Album review: ANDERSON PONTY BAND – Better Late Than Never

October 5th, 2015 by jason

earMUSIC [Release date 25.09.15]

The album features two legendary musicians, former Yes vocalist Jon Anderson and violinist/jazz composer Jean Luc Ponty. The idea for these two musicians to work together was first mooted back in the 1980′s, it is only recently that it came to fruition, hence the album’s title.

The album is a studio album taken from a live recording and Anderson and Ponty are backed by Jamis Glaser (guitars), Wally Minko (keyboards), Baron Browne (bass) and Rayford Griffin (drums/percussion).

The set list is a mixture of Yes and Ponty classics, with a new composition ‘Infinite Mirage’ which takes part of Ponty’s song ‘Mirage’ as its foundation. Yes purists may splutter and wail as the Yes songs are given a total reworking and for the most part work really well.

‘Owner Of A Lonely Heart’ has a jazzier feel, as Ponty’s violin playing is an important part of each song as much as Jon Anderson’s wonderous vocals. Speaking of wonderous, the Yes classic ‘Wonderous Stories’ gets a whole new life with the arrangement on here, again a little jazz in the overall sound but not too much.

This set comes as a CD and also a CD/DVD set (I only have the CD for review so can’t comment on the bonus DVD). The playing is exemplary as you would expect and I am sure of interest to Yes and Jean Luc Ponty fans alike. Hopefully this is not a one-off and we can expect some more from this great pairing of musical talents. ****

Review by Jason Ritchie

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