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Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Ken Fuller, Wayne Hall and Jeffrey Crecelius
Jon Anderson’s conceptual epic, Olias of Sunhillow, is under the microscope this week.
- Does this album live up to its amazing reputation?
- How does Jon Anderson get on playing all the instruments?
- Does Olias feel like a complete work or a bit bolted together?
Mark’s and Kevin’s copies of Olias of Sunhillow:
Vinyl:










SACD





German CD



YMP Patrons:
Producers:
- Joseph Cottrell
- Ken Fuller
- Jeffrey Crecelius and
- Wayne Hall
Patrons:
Aaron Steelman | Dave Owen | Mark James Lang | Paul Tomei |
Joost Maglev | David Heyden | Paul Wilson | Martin Kjellberg |
Bob Martilotta | Lind | Michael O’Connor | William Hayes |
Brian Sullivan | David Pannell | Lobate Scarp | Miguel Falcão |
Chris Bandini | David Watkinson | Neal Kaforey | Rachel Hadaway |
Craig Estenes | Dem | Mark ‘Zarkol’ Baggs | Paul Hailes |
Doug Curran | Robert Nasir | Fergus Cubbage | Scott Colombo |
Fred Barringer | David | Geoff Bailie | Simon Barrow |
Geoffrey Mason | Stephen Lambe | Guy R DeRome | Steve Dill |
Henrik Antonsson | Steve Perry | Hogne Bø Pettersen | Steve Rode |
Declan Logue | Steve Scott | Todd Dudley | Jim |
Jamie McQuinn | Steven Roehr | John Parry | Keith Hoisington |
Alan Begg | Terence Sadler | John Holden | Barry Gorsky |
Michael Handerhan | Tim Stannard | Jon Pickles | John Thomson |
John Cowan | Tony Handley | Robert | Gary Betts |
Facebook has just changed how pages work which means that I’ve had to establish a new place for us to post and discuss Yes-related happenings. It’s a new group entitled, rather creatively, YMP Discussion Group. For the moment it’s open to anyone to join but I’ll be adding rules and joining requirements when I have time. One of the advantages of the new format is that all members of the group have the same ability to post content, so it’s a bit more egalitarian, or somesuch. Please do search for the group and join in.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/3216603008606331/
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Theme music
The music I use is the last movement of Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite. This has been used as introduction music at many Yes concerts. My theme music is not take from a live concert – I put it together from: archive.org
5 replies on “Rerun – Olias of Sunhillow – 566”
Always a good time to talk about the very special album Olias. Released on my 17th Birthday I remember clearly, as I listened to a Jon Anderson interview on Piccadilly radio in Manchester around the release date and them playing lots of the album if not all of it.
A life changing album for me, who was at the time a teenager looking for something, I had just discovered Yes but this one cemented in place the utter brilliance of not just Jon but Yes as a whole.
My go to album to escape the world and for comfort, it has always been a 10/10 for me. I even went under the name of Olias, Olias of Bolton in the fan world for zines in the 80s, this album has always been around me.
A couple of years ago I had the greatest honour of working on the re-release of the CD, that was as good as it gets for myself, to get my name inside. The image above of Jon is taken by myself from the pencil artwork and this comes from the original drawing to be used inside the Gatefold cover.
If you would like that something extra with your Olias then a number of my Olias collectables appeared in the 2021 CD booklet, so if you don’t have that edition, do search it out at Burningshed.com or at Cherry Red Records.
Olias is Jon’s masterpiece and that hasn’t changed after 47 years. It’s my 2nd favorite Yes solo album after Chris’ Fish Out of Water. That’s not likely to change regardless of any future release, Zamran or otherwise.
OMG – November, 2016 – the very month I booked my first Cruise To The Edge! (February of 2017)
What more can be said about ‘Olias’ except to mention the exquisitely remastered re-release on CD and DVD – 5.1 DTS and Dolby Surround – from… last year? The year before? These last couple of years have been difficult for us all.
Aaaahhh… and, yes (see what I did there?), all the optimistic prognostications concerning something called “ARW”…
…I hate to say “I told you so,” (no – wait – I don’t hate it at all!), but,
I TOLD YOU SO 🙂
That was a great bit of fun blast from the past, guys.
Onward…
Thanks for the show and comments. What a great album. I only heard it for the first time a few weeks ago due to the rave you folks gave it. Such a soundscape masterpiece. I like to think of Olias sailing in the Cosmos, for a while traveling beside Carl Sagan in his ship of the imagination.
If you leave us and can only take 5 records, Olga’s better be one of them. Music for eternity…