Blue Élan RecordsFounding Yes frontman Jon Anderson‘s latest solo studio album, 1000 Hands, got its official label release on Friday.
Anderson tells ABC Audio that a highlight of the star-studded project was having Yes guitarist Steve Howe play on one of the tracks, “Now and Again,” which ends the album.
Jon says that in asking Steve to contribute his album, he reminded his old band mate that he’d sung on Howe’s 1999 Bob Dylan covers record.
Howe agreed, and when Anderson heard his guitar part, he says he decided to write lyrics and add his vocals to the track.
“I went, ‘OK, I’m gonna sing, ’cause I want to sing with Steve…again,'” Anderson notes. “So I wrote a song about us. You know, how we…created such beautiful music together.” (AUDIO IS ABC 1-ON-1)
Anderson, who initially self-released 1000 Hands last year, tells ABC Audio that he was happy he finally found a label interested in putting out the record, the Los Angeles-based boutique label Blue Élan.
Jon actually began 1000 Hands about 30 years ago as a collaboration with Brian Chatton, with whom he played in his first band, The Warriors, in 1965. He and Chatton began writing and recording several songs together, and he also enlisted Yes bassist Chris Squire and drummer Alan White to contribute to two tracks.
Anderson eventually got sidetracked by Yes and other musical endeavors and wound up stashing the tapes in his garage for 26 years. A producer friend named Michael Franklin, who was familiar with the recordings, encouraged Jon to finish them with his help. Franklin, meanwhile, enlisted various well-known guest musicians to contribute to the project, and Jon also came up with some new tunes to fill things out.
Visit BlueElan.com for more info on 1000 Hands.
By Matt Friedlander
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.