Album: Sunlight
Artist: Jon Anderson
2021 Universal Production Music
Digital: EVO345
no credits
Tracks:
1. "Sunlight" (3:11) [Jon Anderson/Jonathan
Elias/Sarah Trevino]
Vocal lead version
Instrumental version
2. "Without You" (1:45) [James Haun/Anderson]
Vocal lead version
Instrumental version
3. "To be Alive" (2:22) [Anderson/Zach Golden]
Vocal lead version
Instrumental version
4. "Moving Time" (1:58) [Anderson/Golden]
Vocal lead version
Instrumental version
5. "Message" (1:52) [Haun/Anderson]
Vocal lead version
Instrumental version
6. "This is Love" (2:05) [Anderson/William Richardson]
Vocal lead version
Instrumental version
Underscore version
7. "Precious" (2:23) [David Ashok Ramani/Anderson/Jonathan Elias]
Vocal lead version
Instrumental version
Backing vocals only version
8. "Electricity" (2:00) [Felix Nicholson/Anderson]
Vocal lead version
Instrumental version
Underscore version
9. "Sleep" (2:42) [Anderson/Elias]
Vocal lead version
Instrumental version
10. "This Time" (2:14) [Anderson/Richardson]
Vocal lead version
Instrumental version
11. "Breathing" (2:33) [Anderson/Elias/Mike Fraumeni]
Vocal lead version
Instrumental version
12. "Distant Giving" (2:13) [Anderson/Golden]
Vocal lead version
Instrumental version
13. "Showing the Way" (1:46) [Haun/Anderson]
Vocal lead version
Instrumental version
14. "Daylight" (2:04) [Nicholson/Anderson]
Vocal lead version
Instrumental version
Notes (****): (3) is unrelated to the Yes song of the same name, but
what seems to have been part of it was posted to Anderson's Facebook
page a few years ago.
There may be more to this story to come out, but here's what we know
so far. It appears that on 22 June 2021, a Jon Anderson solo album
called Sunlight appeared on streaming and digital sites
worldwide, including Spotify, Amazon (at least US, UK and Japan),
Qobuz and YouTube. No press release, no fanfare, it just appeared.
On 15 July, Spotify recommended the album to a Yes fan, who alerted
the Yes fan community. News spread fast through the usual online fan
channels. By the next day, the album was not to be found anywhere.
The Universal Production Music website, which had the whole album
available on streaming, added a note saying, "This playlist of
library music is only available for licensing from authorized
representatives of Universal Production Music and is not for sale to
the general public nor is it to be confused with any official album
release by Jon Anderson."
Sunlight is not a regular solo album. Its 14 tracks are
around 2 minutes each. These are relatively simple pieces, but
Anderson’s voice rings true and there are some nice melodies, good
playing. It's not out of place among Anderson's latter day solo
catalogue, with some modern dance sounds akin to "WDMCF" on 1000 Hands: Chapter One. It's not
as proggy or complex in its playing as, say, most of 1000 Hands:
Chapter One or Invention of Knowledge. Anderson posted
to Facebook on 15 Jul, explaining, "'SUNLIGHT' is not a solo
album...FYI....it's music I made with a close friend for the
Universal music library ...production music created for movies,
advertising and other avenues...not a solo album..." This was
apparent at release. While the regular digital and streaming
versions had 14 tracks, the Universal Production Music website had
most details and additional alternate versions of all tracks: as
well as the main version, there was a vocal lead version and an
instrumental version of each piece (of the same length); a few
tracks had further versions.
What is production music? Sometimes, a musician may be commissioned
to do music for a film or TV. But with Sunlight and similar,
music is written without any particular visuals in mind, but is then
made available to be easily used in a production, with licensing
arrangements all worked out. So you can search on the Universal
Production Music website for different styles and moods of music.
Steve Howe did a couple of albums like this in the eighties and
nineties: Guitar Player and Guitar Plus. Back then, these
were difficult to get hold of outside the industry. But, today, it
appears Universal just dump copies of these sorts of release on
Spotify, Amazon etc. as well as making them available as
production music – because, I guess, why not? It's a bit of extra
income.
Where does the music come from? Who is Anderson's "close friend"?
That would appear to be Jonathan Elias. Anderson first worked with
Elias when he guested on Elias's Requiem
for the Americas: Songs from the Lost World, released
1989. Anderson then brought in Elias to produce the second ABWH
album, which mutated into Union. Union
was not a happy experience, with Anderson and Elias bringing in
multiple session musicians to replace the actual band members,
including Jimmy Haun on guitar (an childhood friend of Billy and
Michael Sherwood). Members like Rick Wakeman, as well as many fans,
were unhappy. However, Anderson and Elias have stayed friends and
continued to work together. Elias has a company doing music for
adverts, TV and film, including often employing Haun.
