain Daredevils. “We’d been traveling and recording for 5 years cast,” explains Anderson. “It used to be time for a smash. I’d been looking forward to an area during which to make my very own report, and that house got here.”
I’d been spending time with Vangelis and realized so much, however I sought after no person else at the album. Vangelis by no means heard it till it used to be completed
His bandmates had the similar thought. After finding out about Sure’ deliberate solo albums, NME warned its readers to arrange for “5 variations of If I Dominated The Global”. Guitarist Steve Howe’s Beginnings, an album of knotty guitar solos and somewhat harsh vocals, arrived in October ’75. Bassist Chris Squire’s Fish Out Of Water, a choice of anthemic artwork rock that includes a complete orchestra and the St Paul’s Cathedral organ, adopted a month later. Drummer Alan White’s understated Ramshackled – mainly White drumming in a band together with his non-Sure associates – grew to become up within the New Yr.
Now not that Anderson used to be paying a lot consideration. “I sang on Alan’s album,” he recollects, vaguely. Anderson and Howe contributed to White’s model of poet William Blake’s Spring – Music Of Innocence. “I preferred the opposite band individuals’ information,” he provides. “However I used to be in this sort of ordinary way of thinking I wasn’t very attached to any one.”
After the Sure excursion, he returned to the seven-bedroom nation area he shared together with his first spouse, Jenny, and their youngsters, within the Chiltern Hills some 25 miles from London – and stayed there. “Seer Inexperienced, Buckinghamshire, used to be within the nation, so I didn’t have to hassle with town to any extent further,” he says. “I used to be surrounded via timber, birds and bees, and began residing a hermit‑like life.”
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He went into the storage and started developing. Whilst Dean’s art work for Fragile used to be one inspiration, some other got here from the painter and mystic Vera Stanley Alder’s books, The Discovering Of The 3rd Eye and The Initiation Of The Global. Each were revealed within the Nineteen Thirties, however had discovered a brand new readership some of the spiritually vulnerable pop technology – even Elvis used to be a fan.
“Vera Stanley Alder talked concerning the connection we now have with the 3rd eye,” Anderson explains, regarding an ‘invisible’ internal imaginative and prescient wherein some consider we will be able to get entry to the next state of awareness. A devotee of meditation because the early 70s, he appeared the 3rd eye as “a beacon – like a radio satellite tv for pc connection – to all this is divine”.
In the meantime, in The Initiation Of The Global, Alder posited the speculation that there had as soon as been 4 “nature tribes” on this planet. “There used to be Negro, Asian, Oriental and Nordic,” says Anderson. “And that’s the place the 4 tribes in Olias Of Sunhillow got here from. My 4 tribes weren’t bodily tribes, however song awareness tribes.”
Track is a vibrational power. You could have other people making a song, dancing, crying and loving to song. It’s extra than simply Most sensible 10.
Anderson’s tribes – Nagranium, Asatranius, Oractaniom and Nordranious – existed, he stated, “via song, rhythms and tempos.” Their planet, Sunhillow, used to be at the breaking point after a volcanic crisis. The titular hero builds a boat, the Moorglade Mover, to move his other people to a brand new planet. He’s helped in his endeavours via fellow magicians Ranyart, the send’s navigator, and Qoquac, the 4 tribes’ appointed spokesperson. As Sure’ manufacturer Eddy Offord as soon as divulged: “All of Sure – excluding Rick Wakeman – smoked numerous dope.”
However open the window and set free the bong smoke, and what you’ve is a tale about Anderson’s long-held trust that song is greater than it sort of feels. “It’s a vibrational power,” he insists. “You could have other people making a song, dancing, crying and loving to song. It’s extra than simply Most sensible 10.”
The album’s eco-conscious message additionally turns out related within the generation of worldwide warming. The character-loving, eco‑mindful Anderson used to be forward of the curve. In 1975, The Inexperienced Birthday party used to be nonetheless known as The Ecology Birthday party and used to be broadly pushed aside within the mainstream press as a haven for cranks and hippies.
