Earth Mother Earth

One of my favorites. Jon Anderson totally acoustic.

Great!

I gotta set the record straight on this album - it's one of Jon's three finest solo recordings, along with "Olias of Sunhillow" (by far his best) and "Toltec".There's not much to say in this review, because the album is quite simple: it's Jon singing with acoustic guitar, and Jon singing with harp. Like Olias, it's (mostly) Jon solo, with (almost) no accompanying musicians. And like Olias, the album has a very serendipitous, interconnected feeling to it.Is it flawed? Sure. On a couple tracks, Jon's wife Jane recites poetry or says "here kitty kitty." Faux pas. We all know rock stars should never, ever let their wives 'join the band,' but anyone who has seen a Yes concert in recent years knows Jon ADORES Jane, so let's cut Jon some slack. Plus with your cd player or ipod, it's easy to avoid the tracks with Yoko Ono, whoops I mean Jane.If you admire Jon's singing, and admire the wonderful, celestial musical atmospheres he creates, and admire his wonderfully positive vibe, do yourself a favor and check out this album, because it's great!

Which is interesting becasue I am a Jon (and YES) maniac!However this solo release by Jon is just plain boring. It's a very nice idea & I have to give Jon credit - it's him in his garden (complete with birds a chirpin', bees a buzzin' and cats a meowin') singing with an acoustic guitar (or his treasured harp - oh yes! Jon & his harp) with other sparse instrumentation doing some very new age tunes.Don't get me wrong, there are some nice selections but some things are beat to death - like the Harptree and Concerto tunes -there is a lack of ideas here. You need to expand more on the theme to make it more interesting. And Jon singing about his cats! Well... maybe he & his wife should have kept that one at home.I applaud Jon because in his solo projects he tries something different each time - celtic (the promise ring), spanish (deso), american indian (toltec) and so on. However EARTHMOTHEREARTH is a bit "too granola" for me. However his pseudo-new age Olias of Sunhillow is great!But if you enjoy something soothing or just for background ambiance it may be your cup of tea! It's not bad music but just not what I'm looking for from Jon.

On EarthMotherEarth, Jon Anderson abandons loftier concepts, multi-layered keyboards and extended instrumentals, in favour of simple songs accompanied by guitars and percussion. The album was recorded at his home in Maui, with one microphone placed in the garden capturing birdsong and other sounds of nature.As well as being simple in approach, most of the songs are strong with memorable tunes and choruses. The opening track, Time Has Come, sets the scene for the rest of the album with its simple, happy feel. Concerto Uno and Concerto Due (the former apparently based on the first piece of music Anderson ever composed) sound a little like demos for much grander pieces but nevertheless work very effectively in these simple acoustic guitar-based arrangements. The closing track, EarthMortherEarth, is another potential epic performed subtley and sung beautifully. The three 'Harptree' interludes are atmospheric harp pieces, blending in with the natural sounds from the garden.Tracks that work less well are Heaven Knows (Treehugging), Whalewatching and Scraggle Cat and Puss Cat Willum (a short tribute to his cats!). While obviously meaningful and significant to their creators some of these pieces may be a bit too sickly-sweet for most other listeners. Some of these pieces also include poetry written and read by Jon's wife Jane, which is probably an acquired taste (she also sings on a couple of tracks - a pleasant enough voice but not outstanding).Overall the album works, Anderson's singing is about his best ever, and the clarity of the recording adds an immediacy that more complex arrangements would obscure. This is clearly personal music made with no commercial intentions at all, but also happens to be one of Jon Anderson's best solo albums.

Earthmotherearth is an album I've heard at a friend's place first. As usual, Jon Anderson's experimenting with sounds, themes, melodies is as tiresome at times as always. Don't get me wrong, I love the guy and I endorse his message of a better place here on Earth, but he is prone to taking liberties in experimenting at your expense. I wish that he would release less songs and instead sit on the rest until they mature, or else. Many of his offerings in the past would serve him well to be performed amongst friends, perhaps sitting by the Fire, etc., but seem to be less suited for one's home stereo. Nevertheless, there are a couple of tunes on this album that made me want to have it and it took me a while to track it down. I live in Australia and availability of "obscure" stuff is not great. The songs that caught my attention are "Time has come" and "Whalewatching". Both of these represent an extremely sharp and effective, yet simple acoustic guitar work, along with an elevating message and dedication second to none. For these two tunes alone this album is well worth having. I am sorry to say, the rest doesn't do anything for me and I ended up looping the above two songs for my car stereo, ignoring the rest altogether. Some tunes tend to grow on you over time, I am afraid, I see the rest of the album as indulgent, filler material. They refuse to grow on me! Jon gets it right at times in his offerings, they are few and far between, but stay tuned for the odd jem! I have been for the last 25 years....For "Time has come" and "Whalewatching" this album would deserve more than 5 stars, pity that the rest takes much of the shine away.

Es ist auf den ersten Blick ungewöhnlich, doch wenn man sich "EarthMotherEarth" öfters anhört, dann gefällt es doch sehr. Ich bin zu YES und Jon Anderson über einen meiner besten Freunde gekommen. Der mir standhaft immer Prog-Rock Musik vorgespielt hat. Das Album EarthMotherEarth lebt von der Stimme Jon Andersons. Es ist eine Art von "Unplugged"-Album. Gerade deshalb strahlt es auch eine gewisse akustische Magie aus. Man muß einfach die CD lauter aufdrehen, um alles zu hören und wahrzunehmen. Die Instrumente, die Geräusche, die teilweise den Songs unterlegt worden. Im Booklet findet man zu allen Songs die Texte, dazu Zeichnungen von Jon Anderson. Überhaupt ist das Booklet sehr aufwendig gestaltet. Ich gebe dem Album sehr gute 4 Sterne und finde es absolut hörenswert !

伴奏がアコーステックのギター、ベース、パーカッションで占められていてキーボードなどの電気の音は入っていません。そのため「サンヒローのオリアス」やジョンアンドヴァンゲリスのような厚みのある音作りはしていません。家族による女性ヴォーカル曲、詩の朗読があります。９７年の作品で従来の彼のソロアルバムからすれば個人趣味的な感じのするアルバムです。日本盤には歌詞の対訳が付いています。