Jon Anderson & The Band Geeks – True (2024)

Review: Founding Yes frontman Jon Anderson has just released a new album titled True, his first full-length recording project with his current touring group, The Band Geeks. The nine-track prog-rock collection deftly incorporates all the sonic elements for which Anderson’s former band became known during the 1970s and ’80s, including soaring vocals, cosmic and spiritual lyrics, virtuosic musicianship, and inventive time signatures. Anderson first hooked up with The Band Geeks for a 2023 tour. The group is a collective of talented musicians, led by longtime Blue Öyster Cult bassist Richie Castellano, who’ve been posting videos of them covering various classic-rock songs during the past several years.

Anderson told American Songwriter that he became aware of The Band Geeks after his friend John Amick of SiriusXM satellite radio showed him a YouTube video of them performing the Yes classic “Heart of the Sunrise.”

After the 2023 tour, which showcased a mix of Yes hits and epics tracks like “Close to the Edge” and “Gates of Delirium,” Anderson said he approached Castellano about recording an album of original material.

True features new songs that Anderson co-wrote with Castellano and other members of The Band Geeks, as well as some compositions that pre-dated his collaboration with the group. Jon and Richie co-produced the album.

Anderson told American Songwriter that True was recorded in late 2023 and early 2024. The project came together remotely, since Jon lives in California and The Band Geeks are based in New Jersey.

Anderson noted that although he didn’t work directly in the studio with the other musicians, the collaboration reminded of his days making albums with Yes during the 1970s.

One particular example of this was an epic, multi-part song titled “Once Upon a Dream,” which is 16-plus-minutes long.

“I would send ideas to Richie, and then he’d send ideas that he has back to me,” Anderson explained about how the track came together. “And I’d pick out what I was thinking [worked together well,] and adding more to this, more to that.”

Anderson continued, “[O]ne of the interesting things was that we zoomed every Tuesday, because they’re [in] New Jersey, and I’m [in] California, you know. I just spent a couple of hours with them every Tuesday, fixing this or projecting that idea. And I’d finish a couple of hours work with them, and go … and have dinner with my wife, and say, ‘It’s just like being with Yes.’”

Anderson said he quickly became impressed by Castellano’s talent as a producer as well as a musician. Jon praised Richie’s ability to create a sonic landscape around a simple recording of one of the tunes he sent him.

“I’d sent … ‘Counties and Countries,’ just me on guitar, singing the song,” he noted. “And he sent me back a beautifully constructed version of it, that you can hear on the record. It’s just beautifully done.”

True features a song called “Still a Friend” that Anderson said is a tribute of sorts to his late Yes bandmates Chris Squire and Alan White.

Anderson told American Songwriter that he recently was listening to the song while he was out walking and he imagined his departed friends were there with him.

“I came to that part, ‘still a friend of mine,’ and, strange as it may seem, I was holding hands with Alan and Chris,” he shared. “As I walked, I actually had my hands out, consciously thinking of them, you know?” — AmericanSongwriter

Track List: 01 - True Messenger 02 - Shine On 03 - Counties And Countries 04 - Build Me An Ocean 05 - Still A Friend 06 - Make It Right 07 - Realization Part Two 08 - Once Upon A Dream 09 - Thank God

Media Report: Genre: prog-rock Origin: UK
Format: FLAC Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec Bit rate mode: Variable Channel(s): 2 channels Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz Bit depth: 16 bits Compression mode: Lossless Writing library: libFLAC 1.2.1 (UTC 2007-09-17)

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