Mettler: Speaking of Vangelis, how cool would it be to get a surround sound version of [the 1981 Jon & Vangelis album] The Friends of Mr. Cairo?
Anderson: Oh my gosh, yeah! That was a wonderful project.
Mettler: Maybe we could get Steven Wilson to do that one. He’s certainly in tune with a lot of your material since he’s done a number of Yes albums in 5.1. I just had his 5.1 mix of Relayer (1974) on recently. “The Gates of Delirium” and “Sound Chaser” sound so good in surround, I have to say.
Anderson: I haven’t listened to that one yet, but it’s the kind of thing that “comes” to me. I’ll be sitting by the fire in my house in the mountains and I’ll say, “OK, I’m going to listen to that one and think about it very carefully in my head.” It’s perfect. Perfect sound.
Mettler: Wouldn’t you say that most, if not all of the music you’ve worked on throughout your life works really well in the surround sound format?
Anderson: That’s right. I had the idea very early on. When I listened to music in my house, I had four speakers, one in each corner. It wasn’t in surround sound then, but I wanted to fill the room. I didn’t like music “projected” at me.
Mettler: As we’ve said before, mono and stereo are man-made things. Life comes at us in 360 degrees.
Anderson: All of the time. We’re going to be watching movies without 3D glasses in the next couple of years. And reading that book [The Future of the Mind] will blow your mind.
Mettler: Word is that Tales From Topographic Oceans (1973) is coming in surround. That album was made for surround, wouldn’t you say?
Anderson: Totally made for that! Like “The Ancient (Giants Under the Sun).”
Mettler: Agreed! Well, I cant wait to hear all of Oceans that way. There does seem to be a renaissance surrounding Yes. Why do you think people are visiting and revisiting Yes now?
Anderson: Timing is everything. I write and record music that I know people will listen to for another 10 years, maybe more. It’s not “hip,” or commercially correct. Topographic wasn’t commercially correct, but it was the perfect timing for me because we had gained all these fans across the world, so I thought, “Why don’t we try something absolutely different than what’s going on in the business or on the radio? Let’s do something that’s new in world of music.”
There was a guy at the show last night who came up to me who must have been all of 18. And he said, “I just bought this last week — Tales From Topographic Oceans.” I said, “Well done.” (laughs) It was made with love, it was made with dreams, it was made with good energy. It’s not perfect, but that’s just what it was. Perfect for us.
Mettler: An album like that one opened your ears up and helped you realize there was more to music than just four on the floor. You could hear the possibilities.
Anderson: Yeah, yeah! That was the sort of logical concept of making something where if someone says, “Why did you do that?” I'd say, "Well, if we hadn’t have done that, we wouldn’t have done 'Awaken' [the pivotal track on 1977’s Going for the One]. Everything is stepping stones.