Album: Survival & Other Stories
Artist: Jon Anderson
2010 Opio Media
CD: OPIOCD1

Jon Anderson: vocals

Music:
Jamie Dunlap (1, 7, 10)
Peter Kiel (2)
Jann Castor (3)
Dan Spollen (4, 6)
Kevin Shima (5)
Steve Layton (8)
Jeremy Cubert (9)
Paul Quinn (11)

Stefan Podell: orchestration (6)
Ryan Fraley: orchestration (9)
Christophe Lebled: soundscape (9)
Daniel Reinker: viola (9)


Produced by Jon & Jane Anderson
Mixed with the help of Patrick MacDougall
Package design by Jay Nungesser
Mastered by Mike Pietrini


Tracks:
1.  "New New World" (4:14)
2. "Understanding Truth" (2:24)
3. "Unbroken Spirit" (3:57)
4. "Love of the Life" (2:49)
5. "Big Buddha Song" (5:31)
6. "Incoming" (7:56)
7. "Effortlessly" (3:11)
8. "Love and Understanding" (4:13)
9. "Just One Man" (4:30)
10. "Sharpening the Sword" (3:40)
11. "Cloudz" (6:06)

All song/lyrics by Jon Anderson


Notes: (****) The credits for "music" on the album appear to be in the sense of "music performed by". There are no writing credits: at least some of the pieces were composed or co-composed by the collaborators. In some cases, collaborators developed ideas from basic demos sent by Anderson. (9) is credited as being composed by Cubert elsewhere.

(3) was previously released as a digital single. (5) is a new version of "This is (Buddha Song)". (8) was previewed online by Layton and by Anderson in alternate forms called "Sacred Balance" and "All is God in Love and Understanding". An alternate version of (9) is on the Anderson/Wakeman album The Living Tree and was performed live on their October 2010 tour. Anderson has previously performed (3), (5) and (8) live.

On the back of the CD, Anderson thanks a long list of people who appear to be his many online collaborators, i.e. Sorin Voinea, Fritz Heede, Alessandro de Rosso, Christophe Lebled, Jann Castor, Bruce Baldwin, Stephan Layton, Stefan Podell, Bill Kilpatrick, Tom Curiano, David Bramfitt, Neil Cambell, Jonathan Elias, Dan Spollen, Austin Haynes and Jamie Dunlap, Ryan Fraley, Rich Goodhart, Dennis Haklar, Kevin Shima, Chris Audren, Jeremy Cubert, John Young, Enrico, Max Hunt, JPR, Mr Todd, Jim Reiske, Zach [Tenorio] "and my 'all star' buddies" (a reference to the School of Rock All-Stars). This album grew out of a large number of online collaborations, with Anderson 'crowdsourcing' the work to numerous people around the world. Anderson recorded his vocals in his home studio while the music was recorded separately. In many cases, Anderson never even met the collaborators in person. In some cases, they had no say in what was released here.

The liner notes also thank Rob Ayling and all at Voiceprint. This is not an official Voiceprint release, but they arranged printing for Anderson. The album has so far only been available at Anderson/Wakeman gigs on their UK October 2010 tour, but Anderson has said full release will follow. He's also hinted at sequel albums with more online collaborations.

This was the first full album release by Anderson since his acute respiratory failure and other problems in 2008. His voice is not quite the same as before, with a certain nasal quality, but he has mostly recovered in these recordings. While put together in an unconventional way, the result is generally good, one of Anderson's better solo albums. (HP, 21 Oct 10)

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