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Like the tale, the song used to be non-public. Having made seven studio albums with Sure, Anderson sought after to write down on his personal and play the entirety at the report. Olias Of Sunhillow used to be the song inside of his head, uninterrupted via, say, Chris Squire’s earthquaking bass.
By way of this time, despite the fact that, Anderson had met his long run collaborator, former Aphrodite’s Kid keyboard participant Vangelis. After Wakeman left Sure for the primary time in 1974, Vangelis joined them for a jam consultation/audition in Paris. On the other hand, the Greek maestro used to be an excessive amount of for a band that already contained a number of huge egos. “It used to be loopy,” laughs Anderson. “Vangelis used to be a one-man band anyway.”
The pair’s friendship resulted in later hypothesis that he performed, albeit uncredited, on Olias Of Sunhillow. Now not true. “I were spending time with Vangelis and I’d realized so much,” issues out Anderson. “However I sought after no person else at the album. Vangelis by no means heard the report till it used to be completed.”
I used to be all the time depending on people to create the paintings. Doing it alone gave me the risk to create one thing distinctive
The legendary Vangelis/Olias connection got here from Anderson contributing to Vangelis’ solo album Heaven And Hell in past due ’75. Anderson sang on So Lengthy In the past, So Transparent, from Heaven And Hell Phase One. Its choral vocals and waterfall keyboard results do sound like a forerunner to Olias Of Sunhillow.
The singer now describes the time he spent making his solo debut as “going to song faculty.” Sure’ studio technician and reside engineer Mike Dunne labored the table, whilst Anderson took care of vocals, percussion, guitar, harp, Moog, sitar, flute and a Turkish lute-style tool referred to as a saz. “What I realized used to be that you’ll be able to play tools and it really works, even supposing you don’t play them extremely neatly,” he says. “You don’t must be that excellent, however you’ll be able to merge a guitar with a harp or a sitar or a flute and create new sounds.”
Borrowing from Vangelis’ tireless paintings ethic (“That man by no means stopped”), he labored 10 hours an afternoon, with handiest Dunne allowed to listen to the song they have been making: “I didn’t play it to any person else, no longer even my spouse.” He additionally banned Atlantic Data’ president Ahmet Ertegun – whom he describes as “a father determine” – from listening to a notice. “The report corporate stored asking, ‘What are you doing, Jon?’ I stated, ‘I will’t let you know.’”
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Requested if he ever wanted he had the remainder of Sure to assist him with the album, he responds with a cautious giggle. “No! I didn’t need any person to listen to it as they may not love it. I used to be very wary.”
Interviewed in 2000, Offord recommended that numerous Sure’ inventive stress got here from former teenage consultation muso Howe and probably the most others wondering Anderson’s musical credentials. “Everybody criticised Jon for his loss of musical coaching,” stated Offord, “however I believe that’s one in every of his beauties.”
You sense that Anderson finding out methods to play the harp and using himself insane seeking to play flutes, sitars and a Turkish lute used to be some way of proving he used to be a ‘correct’ musician. “I sought after to come back out feeling like I had completed one thing,” he admits, “as a result of I used to be all the time depending on people to create the paintings. Doing it alone gave me the risk to create one thing distinctive.”
Sure have been meant to play in Japan, however I needed to say, ‘Sorry, I’m no longer completed but.’ They sought after to generate profits in order that didn’t cross down neatly in any respect
His largest tool, in fact, used to be his voice – one thing none of his bandmates may just fit. Above all, Olias is a car for some unusual vocals and lyrics. When faced via their singer’s summary phrases, the remainder of Sure incessantly puzzled what astral airplane Anderson used to be residing on. However within the storage at Seer Inexperienced, he may just sing what he preferred, unchallenged.
