Olias of Sunhillow

My first review will be the album Olias of Sunhillow, primarily because it's where the name "QoQuaq" comes from.

Olias of Sunhillow is by Yes vocalist Jon Anderson, and was his debut solo album. Released in 1976 it was the most commercially successful of all the Yes solo records released that year, beating Chris Squire's Fish Out of Water.

The album was inspired by the Roger Dean designed, fantastical album cover for Yes' 1971 album Fragile, which depicts a glider escaping a dying planet, pictured to the right.

The album tells a story in which there are three central characters; Olias - the architect given the task of building a glider called the Moorglade Mover; Ranyart - tasked with piloting the Moorglade and Qoquaq - the leader of the people of Sunhillow.




Tracklisting

1. Ocean Song (3:05)
2. Meeting (Garden of Geda) / Sound Out the Galleon (3:34)
3. Dance of Ranyart / Olias (To Build the Moorglade) (4:19)
4. Qoquaq Ën Transic / Naon / Transic Tö (7:08)
5. Flight of the Moorglade (3:24)
6. Solid Space (5:21)
7. Moon Ra / Chords / Song of Search (12:48)
8. To The Runner (4:29)

I see no reason why some of the tracks have been condensed into single tracks on the CD version, where as they were seperate on the vinyl. Also, the new CD version has a poor reproduction of the artwork, which is fantastic in the original vinyl version, which includes a story to acompany the music.
This is the only album which sees Jon Anderson play (nearly) all the instruments which include guitars, synths, drums and even harp. Lyrically it is very clever and well worth a listen for any prog fan, especially fans of Yes.

QoQuaq Recommends:

"Sound Out the Galleon", "Flight of the Moorglade" and "Solid Space".

Rating:

5/5

Title: Olias of Sunhillow
Label: Atlantic Records
Genre: Progressive rock / new age music
Release Date: 24th July, 1976

This album is available at Amazon and iTunes.