A newly remastered edition of founding Yes singer Jon Anderson‘s 1976 debut solo album, Olias of Sunhillow, will be released as a CD/DVD-Audio set on March 26.
The remastered version of Olias of Sunhillow featured on the CD was created using the original album’s master tapes. The DVD-audio disc features a high-resolution remaster of the stereo mix and also includes a 5.1 Surround Sound “up-mix” derived from the original stereo master recordings.
Olias of Sunhillow is a concept album that tells the story of an alien race’s quest to find a new home after its planet is destroyed by a volcanic catastrophe. Anderson recorded the album by himself at his home in Buckinghamshire, U.K., while Yes was on a hiatus after they finished their tour in support of their 1974 studio album, Relayer.
While working on Olias, Anderson taught himself keyboards, inspired by his Yes band mates Rick Wakeman and Patrick Moraz, and Greek musician and composer Vangelis. The album initially was recorded on an eight-track tape machine, and the arrangements were later re-recorded on a 24-track machine.
“The more I realize that time flies when you’re having fun…boy oh boy, the fun I’m having listening to my early solo work,” Anderson says with regard to revisiting the album. “OLIAS for me was like going to music school for Three Months solid without breathing…Totally captivated by making a true SOLO album…every sound, vocal, instrumental and whatever came from the cosmos is there on the album…a dream made reality.”
The reissue features fully restored artwork and comes with an illustrated booklet that includes an essay with an exclusive interview with Anderson.
Here’s the Olias of Sunhillow track list:
“Ocean Song”
“Meeting (Garden of Geda)”/”Sound Out the Galleon”
“Dance of Ranyart”/”Olias (To Build the Moorglade)”
“Qoquaq en Transic”/”Naon”/”Transic To”
“Flight of the Moorglade”
“Solid Space”
“Moon Ra”/”Chords”/”Song of Search”
“To the Runner”
By Matt Friedlander
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