Olias of Sunhillow is the debut studio album by English singer-songwriter Jon Anderson, released in the United Kingdom on 9 July 1976 by Atlantic Records.

The album was recorded using a mobile studio situated at Anderson's country home in Seer Green, Buckinghamshire, with himself as the sole producer and Mike Dunne as the engineer.

Since 2000, Anderson has been working on music for a sequel album entitled The Songs of Zamran: Son of Olias, which centres around the creation of Earth's structure.

In August of that year the band, which was then a line-up of Anderson, bassist Chris Squire, guitarist Steve Howe, drummer Alan White, and keyboardist Patrick Moraz, completed the 1974–1975 tour in support of their seventh album, Relayer.

[4][5] The group, who had been recording and touring consistently for the past five years, felt a break was necessary and agreed to take time off for each member to make their own solo album.

[6][7] Dean's first piece of work for the group, the front cover depicts a tiny planet breaking apart and a glider escaping into space, which Anderson adapted into the story with additional inspiration from the novels The Finding of the Third Eye and The Initiation of the World by writer, painter, and mystic Vera Stanley Alder and The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R.

"[6] Anderson's growing desire to learn about musical structure and his own performing capabilities with various instruments made Olias of Sunhillow a platform for him to explore this with a self-taught approach, without help from other musicians.

"[6] Despite not being proficient with keyboards or percussion instruments at the time Anderson thought that "What I've pulled off attracts me and sounds right", and focused on the accuracy of expressing his ideas to tape rather than the technical ability of his playing.

[9] The planet of Sunhillow is home to four tribes—Nagrunium, Asatranius, Oractaniom and Nordranious[6][7]—each of which represents a different aspect of music consciousness, which comes under threat after a catastrophic eruption of its volcano.

He is helped by fellow magicians Ranyart, the harp-playing navigator of the glider, and Qoquaq (pronounced "ko-quake"), the mystic and appointed spokesperson who unites the four tribes to leave the planet together.

With the population on board and in a collective trance, the ship leaves Sunhillow just before the planet explodes into millions of silent teardrops.

Creating an evil form out of their panic and frustration, they are reassured and reunified by Olias through his singing of chords of love and life.

"[4] Two-thirds of the album was initially recorded in demo form onto 8-track tape, which Anderson used as a guide to write the complete arrangements that were then re-recorded onto 24-track.

"[6] Anderson was cautious over the music and refused to play it to anyone in case they did not like it, including his wife and Atlantic president Ahmet Ertegun; Dunne was the only other person that heard the album.

[6] In early 1976 he was pressured by his Yes band mates to complete the album before a proposed Japanese tour, but the plan was cancelled due to Anderson's exhaustion from working on Olias.

[17] In AllMusic, Dave Connolly concluded "the idea may seem overly ambitious, but Anderson fills the record with enough magical moments to delight fans of Yes' mystic side... at no point does the music lose its spellbinding effect for lack of sonic detail.

"[18] Writing on his own Progrography website, Connolly has also commented that "it's not a stretch to say that Olias of Sunhillow looks and sounds like [Roger] Dean's previous Yes artwork come to life.

"[19] Writing about Olias of Sunhillow on his Mewsings blog in 2009 (thirty-three years after the album's initial release), Murray Ewing reflected "there’s a dangerous swerve towards the New Age in Anderson’s first solo album, both in the optimistic whimsy of its fantasy world, and the musical palette of soft, sparkling synths and world instruments.

This isn’t music to attune your chakras to, it’s adventurous, full of drama, uplifting melodies, evocative soundscapes, and a fresh unearthliness that makes it the only fantasy album I can think of which genuinely sounds like it could have come from another world.

The Japanese pressing on MMG Inc/Atlantic AMCY-18 presents the complete artwork in a booklet, like the vinyl version with eight pages (including frontcover and backcover).