Listen to Jon Anderson & The Band Geeks, Part 2

Yes…. I mean Jon Anderson is back!

There are also membership options available if you feel super generous!

Mail me: Jim Newstead, PO Box 6487, Milton Keynes, MK10 1RE, United Kingdom

All rights and music: Jon Anderson, The Band Geeks, Frontiers

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[markdrechsler]

The first of these two songs is excellent. You can hear the age in Jon’s voice more in the ballad. It is a pretty song. I think it is a blessing for most Yes fans that Jon has met up with a group of excellent musicians capable of giving flesh to Jon’s vision and spirit.

[anthonyblakely]

I am going to buy this album....It is a superb Yes sound of Anderson is the heart of album sounds like YES of the 70's 80's 90's & 21st century combined into one band. Just EXCELLENT musicianship!!!! The Band Geeks are excellent musicians!!!! Another Masterpiece!!!

[Kmg_]

Counties and Counties is my favourite on the LP at the moment! The Band Geeks do a remarkable job of incorporating certain motifs (And You And I, Revealing Science of God, Machine Messiah) without sounding wholly derivative. This is fresh, exciting and proof that good music lives on, albeit largely outside the conventional top 40 charts.

[andrewwallace]

Sublime music !! bravo to Jon & the Band Geeks 🙏

[davidlane]

Who cares about the cover, it's the music that matters. He certainly has blown away those Yes pretenders with this.

[ArjayELevin]

Jim, I appreciate your format and applaud your clout, getting the artist to let you play the whole thing! It gives people a chance to wade past the bog of the cover into the dazzling waters of the pure product. I am a FAN!

[TheAlbumReviewchannel]

So great to see you genuinely enjoying this track for the masterpiece it is.

[anthonyblakely]

Now we know....Now we know....Yes was and is not just Jon's voice but his compositions as well. I knew. I knew since the beginning in the 60's.

[TheAlbumReviewchannel]

I told you how good Counties and Countries was - as good as anything Yes produced. This track is 10/10 alone and just sends shivers down my sides. Amazing.

[scottnewton]

Thanks for posting and sharing. Counties and Countries is a masterpiece the likes I haven’t heard in over 40 years. Each member of the band is featured beautifully and their interplay is unbelievable. This song is ear candy from the opening “fanfare” through the solos that seamlessly flow from one another near the end. An amazing composition.

[jeffschielka]

Hey Jim! This album just gets better with every song as you will hear.👍🔈🔉🔊😎

[IllumeEltanin]

When the first two tracks were released on YouTube a couple of months ago to generate excitement for the album, I went ahead and viewed them. So, I had heard side 1 prior to this listen with Jim.

However, when Counties and Countries was released early, I decided to wait for a full album listen, hoping one of the content creators I followed would get to it, so this side is the first virgin listen to the album for me as well. Definitely worth my once a year membership album request and waiting…patiently to experience it with Jim!

Onward to the second half of the album! I’m glad we didn’t have to wait for tomorrow to get to view Jim’s listen.

[yes_head]

Thanks, Jim. "Counties and Countries" is pretty much a home run, and "Build Me a River" is nice, but it does reveal the frailty in Jon's voice. He just sounds... much older. But so far I have to say this is probably the best thing I've heard from Jon since his last albums with Yes.

[mutantplants]

I'm so blown away, especially after watching them recording Counties & Countries:
YES is back!

[jurgenroller]

It's not Yes of the seventies, or Yes of the eighties or nineties. It's Jon and the Band Geeks 2024 and it's damn good.

[howfartohitchin]

Counties and Countries is an absolute masterpiece.
The album cover, in my opinion, is absolutely dire.

[G.Gordon]

The beginning of "Counties and Countries" sounds just like the band, , Under The Sun. "Familiar" is how it dropped on me; like I had heard it all in a parallel timeline, over the years of manifesting. Forget all that, it's fucking great, 21st-century YesNotYes.

[LuisGarcia-eetr]

Richie Catellano´s guitar es awesome. B.O.C. of recent years

[MikeStaggs-on]

Hi Jim, firstly, love your reviews as always. You really embrace the music and take the time to dissect the bands/albums/songs. I agree 100% that this album is great, especially the first few tracks. Now here is the thing. Where do you draw the line from a nod to your peers and pretty much lifting pieces of previous YES ABWH music which is what i hear alot on this album. Maybe i should just enjoy the music, which i do but i hear passages of various songs continuously, slightly rearranged. The guitarist has really hit on Steve Howe’s sound massively. The same with the keys and bass. 🤷‍♂️
I suppose because Jon was the glue of the band it is naturally going to sound like YES and anything that follows the YES blue print is, at the end of the day, a good thing.

[Lightmane]

My favorite piece from the album is Counties and Countries. No need to apologize about what you said about the album cover. You're right. Covers matter, and that cover is ugly. People need to stop being offended by other people's opinions.