ALL IN A MATTER OF TIME / SPIDER

Taken from the album Animation, "All in a Matter of Time" was released with a variety of b-sides, including "Much Better Reason," "Surrender" (both from Animation) and "Spider," a non-LP track.

Since the single version of "All in a Matter of Time" appears to be the the same as the one from Animation, the main attraction here is "Spider," due to the fact that it was an out-of-print rarity for about 25 years. In fact, in the US, "Spider" is probably better known as the b-side to "Surrender." Anderson is credited as the songwriter of both sides of the single.

"All in a Matter of Time" was released as a single in several countries, including the UK, US, the Netherlands, and Canada. It didn't make the Canadian (RPM) or US (Billboard) charts. It's a nice enough tune, but its singsong vibe probably didn't help its marketability. On the other hand, from 1980 to 1982, Anderson hit #109 on Billboard with "Some are Born," and twice made it to the top 60 on the Billboard Hot 100 as half of Jon & Vangelis. In Canada, Jon & Vangelis had a national #1 pop single (yes, #1) with the harder-edged "The Friends of Mr. Cairo" in 1981. But "All in a Matter or Time" has a minimal amount of dissonance, musically and lyrically - - which makes it less interesting, at least to me. It does succeed in being inoffensive.

After the single went out of print, "Spider" was not commercially available until the 2006 CD re-release of Animation, which itself had been deleted from the Polydor catalog for many years. There's a reason "Spider" didn't make it on to Animation: after a fairly interesting, minute-long instrumental introduction, Anderson sings in free-verse of a thirteenth zodiacal sign, the Spider (or Greek "spider goddess" Arachne). So far so good - - the problem is that a child also reads the lyrics over Anderson's vocals. After another Anderson-only vocal section, the final section of the song is a return to the intro with a nice guitar solo, ending in a cold stop.

Beyond Anderson's reasonable argument that forces of evil must be opposed, the message of "Spider" is a bit unclear to me - - although that's nothing new when it comes to Jon Anderson lyrics! Unfortunately, the music here is as good as almost anything on Animation, so it's too bad it wasn't paired with more suitable lyrics - - or even included as an instrumental. It reminds me of a foreshortened pop version of Yes's "Awaken" - - and that's a good thing.

But overall, this is one for Jon Anderson fans and completists who don't have a recent copy Animation, which contains both of these songs.