..:: audio-music dot info ::..


Main Page      The Desert Island      Copyright Notice
 Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz


Jon Anderson: In the City of Angels

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Columbia Records
Released: 1988.05.17
Time:
 47:08
Category: Pop/Rock
Producer(s): Stewart Levine
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.jonanderson.com
Appears with: Yes, Jon & Vangelis, Rick Wakeman
Purchase date: 2015
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Hold on to Love (Jon Anderson/Lamont Dozier) - 4:46
[2] If It Wasn't for Love [Oneness Family] (Jon Anderson) - 4:25
[3] Sundancing [For the Hopi/Navajo Energy] (Jon Anderson) - 3:18
[4] Is It Me (Jon Anderson/Rhett Lawrence) - 4:25
[5] In a Lifetime (Jon Anderson/Lamont Dozier) - 4:14
[6] For You (Jon Anderson/David Paich) - 2:51
[7] New Civilization (Jon Anderson/Don Freeman/Gordon Peeke) - 4:31
[8] It's on Fire (Jon Anderson/Don Freeman) - 4:10
[9] Betcha (Jon Anderson/Rhett Lawrence) - 4:00
[10] Top of the World [The Glass Bead Game] (Jon Anderson/David Paich) - 5:25
[11] Hurry Home [Song from The Pleiades] (Jon Anderson) - 4:58

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Jon Anderson - Vocals, Harp, Drums, Percussion, Arranger, Producer

Steve Lukather - Guitar on [10]
Steve Porcaro - Keyboard programming on [10]
Jeff Porcaro - Drums on [2,4,10]
Mike Porcaro - Bass on [2,4]
David Paich - Keyboards, Orchestration on [2,4,6,10]
Joseph Williams - Backing vocals on [10]

Larry Williams - Keyboards, Programming on [1,3,5,9], Producer
John Robinson - Drums on [1,3,7-9]
Paul Jackson Jr. - Guitar on [1, 5]
Jimmy Haslip - Bass on [1,5,7,8]
Lenny Castro - Percussion on [1,3,5,7]
Dann Huff - Guitar on [2,4,8]
Michael Landau - Guitar on [2,4,7-9,11]
Marc Russo - Saxophone on [4]
Paulinho Da Costa - percussion on [4,8]
Gordon Peeke - Drum programming on [7]
Don Freeman - Keyboards on [7,8]
Jerry Hey - Trumpet on [7]
Gary Grant - Trumpet on [7]
William Frank "Bill" Reichenbach Jr. - Saxophone, Trombone on [7,9]
Kim Hutchcroft - Saxophone on [7]
Rhett Lawrence - Keyboards, Programming on [9,11], Keyboard Arrangements, Producer, Synthesizer
The Cathedral Choir - Backing vocals on [11]

Tommy Funderburk - Background Vocals
Siedah Garrett - Background Vocals
Bonnie Hayes - Background Vocals
Kids On The Block - Background Vocals
Jolie Jones Levine - Background Vocals
Myrna Smith-Schilling - Background Vocals
Julia Waters - Background Vocals
Luther Waters - Background Vocals
Oren Waters - Background Vocals
Maxine Willard Waters - Background Vocals

Stewart Levine - Producer
Glen Skinner - Engineer
Daren Klein  - Engineer, Mixing
Bernie Grundman - Mastering
Brian Lane - Director
Jerry McDonald - Artwork, Illustration
Roxy Rifkin - Photography (Inner Sleeve)

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


Recorded at Ocean Way Recording, Hollywood, California. Mixed at Ocean Way Recording, Hollywood, California and Sound Castle, Los Angeles , California. Mastered at Bernie Grundman Mastering, Hollywood, California.