Such a lot in order that he even created a brand new language for one music, Sound Out The Galleon. The lyrics, ‘Do ga riytan, sha too Raytan, gan matta sha pa… mutto matto mutto…’ have all the time fascinated long-time watchers – particularly the completely stoned ones. “The ones phrases have been a solo for my voice,” he explains. “I couldn’t play a solo on an tool so I used my voice as an alternative.”
It wasn’t the primary time Anderson had accomplished this. We Have Heaven, his solo tune on Fragile, used to be a repetitive vocal cycle and some other forerunner to the tips explored on Sound Out The Galleon. “The other language used to be a vocal workout,” he elaborates. “I nonetheless do this now. If I don’t have a lyric, I make a valid. On Olias, I sang it and sang it till we created 20 voices and completed up with this tangible power.”
However after 3 and a part months within the studio, Anderson had reached his “state of insanity.”
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“There’s some degree within the tale the place the 4 tribes must board the Moorglade, and so they come from other portions of the planet,” he recollects. “The song has to replicate that – nevertheless it drove me mad.”
He’d created other musical motifs for each and every of the tribes. He defined those variations in his tale/sleevenotes: “Nagranium – deep darkish skinned stretch beat”; “Asatranius – jangled strains of monotone,” and so forth. The outcome used to be, he says, “drums, bells from Asia, sitars, Heart Jap guitars…” He then needed to switch those sounds from 4 tape recorders right into a 24-track gadget to create round six mins of song.
“There have been no click on tracks then,” he says. “However I had a metronome, so I’d created the entirety in the best pace.” The issue used to be that when 4 mins, “the tapes would cross out of whack.” This went on for 3 days till Dunne may just take not more. “Mike used to be a beautiful engineer, however determined to head house. He’d been dozing within the storage and I used to wake him up so lets take a look at syncing those tapes once more. It used to be using him loopy. And I used to be getting so offended as a result of I didn’t understand how to prevent attempting.”
He synced once more on his personal round 2am, however fell asleep sooner than the method completed. On waking up and urgent ‘play,’ he says: “I held my breath for just about six mins, nevertheless it used to be very best. And so I simply cried.” It used to be a turning level. “Ahead of that, I didn’t know if what I used to be doing used to be any excellent. In spite of everything the drive seeking to get it proper, I sought after to shoot myself. However that satisfied me it could paintings.”
Vangelis advised me it used to be superb; a vintage paintings. It felt excellent to listen to that from somebody I revered
The overall important part used to be the album’s similarly bold art work. Sure had gained the NME Readers Ballot for ‘Perfect Dressed LP’ two years in a row (for Yessongs and Relayer). Artist David Fairbrother-Roe’s paintings on Olias Of Sunhillow took sartorial magnificence to a complete new stage. However he wasn’t Anderson’s first selection.
“I sought after Roger Dean,” he says. “In reality, I drove Roger loopy, asking when he may just do it. However he used to be too busy.” As a substitute, a chum recommended Fairbrother-Roe. Like Dean, Roe (who died in 2013) used to be an alumnus of the Royal Faculty Of Artwork. His earlier fee, for Nazareth’s Hair Of The Canine, were plastered throughout report store home windows within the spring of 1975. Anderson met with Roe. “And David simply were given it,” he says. “He understood the tale. After I noticed the art work for the primary time, I stated, ‘Oh my gosh…’”
Even now it’s not possible to split the song from the photographs on that luxurious gatefold sleeve, with its intricate landscapes and its Moorglade Mover – phase dragonfly, phase pirate send, phase alien development. Despite the fact that no person knew it then, Olias Of Sunhillow would lift some of the closing nice, fiendishly detailed LP covers. Quickly after, everybody, together with Sure, would downsize.
By way of past due spring 1976, Anderson were developing for the most productive a part of 8 months. He’d deliberate to have the album out via Christmas ’75. Come the New Yr, he used to be nonetheless re-recording maximum of it onto 24-track – “to make sure the colors and textures have been proper.” Then Sure advised him they needed to cross on excursion.
