On 31st July, former Yes frontman, Jon Anderson re-released his highly anticipated new solo album ‘1000 Hands: Chapter One’! At nearly 30 years in the making, this album has been a long time coming.
‘1000 Hands: Chapter One’ is full of breath-taking compositions and no two tracks are alike. Its this uniqueness that sets it apart and makes it well worth the wait!
It begins with ‘Now’, a stripped back acoustic song. It is short but sweet and eases you in delicately to the album with its slightly ethereal introduction. Changing up the tone completely from this is ‘Ramalama’. The fun, funky musicality really helps to showcase Anderson’s insane vocal range and creates an incredibly mesmerising song! It is unlike anything heard from him before!
Jon Anderson well and truly explores every kind of musical avenue with this album. ‘First Born Leaders’ is a bright reggae pop track – something you wouldn’t necessarily associate with the progressive rock sound heard in Yes! The summery sound lifts the mood instantly and you can’t help feeling great afterwards! This is the kind of positive, bright sound heard again later in the aptly named ‘Makes Me Happy’.
At just under nine minutes, ‘Activate’ is a pretty impressive track! The twinkling introduction progresses in to something much more intense as the song advances. It is the perfect example of a progressive masterpiece and is an early triumph on this album.
‘I Found Myself’ oozes with delicacy. Its driven by a light string section and relaxing vocals, making it an inevitably soothing listen. ‘1000 Hands (Come Up)’ builds on this with its mystifying aura. Despite generally being quite a mellow track, it has glimmers of electrifying energy that are hard to ignore. It is a track overflowing with creativity and it leads perfectly in to the concluding song…
Sending you out on a soft note is the beautifully graceful ‘Now And Again’. Throughout the album I was in awe of the timeless nature of Jon Anderson’s vocals, but this track really brought it home! It is an impressive, dynamic, and incredibly well-executed album that is sure to make a mark.