In 1988, Anderson quit Yes for the second time and released his first regular solo album in six years, In The City Of Angels. Stewart Levine, best known for his work with Culture Club, was brought in to produce; Anderson worked with a team of L.A. session stars and wrote a couple of songs with ex-Motown ace Lamont Dozier. All of this seemed to portend a more commercial-sounding, straightahead pop effort from the usually ethereal Anderson. The result is about half and half: when writing with Dozier, Anderson expresses conventional romantic sentiments, for which he doesn't really have a feel. His tenor is so chaste and angelic, it's hard for him to be believable on earthly love songs. And soon enough, especially on later tracks, Anderson is once again in spiritual outer space, where he seems most comfortable. The compromise, however, did not appeal to fans, who avoided this album.

William Ruhlmann - All Music Guide



After Jon Anderson left Yes in 1980, he started to work on a solo career that resulted in the release of several solo albums, guest performances and collaborations. He started recording with Vangelis and in the summer of 1980 Jon & Vangelis released their debut album Short Stories followed by Anderson's second solo album Song Of Seven in November. In 1981 he did a guest appearance on Rick Wakeman's concept album 1984, but also the second Jon & Vangelis-album The Friends Of Mr. Cairo appeared. Seemingly 1983 was a busy year for Mr. Anderson. He recorded his third solo album Animation, did a guest performance on Mike Oldfield's album Crises and he recorded Private Collection, the third album by the successful duo Jon & Vangelis. Moreover, he tried to form a trio with Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson, but that effort failed.

In 1985 Anderson wrote the song This Time It Was Really Right for the movie St. Elmo's Fire. He lent his voice on Silver Train and Christie for the soundtrack of Scream For Help. In 1985 he appeared with Tangerine Dream on the song Loved By The Sun recorded for the movie Legend directed by Ridley Scott. His fourth solo album Three Ships saw the light of day as well. In 1986 he sang on a track recorded for the film Biggles: Adventures in Time and in 1987 he did a guest appearance on Moonlight Desires from Gowan' s album Great Dirty World. In 1988 Anderson released In The City Of Angels, his fifth and most commercial album to date that got a re-release in 2011.

For this album he invited other songwriters rather than creating an album wholly of his own material. This resulted in the most straightforward commercial pop album of his oeuvre sounding closer to a Toto-album than to Anderson's earlier work. It's not that strange since Toto performed on several songs, especially on Top Of The World (The Glass Bead Game) written together with David Paich (keyboards, orchestration). Besides Paich, Steve Lukather (guitar), Steve Porcaro (keyboard programming), Jeff Porcaro (drums), and Joseph Williams (backing vocals) participated on this piece. But also on many other tracks the members of Toto are explicitly present. Bassist Mike Porcaro played some parts on If It Wasn't For Love and Is It Me. Together with David Paich Jon wrote For You, one of the better songs of the album. It's mainly performed on keyboards and featured some strong harp playing by Mr. Anderson. Jon reciprocated by performing on the Toto-album The Seventh One that was recorded about the same time as In The City Of Angels.

The songs Hold On To Love and In A Lifetime were co-written with Lamont Dozier, who made fame with Motown Records. A music video for Hold On To Love had been recorded and broadcasted on TV. On this video you could notice a cameo appearance of Yes-bassist Chris Squire, although he didn't play a note on the album. Rhett Lawrence is another important musician on the album. Besides playing some of the keyboards and doing some programming and arrangements he also wrote Is It Me and Betcha. It's rather strange, but some of the songs reminded me of the album Anderson recorded as ABWH with his band mates Bill Bruford, Rick Wakeman and Steve Howe in 1989. I noticed the same kind of Caribbean sound on their eponymous album on tracks as If It Wasn't For Love and Sundancing (For The Hopi / Navajo Energy). The last one even had a keyboard arrangement that later on was used for Fist Of Fire on the ABWH-album. The piece New Civilization is most related to the music Jon Anderson normally recorded.

