Better Late Than Never (Anderson Ponty Band album)

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Better Late Than Never
Anderson Ponty Band.jpg
Live album by
Anderson Ponty Band (Jon Anderson & Jean-Luc Ponty)
Released25 September 2015
Recorded20 September 2014
Venue Wheeler Opera House, Aspen, Colorado, United States
Genre Progressive rock
Length60.57 (CD) + 65 min (DVD)
Label Liaison Records / earMUSIC [1]
Verycords [2]
Anderson Ponty Band (Jon Anderson & Jean-Luc Ponty) chronology
The Living Tree in Concert Part One
(2011)
Better Late Than Never
(2015)
Invention of Knowledge
(2016)

Better Late Than Never is a live album by the Anderson Ponty Band, released in September 2015. [1] [2]

Contents

Overview

The Anderson Ponty Band is a progressive rock band formed in summer 2014, centred around the French violinist Jean-Luc Ponty and the British singer/songwriter and founding member of Yes, Jon Anderson. [3]

Ponty was approached by Jon Anderson with the idea of working together in the 1980s, but the idea did not come to fruition until about 30 years later. [3] when the project was put up on Kickstarter and was successfully funded by August 2014.

Better Late Than Never was largely recorded during the band's debut concert on 20 September 2014 at the Wheeler Opera House in Aspen, Colorado, but the released recording also includes studio embellishments and overdubs. It presents new musical compositions, rearrangements of classic Yes hits such as "Owner of a Lonely Heart", "Roundabout" and "Wonderous Stories", as well as Ponty compositions with lyrics written by Anderson such as "Infinite Mirage" (based on Enigmatic Ocean's "Mirage") and "Listening with Me" (based on A Taste for Passion's "Stay with Me"). [3]

The band's original line-up, which played at Aspen, included the bass guitarist Baron Browne, the drummer Rayford Griffin, the keyboardist Wally Minko and the guitarist Jamie Dunlap. By January 2015, Dunlap had left the band and Ponty's guitarist, Jamie Glaser, subsequently overdubbed all of Dunlap's original parts for the album.

Releases

Better Late Than Never is a double disc Digipak including the 14-track audio CD, an hour-long 10-song performance bonus DVD (including artist interviews) and a 20-page booklet with complete song lyrics.

A videography documenting the making of Better Late Than Never was due to be released along with videos and performances. [3]

Tours

In support of the new release, a North America tour named the "Better Late Than Never" tour was scheduled: a 17-date autumn 2015 leg began on 23 October 2015 in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, and ended on 21 November 2015 in Scottsdale, Arizona. [4] An 18-date spring 2016 leg followed, from 28 April 2016 in Tucson, Arizona, to 27 May 2016 in Québec City. [5]

Tracks

CD

No.TitleLength
1."Intro"1:17
2."One in the Rhythm of Hope"4:34
3."A for Aria"3:22
4."Owner of a Lonely Heart"5:04
5."Listening with Me"5:39
6."Time and a Word"5:30
7."Infinite Mirage"3:48
8."Soul Eternal"4:58
9."Wonderous Stories"4:01
10."And You and I"3:00
11."Renaissance of the Sun"6:36
12."Roundabout"5:27
13."I See You Messenger"3:50
14."New New World"3:46

Bonus DVD

No.TitleLength
1."Intro" 
2."One in the Rhythm of Hope" 
3."A for Aria" 
4."Owner of a Lonely Heart" 
5."Listening with Me" 
6."Time and a Word" 
7."Infinite Mirage" 
8."Soul Eternal" 
9."Wonderous Stories" 
10."Renaissance of the Sun" 
11."Roundabout" 

Personnel

Complete setlist of the show in Aspen

The album tracks are in bold. [6]

Part 1:

Part 2:

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References

  1. 1 2 "Anderson Ponty Band – Better Late Than Never". www.amazon.co.uk. 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Anderson Ponty Band – Better Late Than Never". e-leclerc.com. 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "AndersonPonty Band Featuring Music Icons Jon Anderson & Jean Luc Ponty To Release New CD/DVD "Better Late Than Never"". www.ponty.com. 5 August 2015. Archived from the original on 23 October 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  4. "Concert Dates 2015". ponty.com. 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  5. "Concert Dates 2016". ponty.com. 2016. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  6. "A love of the music of Yes – The Anderson Ponty Band Project (blogger: Michelle Johnston)". loveofyesmusic.blogspot.fr. 25 September 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2016.