''Toltec'' is the ninth solo album by

Yes Yes or YES may refer to: * An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no Education * YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US * Young Eisner Scholars, in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and Appalachia, US * Young Ep ...

lead singer

Jon Anderson Jon Anderson (born John Roy Anderson, 25 October 1944) is a British, and latterly American, singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the former lead singer of the progressive rock band Yes (band), Yes, which he formed in 1968 with bassis ...

, released in 1996. Musically, it is progressive rock with elements of new age, world music, electronic, and jazz. Anderson provided the vocals, wrote, arranged, and produced the work.

Background

The concept of the album was initially conceived by Anderson in the late '80s while reading the book ''The Power of Silence'' by

Carlos Castaneda Carlos César Salvador Arana (December 25, 1925 – April 27, 1998), better known as Carlos Castaneda, was an American anthropologist and writer. Starting in 1968, Castaneda published a series of books that describe a training in shamanism t ...

, and attending a reception for the displacement of native

Hopi The Hopi are Native Americans who primarily live in northeastern Arizona. The majority are enrolled in the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona; however, some Hopi people are enrolled in the Colorado ...

people in California. As a result of that gathering, he was able to later connect with Chief Ernie Longwalker who reluctantly allowed for his spoken word stories to be recorded for use on the project, which revolved around Jon's songs inspired by the stories of indigenous people, including the mysterious

Toltecs The Toltec culture () was a Pre-Columbian era, pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture that ruled a state centered in Tula (Mesoamerican site), Tula, Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, Mexico, during the Epiclassic and the early Post-Classic period of Mesoam ...

. While Anderson was signed to Geffen Records, the album was never released beyond a promo album called ''The Power of Silence'' which they released in 1992 (only on

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette (format) (or ''cassette tape''), a format that contains magnetic tape for audio, video, and data storage and playback * Compact Cassette, a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ...

). Following legal threats preventing the use of Castaneda's title (Jon had initially wanted "to marry them together, to sell the record and the novel"), and with Geffen Records unhappy with the perceived lack of commercial potential (and Anderson's refusal to edit it for radio), the album's rights were sold to Windham Hill, who eventually released it – essentially the same music, with added narration – as ''Toltec'' in 1996. The 1996 Toltec release is made up of 13 cuts divided into three parts. It tells the tale of the Toltec, a

Native American Native Americans or Native American usually refers to Native Americans in the United States. Related terms and peoples include: Ethnic groups * Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the pre-Columbian peoples of North, South, and Central America ...

concept of a group of people who have been all over the Earth, existing within different cultures throughout the centuries. They are described in the album liner as "Creators of the circles of power, color, perfume, and music healing domes."

Track listing

*Part I **1. "The Book Opens" (4:59) **2. "Quick Words (Talk- Talk)" (Anderson, Perez) (2:54) **3. "Shall We Play the Game" (3:45) **4. "Semati Siyonpme" (3:16) *Part II **5. "Good Day Morning" (2:02) **6. "Leap into the Inconceivable" (3:53) **7. "Song of Home" (1:11) **8. "Building Bridges" (Anderson, del Signore) (5:55) **9. "Sound and Color" (4:01) **10. "Longwalker Speaks" (2:48) *Part III **11. "Maazo Maazo" (1:23) **12. "Enter Ye the Mystery School" (7:54) **13. "Ave Verum" (

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

) (3:08) All music written by Jon Anderson; except where stated above

Personnel

Jon Anderson: all vocals With *Keith Heffner - keyboards, orchestration *Luis Perez - percussion *Eduardo del Signore - bass *Freddy Ramos - guitars *Otmaro Ruiz - solo keyboards * Charles Bisharat - violin *Patricia Hood - harp *Paul Haney - saxophone *Salo Loyo - keyboards on 13 *

Deborah Anderson Deborah Leigh Anderson (born 16 December 1970) is an English musician, photographer, and film director. Her early music work was as a vocalist on her father Jon Anderson's albums. Her 1995 single " Feel the Sunshine" was her first song that cha ...

- harmonic vocals *Nina Swan - vocals *Maria E Del Ray - vocals *Daniel Navarro - vocals *David Eric Lowen - vocals

References

{{Authority control 1996 albums Jon Anderson albums