Andy Greene at Rolling Stone recently spoke with former YES frontman JON ANDERSON about his unceremonious ousting from the band. An excerpt from the story is available below:

When Rolling Stone posted the new Yes song 'We Can Fly' last month it didn't just provide fans of the legendary prog band the first glimpse into the band's new album – it also allowed former lead singer Jon Anderson to check out what his band has done in his absence. "I wasn't really convinced," he tells Rolling Stone. "The new singer is singing good, but it sounded a bit dated to me. Also, the production wasn't as good as I expected. They've got a great producer with Trevor Horn, so what the hell are you doing?"

Anderson has reason to be bitter. He co-founded the band in 1968 with bassist Chris Squire, and with the exception of 1980's Drama he sang on every album. In 2008 – after illness kept him off the road for four years – Yes replaced him with Benoit David, an Anderson sound-alike who previously fronted the Yes tribute band Close to the Edge.

Nobody in the band called Anderson to tell him the news – he had to hear it from a friend. "They didn't tell me anything," he says. "They were just off and running. But what can you do? I was pissed off in the beginning, but then you say, 'Oh well, the boys want to go on tour and be rock & rollers. Let them to do it.' Now people come see me and I'm suddenly 30 years younger!"

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Anderson recently spoke with Classic Rock Revisited about his new solo album, Survival And Other Stories. An excerpt from the story is available below:

What makes this release unique is that Anderson wrote the songs with his fans. The genesis for the project began four years ago as Anderson explains:

“I was waiting for the guys in the Yes band to send me ideas for a project but nothing was coming. I thought there must be peeps out there that would like to work with me, so I just put the ad on my web site; it was very simple really. I just asked for ‘one minute of your musical work,’ it was fantastic to hear so much great music. I picked out a dozen or so peeps and got back to them and we started writing music. They would send ideas, I would sing melodies and lyrics.”

What began as a simply inquisitive project has now blossomed into something very special for the singer, and something that is keeping him very busy.

“The talent inspired me. I now get music sent to me all the time. I'm singing with an African sounding band at the moment. It is very exciting. Each week there is a new challenge. I just finished a ‘Violin Concerto for Dance' with Bill Kilpatrick, so there is much more to come out of this unique idea. I must have enough [material] for three albums.”

Anderson says that the musicians whom he decided to work with were “excited and thankful” to hear from him but admits he felt the same way. In fact, this process has changed Anderson’s view on music. “I am more open and more ready to jump into different musical arenas,” Anderson continues, “I push certain peeps to write more like a musical, or even a modern opera, telling stories with music.”

Anderson also offered his comments on Classic Rock Revisited's Top 10 list of Yes songs. An excerpt from the list is available below.

'Roundabout' - "We were on tour, traveling from Aberdeen in Scotland to Glasgow, so many roundabouts, and the road through valley was so long, and the clouds so low. It looked like there was no top of the mountains, left and right of the road, as though they came out of the sky. Twenty-four hours later we would be home in London."

Go to this location for the complete story and the rest of the Top 10 list.