Jon
IE: Chris Squire’s passing must have hit
– were really digging it. And the audience was digging it, and there’s a video
out there of that show. That music is
surviving, 30 years later, it’s still surviving, because musically, it works. But I
have a new album out called The
Invention of Knowledge, and it’s by
Anderson/Stolt. Rainier Stolt is a wonderful Swedish musician, and I met him
about three years ago now. I was on one
of those prog-rock boat trips out of
Miami to the Bahamas, doing a solo
show. And there was a band called
12•2016
you hard, though.
JA: Yeah. We dedicate a song to him at
every ARW show. So he’s still with us.
IE: Was some of your earlier work misunderstood, ahead of its time, like
“Olias” or “Tales From Topographic
Oceans”?
JA: Well, a lot of people still love
Topographic Oceans. No matter where I
go, there are always people with that
album that want it signed. And when
we went on tour in 2002, it was with a
full orchestra, and we were doing Part
One and Part Four of Tales From
Topographic Oceans, and these young
Polish orchestra musicians – young kids
Transatlantic, and he was in that band.
And I got up and sang “Ritual” and
“Heart
of
the
Sunrise”
with
Transatlantic at the end of the whole
trip. So we became friends, and we
actually made the album in his studio
and my studio, and we only met twice.
But it’s one of the best album I’ve ever
made.
IE: What lessons do you live by now?
JA: To be patient and know that it’ll
happen when it happens. And expect
the unexpected – that’s from Carlos
Castaneda. I’ve started reading his
books again. But we all seek metaphysical answers in our own way. We’re all
14 illinoisentertainer.com december 2016
Yes: 1971 – Wakeman (in car), Anderson (center, on trunk)
unique, and there’s a story in every person. So live and let live. And for me, it’s
just a question of realizing all these
projects that I want to get finished by
the time I’m 103. And Hey – time
moves!
the most to you?
JA: “Awaken,” because it’s different.
And it works – it raises your consciousness when you listen to it. It’s 18 minutes long – well, 20 now – and it takes
you on a journey.
IE: What’s the one Yes song that means
Tom Lanham