I wish that one of the quality reissue outfits could get a hold of this. This one really begs for a deluxe reissue.
I wish that one of the quality reissue outfits could get a hold of this. This one really begs for a deluxe reissue.
Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world.
Great album - loved it from the first time I heard it. Would love to hear a cleaned up re-master of it - some of the textures are a bit murky - but then again that adds to the hazy, ethereal quality of much of the album. This is the best Jon Anderson has ever sounded in his entire career.
If a remix were possible, then I'd be interested.Originally Posted by notallwhowander
Compact Disk brought high fidelity to the masses and audiophiles will never forgive it for that
This is a STUNNING album. It must have come out from left or something. Completely unprecedented.
Incidentally, I love this guy's simple "Campfire song type" cover. Just proves how great the songs are on this record.
Jon proved again and again during the 70s how good he was at spinning spellbinding vocal lines over the simplest of chord changes. It's been a very long time since I've heard from that Jon.
Completely agree. Man, "spellbinding vocal lines" is totally right. Sadly, at some point he completely lost that touch to create such magic and became mundane and cliched.
It's a great album but I'm surprised we're over 30 posts into this thread and the name 'Vangelis' hasn't come up.
Actually there was a thread elsewhere not long ago that mined the "Jon was/wasn't influenced/guided/directly-helped by Vangelis for Olias" topic pretty exhaustively. Not that it's not relevant here, but maybe folks feel like it's been discussed already. I know I do.
I bought it and listened to the album at least twice, about 10 years ago...yet I must had been in very bad mood as I found it kind of annoying and as of now it still does not have my recommendations...I better revisit it…
He's the singer the band Yes abandoned when he was suffering from illness, and replaced with someone who impersonated him so fans would hopefully not notice that he wasn't there. Then they fired that guy and hired another impersonator.
That's who Jon Anderson is.
Here we go.
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
Edited in the interests of historical accuracy.He's the singer the band Yes abandoned when he was suffering from illness, and replaced with someone who impersonated him so fans would hopefully not notice that he wasn't there - And charged the same money as they would for the original real singer. Then they fired that guy and hired another impersonator.
That's who Jon Anderson is.
Extended versions, songs left off the album, studio run thrus, interview w/Jon, toss in 'Making of' and a couple live songs on DVD...
I'm shocked nobody's milked a couple deluxe re-fabs out of this already....
Oh, boy! I'll probably get slagged for this, but I think this is a lightweight, amateurish record. It suffers from his inbility to really play any instrument well. The vocals are beautiful, but this thing really never did it for me. Nice cover, though! Anderson's best, IMHO, is Animation. Much more instrumental muscle. The dude is damn good in Glass Hammer though!
Wasn't Jon having run-ins with folks at Atlantic over getting Animation reissued? Would those issues extend to Olias?Extended versions, songs left off the album, studio run thrus, interview w/Jon, toss in 'Making of' and a couple live songs on DVD...
I'm shocked nobody's milked a couple deluxe re-fabs out of this already....
And surely it would be a no brainer to package a deluxe reissue with The Sky And His Shadow. Plus there's the OGWT footage. Boom -- money in the bank for Jon and the label.
I like this album. I do not love it no matter how hard I have tried. To give you a frame of reference, I believe that Tales is a singular artistic achievement of the last half-century.
But Olias? I am grading student presentations right now, so I couldn't resist...
Atmosphere A+
Originality A
Production A-
Tunes C
That's the problem for me. Unlike Tales, there is not a single melody that every worms its way into my brain or makes me happy. Again, I do like putting on the record every now and then for the atmosphere.
I love Animation (!!!), but don't think it's a fair comparison. I also don't think the instrumentation hurts the material at all. One doesn't have to be a prodigy to execute well.
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
Hey, no slagging from me, that's a perfectly valid opinion. There are many cases where I'd agree with you, particularly about the lack of "muscle." What's funny for me is that I was actually surprised how well Anderson did play the instruments on this. I guess I expected much more of a train wreck, and feel that he did a pretty good job of giving the music some instrumental girth to back up the songs. Not as much as Yes proper, to be sure. But in this case, for what he was trying to do, I was satisfied. But I can see how some wouldn't be.
Animation never did a thing for me, but it's been years since I heard it, maybe I should try again.
Wow, totally the opposite for me. I can sing Olias from start to finish, and find the tunes to be particularly memorable, and often quite stirring (particularly Solid Space, which I think is one of the best things Anderson ever came up with). On the whole, I like Olias better than Tales, particularly in the "tunes" department. But you're certainly entitled to your opinion on it. I'm glad I'm not your student, though.
Bill
Loved it at the time of release, vinyl copy purchased at Esoteric Records in Sacramento CA, and now, ho-hum. Just didn't hold up well for me at all. Still love the artwork.
Duncan's going to make a Horns Emoticon!!!
You forgot to mention that Chris Squire is fat and Steve Howe is haggard.He's the singer the band Yes abandoned when he was suffering from illness, and replaced with someone who impersonated him so fans would hopefully not notice that he wasn't there. Then they fired that guy and hired another impersonator.
That's who Jon Anderson is.
Don't forget about the drunk behind the drum kit.
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
This album always takes me right back to my mid-teenage years, when Yes were pretty much the defining sound and guiding light of my personal musical cosmos. Five solo albums in a year seemed like a treasure trove when there was such space between proper band releases. Of the five, this and Squire's stand tall and for me have the power today that they had on release (I still have a lot of repeat for Moraz's too). Jon never really got that close to capturing the magic in his subsequent albums, and of course Chris never really tried to go the solo route again. I can listen through in my head to both albums, every nuance, so who needs Steven Wilson and 5.1?
That's the way I feel plus i'm not a fan of either's solo work. Everytime a thread comes up like this though I play it again and again it confirms that I just can't appreciate it like most can. My loss.
"The wind is slowly tearing her apart"
Sad Rain
Anekdoten
I'm thinking of restored/reconfigured art booklet and a remix, really.Extended versions, songs left off the album, studio run thrus, interview w/Jon, toss in 'Making of' and a couple live songs on DVD...
I'm shocked nobody's milked a couple deluxe re-fabs out of this already....
Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world.
Change the artwork? Why would anyone do that? Only the original artist should have a say in that. I think it's perfect.
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
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