1982 Jon Anderson – Animation

Animation is the third solo album by Yes founder-member and former lead singer Jon Anderson, released in 1982.

Animation was recorded during a busy time for Anderson when he was collaborating with Vangelis and Mike Oldfield and exploring new age and electropop.

As with the previous album Song of Seven, several well-known musicians were involved in Animation, including Simon Phillips, David Sancious and Jack Bruce.

The song All God’s Children was produced by producer Tony Visconti (who had worked with more mainstream British acts such as David Bowie and T. Rex) and was released on vinyl but no CD version was published until 2006, when a limited edition CD re-release of the album (with two bonus tracks) was issued by Opio Media. The rest of the album was produced by producer Neil Kernon who had worked with acts such as Daryl Hall and John Oates

“Surrender” and “All in a Matter of Time” were released as singles. The album was promoted with a world tour where Anderson would perform songs from the album as well as several Yes classics, mostly in medley form. A follow-up album entitled Chagall was recorded but never released. One track on the album, “Boundaries”, would later appear on other works by Anderson himself (entitled “O’er” on The Promise Ring) and Yes (entitled ‘”Somehow, Someday” on Open Your Eyes).