Yes singer Jon Anderson releases album 30 years in the making

The album is available on all digital platforms today, with CD and a deluxe 180-gram double vinyl packages is available in the UK from August 14.

Anderson began working on 1,000 Hands (originally called Uzlot – “it means a lot of us”) nearly 30 years ago, working with a group of musicians that included Yes drummer Alan White and bassist Chris Squire.

However, due to his heavy touring commitments with Yes, Anderson had to put the record on the back burner. “Before you knew it, I started getting involved in other projects and tours, and years went by,” he explains. “I would listen to the tapes from time to time and think, ‘This could have been a great album! One day I’ll finish it’.”

Setting up shop in Franklin’s Solar Studios in Orlando, Florida, Anderson laid down backing vocals to his original lead tracks, and Franklin called in an astonishing array of rock and jazz luminaries to fill out the songs: fellow Yes alum Steve Howe, Ian Anderson, Jean-Luc Ponty, Billy Cobham, Chick Corea, Steve Morse, Rick Derringer, Jonathan Cain, and the Tower of Power Horns are just a few of the guests on 1,000 Hands.

“That’s where the title 1,000 Hands comes from, all of the brilliant musicians who played a part in making the record,” Anderson says. “Michael acted like something of a casting director, bringing so many great players. It was really exciting to hear the record open up and become what I had always envisioned.”

Anderson’s celestial voice – one of the most recognizable sounds in rock – is in stunning form throughout 1,000 Hands, an album that features some of his most breathtaking compositions. Bookended by the starkly beautiful acoustic ballads Now and Now and Again, the record features electrifying new prog masterpieces (Activate, Come Up), glorious poly-rhythmic wonders (WDMCF) and delightful reggae pop (First Born Leaders). Listeners will be mesmerized by the cavalcade of sumptuous vocal harmonies on the frisky Ramalama, and they’ll be singing along merrily to the horn-driven funk of the aptly named Makes Me Happy.

Singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jon Anderson is one of the most recognizable voices in progressive rock as the lead vocalist of Yes, which he co-founded in 1968.

He was a major creative force behind some of the band’s most artistically ambitious ideas that yielded such groundbreaking and enormously popular albums as Fragile, Close to the Edge and Tales from Topographic Oceans. Anderson either wrote or co-wrote many of Yes’ timeless hits, including I’ve Seen All Good People, Roundabout, Long Distance Runaround, Awaken and The Gates of Delirium.

Anderson’s tenures with Yes spanned multiple eras.

In 1983, he rejoined the reconfigured group, and the result was the multi-million-selling album, 90215, which featured the number one smash Owner of a Lonely Heart (co-written by Anderson and guitarist Trevor Rabin).

In 2016, he re-teamed with Rabin and keyboardist Rick Wakeman as Yes featuring ARW for a series of highly successful tours.

In 2017, Anderson was inducted with Yes into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

In addition to his work with Yes, Anderson has distinguished himself as a relentlessly creative artist in his own right, releasing over a dozen solo albums.

He has also enjoyed numerous collaborations with artists such as Kitaro, Jean-Luc Ponty, Roine Stolt, and Kanye West. Anderson’s vocals shine on West’s introduction to My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

Anderson’s longtime partnership with the composer Vangelis also resulted in a number of critically and commercially successful albums, including the 1981 ode to movie music, The Friends of Mr. Cairo, which went gold and platinum in numerous countries.