Digital delights: Jon Anderson's "Open"; Tony Kaye's "End of Innocence"

Lots of excitement in online Yes fandom around yesterday's release of a 21 minute epic by Jon Anderson, "Open", available to buy on Amazon.com etc. I've not heard either yet, but, actually, I'm more excited by the new 46 minute epic "End of Innocence" by Tony Kaye that he's put up for free on YouTube:



Edit: I've had a first listen through of "End of Innocence". It's a largely instrumental work, with a short vocal part by Daniela Torchia (Tony's wife). It sounds as if it's all done by Kaye on synths, but he's often imitating an orchestra. Overall, I think it's a good piece of music and will, once again, demonstrate how underappreciated Kaye is by many fans!

It is an overtly political piece, supporting a model of US military intervention overseas as something that brings democracy and freedom to people around the world, and linking Saddam Hussein to al-Qaeda. Personally, I would question aspects of that as a political position, but that doesn't stop me enjoying "End of Innocence" as a piece of music. It's less forthright in its politics than, say, Conspiracy's "The Unknown", another musical response to 9/11.

Edit 2: I've now also heard "Open". First impressions... Thumbs up from me. A step up from Survival & Other Stories or The Living Tree; this is Anderson's best work of the last few years. It's partly orchestral, the composition harks back to Anderson's late 1970s work like on Olias or Tormato. However, his vocals are still fragile. It's easy to recognise this as a post-2008 performance. The lyrics are less noteworthy, typical of his recent work.