Animation

Alternating with his collaboration with Vangelis, 1982 then saw another solo album from Jon Anderson, Animation. He again assembled a stellar cast, including Jack Bruce, Clem Clempson, Simon Phillips and Chris Rainbow. “Olympia”, a paean to electronic music and gear(!), opens the album with considerable momentum, partly due to its driving forward beat. Perhaps producer Neil Kernon deserves the credit, but there's considerable more momentum to the album than on any of Anderson's previous. The title track continues the pace, Anderson's earnest expression of the emotions of childbirth. The second side's “Unlearning” sports a big bass line from John Giblin, but after that, the album continues in a predictable fashion. An ill-fitting “Surrender” goes for the reggae beat, while the Tony Visconti produced “All Gods Children” sports an R&B chorus over an electronic beat. Really. Tracks like “Pressure Point” and “Much Better Reason” bounce over the slick and very much “of the era” production. If you're a fan of Anderson's work, it's may be all good, but somehow it all seems like rote, and without Yes music underneath, there's not a lot of commercial appeal to Anderson's voice. The album was met with similar commercial indifference, reaching the UK Top 40 and US Top 200. Anderson toured again in 1982, with some of Bruce Springsteen's E Street band, (most notably with David Sancious on keyboards) and Clem Clempson from Humble Pie on guitar, even crossing over to the US for some dates. A third album dedicated to artist Marc Chagall was recorded in late 1982, but all that was quickly put on hold; Anderson was back with his former cohorts in 1983, for the rechristening of Cinema and massive commercial success as Yes.