Anderson

The final volume in the acclaimed series with Malcolm Martineau, charting the complete songs of French composer Gabriel Fauré and performed by a selection of the world’s finest singers. This series follows Martineau’s heralded 5-CD series of The Complete Songs of Francis Poulenc.

John Roy Anderson (born 25 October 1944), known professionally as Jon Anderson, is an English-American singer and songwriter best known as the former lead singer of the progressive rock band Yes, which he formed in 1968 with bassist Chris Squire. He was a member of the band across three tenures until 2008. Anderson was also a member of Yes Featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Rick Wakeman…

This double-disc set assembles Jon Anderson's own tapes from the New Life Band Song of Seven tour of 1980 on their Sheffield stop (December 3 for those who document such things). The nonet band includes Morris Pert, Ronnie Leahy, Lee Davidson, Jo Partridge, and Barry DeSouza…

1986's Home of the Brave is the soundtrack to a film consisting of live pieces debuted during Laurie Anderson's first world tour, promoting 1984's Mister Heartbreak. Only one song from that album, a radically reworked version of the William S. Burroughs cameo "Sharkey's Night," appears here; the rest of the album is something of a return to the performance art basis of Anderson's earlier work like Big Science and United States I-IV. As a result, Home of the Brave has an oddly reheated quality to it, as if Anderson is merely going through the motions of what had gone before while incorporating snatches of the new, more musical direction she had begun exploring with Mister Heartbreak. (Even the title is a self-conscious echo of United States I-IV.) There are some successes here - "Language Is a Virus" is probably the closest Anderson ever came to a real rock song, and it was a minor dancefloor and college radio hit…

There was a backlash against Laurie Anderson in "serious" musical and artistic circles after the completely unexpected mainstream commercial success of her debut album, Big Science. (The eight-plus-minute single "O Superman" was a chart hit in England, unbelievably enough.) A fair listen to Big Science leaves the impression that jealousy must have been at the root of the reception because Big Science is in no way a commercial sellout. A thoughtful and often hilariously funny collection of songs from Anderson's work in progress, United States I-IV, Big Science works both as a preview of the larger work and on its own merits. Opening with the hypnotic art rock of "From the Air," in which an airline pilot casually mentions that he's a caveman to a cyclical melody played in unison by a three-part reeds section, and the strangely beautiful title track…

Celebrated British bassist GEORGE ANDERSON leads an unusual dual musical life. He is, of course, best known for his work with smooth jazz icons Shakatak. He's a key member of the band – on the road and in the studio. George was also instrumental in co-writing many of Shakatak's best tunes ….most famously 'Day by Day' featuring Grammy award winner Al Jarreau. George was responsible too for co-writing the song 'Perfect Smile' which was a smooth-jazz radio play hit in the US for Shakatak in the 90's.