Listen to Jon Anderson’s new 1000 Hands album today, and join him for an exclusive fan livestream event with performance and Q&A this Sunday, August 2nd at 12:00 pm PT / 3pm ET
Legendary Yes singer and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee
Jon Anderson has released his highly-anticipated new solo album,
1000 Hands, an album nearly 30 years in the making.
1000 Hands is Anderson’s first album via his new partnership with Blue Élan Records. The album is available digitally as well as on CD and a deluxe 180-gram double vinyl package and can be purchased here:
http://lnk.blueelanrecords.com/jonanderson-1000hands
In addition, Anderson will be hosting an exclusive live event for fans this Sunday, August 2nd beginning at 12:00 pm PT / 3:00 pm ET. Fans can click here to find out where to tune in and watch the event:
https://lnk.blueelanrecords.com/1000handslivestream
Anderson began working on
1000 Hands (originally called Uzlot – “it means a lot of us”) nearly 30 years ago, working with a group of musicians that included Yes drummer Alan White and bassist Chris Squire. However, due to his heavy touring commitments with Yes, Anderson had to put the record on the back burner. “Before you knew it, I started getting involved in other projects and tours, and years went by,” he explains. “I would listen to the tapes from time to time and think, ‘This could have been a great album! One day I’ll finish it.’”
Setting up shop in Franklin’s Solar Studios in Orlando, Florida, Anderson laid down backing vocals to his original lead tracks, and Franklin called in an astonishing array of rock and jazz luminaries to fill out the songs: fellow Yes alum Steve Howe, Ian Anderson, Jean-Luc Ponty, Billy Cobham, Chick Corea, Steve Morse, Rick Derringer, Jonathan Cain, and the Tower of Power Horns are just a few of the guests on
1000 Hands.
“With all the love in the world, I am so grateful for the worldwide release of
1000 Hands, which took a lifetime to create. Well, it seems like that!” laughs Anderson. “Many thanks to all the truly wonderful people who worked on this unique album. I hope fans are able to watch the livestream event this Sunday which will feature an interview and live performances of songs off the new album with my truly fantastic band of musicians.”
Anderson’s celestial voice – one of the most recognizable sounds in rock – is in stunning form throughout
1000 Hands, an album that features some of his most breathtaking compositions. Bookended by the starkly beautiful acoustic ballads “Now” and “Now and Again,” the record features electrifying new prog masterpieces (“Activate,” “Come Up”), glorious poly-rhythmic wonders (“WDMCF”) and delightful reggae pop (“First Born Leaders”). Listeners will be mesmerized by the cavalcade of sumptuous vocal harmonies on the frisky “Ramalama,” and they’ll be singing along merrily to the horn-driven funk of the aptly named “Makes Me Happy.”
About Jon Anderson
Singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jon Anderson is one of the most recognizable voices in progressive rock as the lead vocalist of Yes, which he co-founded in 1968. He was a major creative force behind some of the band’s most artistically ambitious ideas that yielded such groundbreaking and enormously popular albums as
Fragile,
Close to the Edge and
Tales from Topographic Oceans. Anderson either wrote or co-wrote many of Yes’ timeless hits, including “I’ve Seen All Good People,” “Roundabout,” “Long Distance Runaround,” “Awaken” and “The Gates of Delirium.”
Anderson’s tenures with Yes spanned multiple eras. In 1983, he rejoined the reconfigured group, and the result was the multi-million-selling album, 90215, which featured the number one smash “Owner of a Lonely Heart” (co-written by Anderson and guitarist Trevor Rabin). In 2016, he re-teamed with Rabin and keyboardist Rick Wakeman as Yes featuring ARW for a series of highly successful tours. In 2017, Anderson was inducted with Yes into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In addition to his work with Yes, Anderson has distinguished himself as a relentlessly creative artist in his own right, releasing over a dozen solo albums. He has also enjoyed numerous collaborations with artists such as Kitaro, Jean-Luc Ponty, Roine Stolt, and Kanye West. Anderson’s vocals shine on West’s introduction to
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Anderson’s longtime partnership with the composer Vangelis also resulted in a number of critically and commercially successful albums, including the 1981 ode to movie music,
The Friends of Mr. Cairo, which went gold and platinum in numerous countries.
