Midway through UCR's interview with Jon Anderson, the former Yes singer cuts off the conversation — not because of a sensitive question or scheduling conflict. But because the magic bird is back in his garden.
"We have this beautiful blue heron who's started to come by the house," he says. "There was this wonderful star thing that happened just around Christmas when Saturn and Jupiter lined up. And this beautiful blue heron — six foot tall — came into our garden, and it was kind of like a miracle for us to see that bird walking around the garden very slowly. It brought this energy of chill. [My wife] Jane just came out of the front door, and it was standing on the steps. It flew away up to the top of the hill here. Anything like that for us is always a message from the divine energy that surrounds us."
Sometimes Anderson searches out that divinity. Other times it finds him. Probably the most prolific living songwriter from prog-rock's classic wave, he's remained especially active during the pandemic — continuing to collaborate with musicians remotely and sort through a daunting backlog of new and unfinished projects.
"To me it's like breathing," he says. "I wake up in the morning, go into the studio and I can breathe. I've got about six or seven albums lined up for the next 10 years. I just have to get them finished, that's all."
That same spark guided Anderson during his earliest solo projects, which he's reexamined for a pair of reissues: His second LP, 1980's Song of Seven, was rereleased in September, and he recently announced a remaster of his 1976 debut, Olias of Sunhillow. Anderson stepped out of his home studio and spoke to UCR about the challenges and rewards of those formative solo ventures, his pandemic-era creativity and the 50th anniversary of Yes' first classic LP, The Yes Album.
Read More: Jon Anderson on Solo Reissues and 50 Years of 'The Yes Album' | https://ultimateclassicrock.com/jon-...edium=referral
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