(Progressive) Jon Anderson - Watching The Flags That Fly - 2007, FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

A collection of songs recorded in 1990, intended for the second ABWH album. Some of which went on to become well known, such as 'Take the Water to the Mountain' which appeared YES Union album. These songs have been illegally sold on Ebay under the name 'Dialogue/We Make Believe' in much lower sound quality.

Reviewed by Terry Jackson on July 13th, 2008
http://www.geocities.com/prognaut/reviews/jon-anderson3.html

Jon Anderson has loads upon loads of charm. He is an arresting performer that can command an audience with his unique and flawless vocal skills. He is also an excellent songwriter and this CD, with 1990 demos for the proposed second Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, and Howe record, shows this with impeccable certainty. If the rest of the guys in ABWH would have moved forward with several of these tunes, I feel it could have surpassed their debut in quality.

Songs like “We Make Believe,” “Axis of Love,” “To the Stars,” and others of course would not sound out of place on a Yes record. In fact “Take the Water to the Mountain” was later used on Yes’ Union. I actually prefer Jon’s version, as the bubbly sequenced keyboard and rhythmic guitar sits better with me than the moody atmospherics of the Yes version.

Some different paths for Jon are taken with “After the Storm,” where Jon sets a Sade or easy Kate Bush-like groove going and then lays a Burt Bacharach-style melody over it. Ultra cool. He takes a couple of missteps on “Santa Barbara,” coming off a little cheesy and “Tall Buildings,” where Jon does a little spoken interlude that seems a little over the top.

I’m especially impressed with the two instrumental works on this CD. I would have expected Jon to write good lyrics and melodies, but would not have thought this a strong suit for him. Nice job, Jon. Best song on CD? “We Make Believe.” Jon could have unleashed this rocking little number on the Rabin-era Yes and knocked that ball out of the park.

I’m sorry it took so long for Jon to release these songs in some form. Strong melodies, good grooves, interesting lyrics; almost all of these pieces are valid in some way. It’s regrettable that he could not further explore the studio perhaps on a solo record with some of these tunes, but here they are warts and all. This is just one disc in a box set proposing 20 CDs. I look forward to hearing other gems in the series.

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http://relayer35.com/Yescography/WatchingTheFlagsThatFly.htm
Notes: (****) Originally released as part of The Lost Tapes box set and due to be released separately; see The Lost Tapes for more details. The liner notes give no performer details. Anderson describes how these demos were recorded in the south of France when he was getting ready for the planned second ABWH album. (which never happened and eventually formed the basis of Union). (Anderson also writes how he was still working on "Chagall" in this period.) Anderson describes how he found a farmhouse and had created two studios and started to write material, but the rest of the band wanted to record in London instead and never came. He also describes how he "even recorded with the roadies", which would explain why some of the playing sounds beyond what Anderson could do on his own, although who these roadies were remains a mystery.

On the ABWH tour, the band members' technicians were Chris Ranson (drums), PJ Deacy (guitar), Chris Macleod (keys) and Stuart Sawney (keys). The tour finished in March 1990, so it's plausible that the same team were assmembled in France. Ranson, Deacy and Sawney were doing the same job on the Union tour, with Macleod switching to be a drum tech. At present, they're my best guess for the performers here.

The material was bootlegged on We Make Believe, along with some contemporary Howe demos and some "bonus" tracks from the Tormato sessions. The sound quality is improved here and the songs are in a different order. "Untitled" on the boot is now (14) and "Intro" now (15).

There is a demo by Steve Howe also on We Make Believe and supposedly from the same period called "God with a Southern Accent" (Howe later recorded an instrumental version for Quantum Guitars). Oddly, Anderson sings the line "God with a Southern Accent" at the end of (6). The line doesn't seem like a natural part of the song, suggesting that Anderson was inserting a reference to a song title he knew Howe was working on.

For what is a strong set of songs, it is surprising how little of this material ever re-surfaced. (3) has reportedly appeared on trading circles in a version with Howe on guitar. (2), of course, made it to Union. (9) was used on Jon & Vangelis' Page of Life. (10) was reportedly being developed by Anderson and Wakeman for Keys to Ascension 2, but never appeared. (HP, 25 Dec 06)

01 - Hold You In My Arms.flac
02 - Take The Water To The Mountain.flac
03 - After The Storm.flac
04 - Watching The Flags That Fly.flac
05 - Touch Me Heaven.flac
06 - We Make Believe.flac
07 - To The Stars.flac
08 - Instrumental 1.flac
09 - Is It Love .flac
10 - Axis Of Love.flac
11 - Instrumental 2.flac
12 - Santa Barbara.flac
13 - Tall Buildings.flac
14 - Looking For The Words.flac
15 - Try It Again.flac
Artwork
Jon Anderson - Watching The Flags That Fly.m3u
tau.txt
Watching The Flags That Fly.cue
Watching The Flags That Fly.log
Artwork\JA CD.jpg
Artwork\JA Inner Sleeve Back.jpg
Artwork\JA Inner Sleeve Front.jpg
Artwork\JA Tray.jpg

EAC extraction logfile from 29. November 2007, 21:22 for CD
Jon Anderson / Watching The Flags That Fly

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No errors occured

End of status report

3892511665 80711276 01 - Hold You In My Arms.wav
3822505141 49436732 02 - Take The Water To The Mountain.wav
1267672600 43577900 03 - After The Storm.wav
1455530954 63950924 04 - Watching The Flags That Fly.wav
1018144088 37119308 05 - Touch Me Heaven.wav
628314551 51979244 06 - We Make Believe.wav
270234872 35813948 07 - To The Stars.wav
2432355345 26784620 08 - Instrumental 1.wav
1040189347 63250028 09 - Is It Love .wav
3929695174 48427724 10 - Axis Of Love.wav
2971526559 27986492 11 - Instrumental 2.wav
3471486752 60434684 12 - Santa Barbara.wav
98225824 58858844 13 - Tall Buildings.wav
169601129 59606780 14 - Looking For The Words.wav
1524962928 18463244 15 - Try It Again.wav

auCDtect: CD records authenticity detector, version 0.8.2
Copyright (c) 2004 Oleg Berngardt. All rights reserved.
Copyright (c) 2004 Alexander Djourik. All rights reserved.
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Processing file: [12 - Santa Barbara.wav]

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Processing file: [15 - Try It Again.wav]

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Final Conclusion:
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These tracks looks like CDDA with probability 100%