“We have been meant to play in Japan, however I needed to say, ‘Sorry guys, I’m no longer completed but,’” he recollects. “They sought after to generate profits, in order that didn’t cross down neatly in any respect. However I used to be mentally wrecked – completely exhausted.”
Olias Of Sunhillow used to be in spite of everything published to the arena on July 9, 1976, in which time Sure had begun their expectantly titled ‘Solo Albums’ US excursion. Inside a fortnight, despite the fact that, their solo tracks have been dumped from the setlist. Ocean Music, the hole music on Anderson’s report, used to be performed handiest as soon as as an creation to the display. Even in 1976, it appeared audiences handiest sought after ‘the hits.’
NME’s prediction about “5 variations of If I Dominated The Global…” used to be additionally extensive of the mark. Sure dominated the arena; the band’s particular person individuals much less so. Beginnings and Fish Out Of Water made the United Kingdom Most sensible 30; Ramshackled and Patrick Moraz’s solo thought LP The Tale Of I didn’t. Because the in an instant recognisable voice of Sure, Anderson used to be in a more potent place than the others. Olias used to be a UK No.8 hit and made the Billboard Most sensible 50. “An unashamedly romantic solo album that mixes grace, style and gear,” wrote Sure aficionado Chris Welch in Melody Maker.
Welch additionally noticed similarities between its fusion of “folks imagery and house” and science fiction creator Brian Aldiss’ novels Non-Prevent and Hothouse. Like Olias… each books handled extraterrestrials, historic civilisations and the basic energy of nature.
It’s a beautiful revel in on every occasion I pay attention any second; it nonetheless sounds recent and other
Anderson’s bandmates weren’t reasonably so effusive of their reward despite the fact that. “We have been all misplaced in our personal little worlds. It used to be bizarre. Alan advised me he cherished it. Chris stated he preferred it…”
What about Steve Howe?
“Steve didn’t say a lot. However I wasn’t fishing for compliments.”
As a substitute, it used to be Vangelis who changed into Olias Of Sunhillow’s nice cheerleader. “Vangelis advised me it used to be superb, a vintage paintings,” says Anderson. “It felt excellent to listen to that from somebody I revered, as a result of up till then I didn’t know if it used to be excellent or no longer.”
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Interviewed in 1976, Anderson advised the song press that he was hoping other people “wouldn’t learn too many hidden meanings” into the report, and used to be reluctant to talk about the tale in an excessive amount of element: “He’s sufficiently acutely aware of the cynicism prevalent in rock to not want to be uncovered to speedy ridicule,” speculated Melody Maker.
He’s altogether much less self-conscious this present day: “It’s a beautiful revel in on every occasion I pay attention any second; it nonetheless sounds recent and other.” That stated, a deliberate sequel, The Songs of Zamran: Son of Olias, which he closing mentioned in 2012, continues to be to be finished.
Just like its art work, Olias is a flashback to a bygone generation: a science-fantasy-driven thought album launched simply sooner than such issues changed into terminally retro. However with its hint parts of ambient, new age and global song, it’s on no account the rock folly that it’s every so often portrayed to be. There’s additionally an honesty and innocence to the report. It used to be Anderson doing what hewanted to do – without reference to whether or not it used to be a success or no longer.
Quickly after the discharge, he used to be again within the studio with Sure recording 1977’s Going For The One (“a cheerful album”), and then, he sighs, “The industry began getting heavy on me.” He stayed with the band for 2 extra years. After that he launched into a solo and collaborative occupation, scored hits and misses, rejoined Sure – and left once more – and offered his nation area with its storage/studio to crooner Val Doonican.
However his solo tale began on Sunhillow, a demise planet populated via 4 musical tribes, with 3 magicians and one mystical flying galleon. He provides a gradual, understanding chuckle. “From time to time I nonetheless suppose, ‘The place did all that come from?’” he smiles. “However, hi there, it labored.”