In a way this album reminded me of the music Anderson wrote for Animation (1983). This album also contained some radio-friendly influences, but less than In The City Of Angels. This re-release only contains one bonus track, a single version of Hold On To Love which differs not that much from the album version. It's one minute shorter and therefore more suitable to broadcast on radio. However, neither the single nor the album was commercially successful. This happened with many progressive rock stars who tried to sell out, but didn't reach an audience for their music.

In The City Of Angels isn't a bad album at all. The music strongly tends towards the style of music you can hear on The Seventh One by Toto. However, the compositions are less strong than on the Toto-album. Moreover, Toto sounds as a musical collective and I missed that a lot on In The City Of Angels. It wouldn't be fair to compare the album to his other solo releases or with the albums Anderson recorded with Yes. The progressive rock elements are lacking since he wanted to do something different. Maybe this is a chance for some Yes-fans to buy this album. The booklet with all the lyrics, pictures, liner notes and song credits make it worth-while to buy a copy.

(3/5)

Henri Strik - Background Magazine 2013



Esoteric Recordings are pleased to release a newly re mastered edition of Jon Anderson’s1988 studio album in the City Of Angels. The yes front-man recorded the album in Los Angeles with members of the band Toto and featured the hit single Hold On To Love (co-written by Anderson and Motown records genius Lamont Dozier). Arguably the most commercial album recorded by Jon, in the City Of Angels boasted fine musicianship From Luminaries Such As Jeff Pocaro, Steve Luthaker And Mike Pocaro, And Excellent Production By Stewart Levine. Unavailable on CD for some time, this Esoteric Recordings reissue is newly remastered and includes the single edit of hold on to love as a bonus track.

Cherry Red Records



"In The City of Angels is the fifth solo album by Yes front man Jon Anderson, released in 1988. Anderson invited outside songwriters to write for him, rather than creating an album wholly of his own material. Consequently this is a straight-ahead commercial pop album and features fine musicianship from Jeff Pocaro, Steve Luthaker and Mike Pocaro, and produced by Stewart Levine.
Two songs from the album ("Hold on to Love" and "In a Lifetime") were co-written by Lamont Dozier, of Motown records."

© SPV Schallplatten, Produktion und Vertrieb GmbH



In the City of Angels is the fifth solo album by Yes lead singer Jon Anderson, released in 1988. This album is unlike most of Anderson's works in that he invited outside songwriters to write for him, rather than creating an album wholly of his own material. Consequently this is the most straight-ahead commercial pop album in his oeuvre, and sounds rather closer to a Toto album than his own earlier work—in fact, that band performs on several songs. Jon reciprocated the favor by performing on their album The Seventh One (recorded about the same time as In the City of Angels). Two songs from the album ("Hold on to Love" and "In a Lifetime") were co-written by Lamont Dozier, of Motown records. A music video for "Hold on to Love" aired on TV. In the video, the album is titled In The City of Lost Angels. Chris Squire has a cameo appearance in the video.

Wikipedia.org



Der Yes-Frontmann Jon Anderson nahm 1988 gemeinsam mit Mitgliedern von Toto das Studio-Album "In The City Of Angeles" auf. Das Album beinhaltet die Hit-Single "Hold On To Love", der Song wurde übrigens von Anderson und Motown-Genie Lamont Dozier geschrieben. Bei "In The City Of Angeles" handelt es sich um das kommerziell erfolgreichste Album, das Jon Anderson in seiner langjährigen Karriere aufgenommen hat. Unterstützung erhielt er dabei von prominenten Gastmusikern wie Jeff Pocaro, Steve Luthaker und Mike Pocaro. Produziert wurde das Album von Stewart Levine. Inkl. Booklet mit komplett überholtem Artwork, Fotos & Liner Notes.

JPC.de



"Dabei verwendete er hauptsächlich das Material, das selbst für die poppigste Phase von Yes noch zu poppig war, was In The City Of Angels vor allem für Pop-Fans zu einer interessanten Sache macht."

Good Times, 06/07 2011
 

 L y r i c s


Currently no Lyrics available!

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


Currently no Samples available!