Anderson appeared on the song "Cage of Freedom" from the 1984 soundtrack for a re-release of the Fritz Lang film "Metropolis". In 1985, his song "This Time It Was Really Right" was featured on the soundtrack for "St. Elmo's Fire". He also sang "Silver Train" and "Christie" on the soundtrack to "Scream for Help" by John Paul Jones. Along with Tangerine Dream, he appeared on the song "Loved by the Sun" for "Legend" (1985). Anderson released a Christmas-themed solo album, "3 Ships" (1985). "" (1986) features two songs sung by Anderson. In early 1986, Anderson recorded a single with Mike Oldfield ("Shine") and later shot a video with him in Barbados. During this year, he recorded some demo tracks that would later be reworked. He and Vangelis also started writing new songs and recording demos for another album. Though the album was not made, they performed live together on 6 November 1986. The last three years of the 1980s saw Anderson sing on "Moonlight Desires" on Gowan's album "Great Dirty World" (1987), record his fifth solo album "In the City of Angels", sing on "Stop Loving You" on the Toto album "The Seventh One" (1988), and record an album that would later be released as "The Lost Tapes of Opio". He also sang on the songs "Within the Lost World" and "Far Far Cry" for the Jonathan Elias album "Requiem for the Americas".