3 Ships is the fourth solo album by Yes lead singer Jon Anderson, released on Elektra Records in 1985. It includes versions of traditional Christmas carols as well as original material by Anderson. The album title references the carol "I Saw Three Ships". It was dedicated to the organisation Beyond War.[3]
The 'Holiday Card Pack, Jon Anderson Special Edition' came with a personal autograph from Anderson, as well as a set of five Christmas cards. Each card displayed an image of an Anderson watercolour painting.
3 Ships was reissued on compact disc in 2007. This remastered '22nd Anniversary Edition' contains all of the album's original songs, plus five bonus tracks, two of which were previously unreleased.
Track listing
All songs are written by Jon Anderson, except where noted
The album received only a single star from Sounds reviewer Hugh Fielder, who called it a "soppy retreat from realism".[3] Reviewing the album for AllMusic, Dave Connolly wrote: "This is an oddity: a Christmas album incognito. Save a red and green stripe on the back cover, the outside packaging is conspicuously devoid of the usual holiday trappings, leaving the astute person to deduce from the track listing Three Ships' true intent. […] The Christmas songs are processed with synthesizers, overwhelming Anderson's voice most of the time, and the end result is a disappointing and superficial collection of Christmas classics (including one of the lamest versions of "O Holy Night" on record). As with In the City of Angels, also recorded in Hollywood, fans would do well to let Three Ships sail by."[4]
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