In recent years, Elias helped with Anderson's 2011 digital release "Open". Around then, the two began a more
substantial collaboration. Late 2012 and into 2013 saw sessions with
Elias, Anderson, Haun and M Sherwood (who sadly passed away in
2019). The material was described as a mix of Anderson/Elias
compositions and Anderson/Haun compositions. In January 2014, M
Sherwood described what they had been working on: "here are some
working titles to chew on.... The Given Love, The Remembering Gate,
Children Yet To Come, Songs of Solomon and some nine minute
orchestral thing which I think was called The Given Love part
2...They were all sounding so good. Also some Anderson collabs with
Mr. Haun were taking place". However, the whole project had stalled
by then.
In a February 2021 interview with SOAL Night Live, Haun picked up
the story: "It’s so fucking great. The music is so good." He
described how Anderson said the material got "a little too proggy
for him [...] He was getting into something different at that point
[...] He loved this band Battles [...] He was like, "Can we do
something like Battles?" [...] Jon didn’t want to go down that road
[progressive rock] again." (Anderson went on to guest on Battles'
2019 Juice B Crypts album.) Haun continued, "I have these
recordings and [...] God, I would love to, one day, be able to show
people this stuff [...] Jon was very much a part of everything, and
he was loving it, loving it, loving it. And then all of a sudden, it
was like he changed his mind. And he wanted to do reggae and stuff.
[...] But the music is there. So, I dunno, maybe one day he’ll be
like "Let's just do it."" A couple of Anderson/Elias collaborations
did pop up on YouTube: "Born Again" in 2018 (a version of a 2013
piece by Elias without Anderson) and "The Given Love" in 2020, a
9:46 track with a title matching one given by M Sherwood.
Is there any connection between those older sessions and Sunlight?
The material on Sunlight doesn't obviously match, but Elias
and Haun are involved. We don't know much about the material on
Sunlight, but we have writing credits and the album has 4
pieces co-written with Elias and 3 co-written with Haun. Three of
the other people involved (Zach Golden, David Ashok Ramani, Mike
Fraumeni) all have past connections to Elias. This looks like an
Elias project. It has been suggested that Anderson's vocals here
sound like they may have been recorded before his sinus surgery in
early 2015, although if that is the case, it is unknown why the
release took multiple years.
So why was the album pulled? My guess is Anderson and/or his people
had it pulled. Either he/they didn't realise that it would be
available for general sale, or he/they didn't realise it would
attract attention, but it appears someone panicked and was concerned
that this would damage Anderson's reputation or distract from his
actual next solo album, not that we know what that is yet.
The Universal Production Music website had notes about each piece,
for the purposes of those using them as production music. That site
is now dead, but screenshots retain some of the information. The
notes about each piece were as follows:
"Sunlight": Pure, peaceful, positive vibes. Uplifting vocals, about
opening your mind, listening to nature and emerging from darkness
and difficulty.
"Without You": Intimate wonderfully playful vocal about love and
devotion. Ukulele, acoustic guitar and bells support.
"To be Alive": Celebration of life chant. Featuring Jon's vocals,
beats and low key ambient synths. An abstract ode to the joys of
being alive.
"Moving Time": Pensive, serious electronica underscore vocal layers.
Mystery, anticipation and the unknown.
"Message": Intimate acoustic guitar and voice. Slow tempo,
reflective and introspective. Lyrics about nature life and
understanding.
"This is Love": Positive, celebratory chants and lyrics about love.
Happy, upbeat rhythm. Fast tempo.
"Precious": Guitar harmonics, guitars and voice. Beautiful song,
vocal chants. Nature and the environment.
"Electricity": Very creative minimal chant about electricity. Vocal
beats and chants interwoven with electronic and acoustic percussion.
"Sleep": Positive anthem, lyrics about life and death. Acoustic
guitars, percussion and vocals.
"This Time": Vocals chants accompanied by electronica edge. Voices,
beats and synths create positive energy. Lyrics about anticipation,
the here and now and signs for the future.
"Breathing": Chilled ode to the art of breathing. Lead vocals,
guitars and strings. Pleasant and inspiring.
"Distant Giving": Creative chants project positive energy. Hypnotic
rhythms, minimal building percussion and bass. Additional vocals add
to the magic. Positive, uplifting mood.
"Showing the Way": Intimate and beautiful guitar and voice feature.
Mid-paced, relaxed and peaceful. Lyrics about togetherness,
forgiveness and surrendering to a high purpose.
"Daylight": "Daylight" featured lyrical chant with energetic trap
beats and synth bass.
(HP, 17 Jul 21; updated 18 Jul 21)
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