2024 Number 8: Jon Anderson and The Band Geeks

Gemma's Top 10 Albums of 2024: Number 8
Jon Anderson and The Band Geeks - True

No one knows how much time they’ve got left, sang Steve Hogarth a few years ago. Some rockstars seem immortal, but you never know when their latest album is going to be their last. For instance, Chris Squire’s parting gift to this world was the Heaven & Earth album, one of the more regrettable releases Yes have ever put their name to. I’d prefer to remember him for almost everything else he ever did.

While Yes’ subsequent albums have been less embarassing, they are still struggling mightily without Jon Anderson, who’s thrown in his lot with a bunch of much younger professional musicians. These are people who live and breathe progressive music, and who actually know what Yes is supposed to sound like. They tour together playing Yes classics, but a new album was too good an opportunity to pass up.

The result is a Yes-with-the-numbers-filed-off Yes album that is probably the best Yes-related release since… shit, Magnification maybe? Notwithstanding the pretty awful album art, we have a top quality album here. Jon was 79 when he recorded this, and you can occasionally hear the slightest hint of gravel in that angelic voice, but other than that his range and tone have been utterly untouched by the years. That spiritual, healthy, meditating lifestyle he’s leading is clearly working for him, so as a lifelong sceptic of all things new age I humbly tip my hat.

It doesn’t think outside the box very much. It’s a seventies-style Yes album updated to the production standards of the 21st century, with not much happening that you wouldn’t expect from this description. There’s not even the pretense of this album being in any way original or forward-looking. But is that a bad thing? The songs are well written, and the musicianship is high. All the musicians get a chance to shine; it's not just Jon monologuing gibberish at you (which is where his album with Roine Stolt went slightly wrong).

What it is, is a chance finally to hear this voice sing on this kind of music again, and do it with integrity and passion, and no musical missteps. That really hasn’t happened in a very long time. It’s a gift. Cherish it. I hope Jon has many more years left in him – and wouldn’t it be a credit to his lifestyle if he did? – but if this is to be the last album to bear his name he’s got nothing to be ashamed of.