Jon Anderson
Song of Seven - Remastered & Expanded
Review by Gary Hill
This new edition of Jon Anderson's Song of Seven album is all class. First you get the remastered set. It comes in a nice digi-pack with a cool booklet. Then two bonus tracks (single versions of two of the songs on the disc) are added to the set. It's a well-deserved updating of the album and sounds great. I previously reviewed the original edition of the album, and I'll include the overall review of that and the track reviews here for the sake of consistency. Suffice it to say, as much as I like the original edition, this is better.
There was a time when this album from Yes man Jon Anderson was my all time favorite disc by anyone. Mind you times have changed somewhat. I’ve discovered other music and my tastes are not quite the same as they were then. The truth is, though, while there have been other discs to take its place; I still appreciate the magic and beauty that is Song of Seven. I have no question why it resided in that slot on my list of favorites. People have remarked over the years that this is just a pop album. It has that side to it, but as I knew then, there is a lot more going on than that. Doing track-by-track reviews as we do at Music Street Journal gives one an interesting view of CDs. You find that albums you considered great on casual listenings often lose their luster under deeper scrutiny due to an over-reliance on the same musical foundations. On the other hand, a disc like this that at first glance might seem to be simple pop music takes on new manifestations. Mind you, I had spent enough time with this in the past that there were no surprises to me, but that said, it is amazing how fairly complex and unusual musical formats are made to sound so catchy and simple here. That is truly a work of genius and one of the magical things about this album. Song of Seven may not remain my favorite album of all time, but it certainly is up there and really holds up even after all these years.
This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2020 Volume 6. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2020.
|