Billy Sherwood's new solo album'Citizen' will feature Chris Squire!

[Rufus]

Wonder if this was the last studio recording by the great Chris Squire?

Yes bassist Billy will release 11-track solo album on November 6
Yes bassist Billy Sherwood will release his solo album Citizen on November 6.

It features a who’s-who of names from the world of prog, including Steve Morse, Alan Parsons, Steve Hackett, John Wetton, Tony Kaye, Steve Hillage, Partrick Moraz, John Wesley, Jerry Goodman, Dixie Dregs, Colin Moulding, Geoff Downes, Jordan Rudess, Rick Wakeman, Jon Davison and the late Chris Squire.

Sherwood says: “It’s a concept album about a lost soul reincarnated in various historical settings. At one point, the character is reincarnated during The Great Depression and is dealing with the loss of everything and is forced to take drastic measures.

“Another time, the citizen is a World War One trench-runner for a song called No Man’s Land, where he’s running through the fields watching his comrades die.”

Sherwood confirms that the album’s protagonist also appears as an astronaut, a Roman Legionnaire, a factory worker during the industrial age and the assistant to 16th century astronomer Galileo.

He adds: “While I've created a lot of this record myself I couldn't have done it without the amazing talents brought to bear by all the great artists who participated. I feel it's much more of a collective effort than a solo album.”

Sherwood, who took over bass duties in Yes following the death of Chris Squire, recently issued a career retrospective titled Collection and made his 2014 album Divided By One available on CD for the first time.

[Rufus]

On November 6, 2015, Frontiers Music Srl will release Billy Sherwood's latest, a concept album called CITIZEN.

Billy Sherwood created this concept album based on a lost soul that is reincarnated into various periods of history. "I was inspired by the notion that General Patton believed he was reincarnated on various battlefields through time; I wanted to take that concept even further." As the songwriter/producer, Billy placed the citizen character into significant moments of history.
The lead off track is called “The Citizen" which sets the stage for what's to come on the recording. “The Citizen” features Billy's longtime friends and members of the legendary Progressive Rock band Yes: bassist Chris Squire and former Yes keyboardist Tony Kaye.

Each song places the Citizen into a unique set of circumstances where decisions are made that have serious personal and global consequences. In the song “No Man's Land" (featuring Deep Purple/Dixie Dregs/Kansas guitarist Steve Morse) the Citizen appears as a World War I trench runner who passes the message along to the troops that it's time to attack; the Citizen remains behind and is, ultimately, the only survivor. “Empire" (with lead vocals by Alan Parsons & violin from Jerry Goodman of the Flock, Dixie Dregs, Mahavishnu Orchestra) finds the Citizen as a conscript legionnaire in the final days of the Roman Empire. “Just Galileo and Me" (sung by Colin Moulding singer/bassist of XTC) shows the Citizen as a protective friend to Galileo, trying to tell the astronomer that he should not tell people that the earth is not flat or he will be labeled as a heretic.

Known as a multi-instrumentalist, Billy performs drums, bass, guitar, keys and sings several of the songs, including “A Theory of its Own” in which the Citizen appears as companion to Charles Darwin on the evolutionist’s maiden voyage. He sings of Native Americans affected by the Indian Removal Act of 1830 in the song, “Trail of Tears,” which features Patrick Moraz on keyboards. Former Genesis guitar player Steve Hackett adds his chops to “Man And The Machine,” which is about an assembly line worker and activist in the late 1890s. "Age Of The Atom” is about the creation of the Atomic Bomb and the questions of morality as a result of it; this features Geoff Downes on keyboards. Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess appears on “Escape Velocity,” a song that speaks to the political implications of the space race in the 1960s.

In “The Great Depression,” Billy's songwriter’s pen draws pain from the heart of a distraught Wall Street investor, who has lost everything in the stock market, and steps out to make a final step off the ledge. Rick Wakeman plays grand piano and other keyboards on this one. Finally, in CITIZEN’s 11th song, “Written In The Centuries,” performed by current Yes singer Jon Davison, Nostradamus is the Citizen busily composing his many predictions.

Billy Sherwood was recently handpicked by Chris Squire to fill in for him on bass and vocals in Yes, before he left for cancer treatment and ultimately, his untimely death. Billy started his career in the band Lodgic and then as a member of World Trade, who have two critically-acclaimed albums. He has produced and engineered for many artists including John Wetton, Motorhead, Queensryche, Paul Rodgers, and Yes.

He joined Yes first as touring member on the “Talk” tour in 1994, and was a full time member from 1997 to 1999. He recorded two albums with Chris Squire as the “Conspiracy” project and released six albums with Circa, the band he formed with Tony Kaye.

CITIZEN is Billy’s eighth album of new material, though he sees this as a group effort, "While I've created a lot of this record myself I couldn't have done it without the amazing talents brought to bear by all the great artists who participated. So I feel it's much more of a collective effort than a solo album. It's my desire to take this production onto the stage and some of these amazing artists can help bring this concept to life.”

[Innerviews]

Do you work for Prog Magazine?

[Scott Bails]

Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

[Rufus]

Yes & I get free promo CD's for cascading the news. BTW, this album is awesome!

[jc90125]

How about some samples ???

[Innerviews]

Yes & I get free promo CD's for cascading the news. BTW, this album is awesome!

Well, at least you're transparent about it. ;-)

[JKL2000]

Anyone heard this and have an (unbiased) opinion on it? Sherwood seemed a very nice guy on CTTE, so I feel much more inclined to give his work a chance than I did before.

[Yodelgoat]

Lets not chase off progressive musicians from giving us information on something at least some of us might be interested in. This is why we havent heard anything from Blue Vino lately...

[Reginod]

Anyone heard this and have an (unbiased) opinion on it? Sherwood seemed a very nice guy on CTTE, so I feel much more inclined to give his work a chance than I did before.

On the balance, I've liked Sherwood's work since I got Euphoria back in 1995, so I guess I'm a little biased.

But I've started to refer to his albums (solo, collectives, tributes, etc) as McSherwoods because of the mostly uniform, hermetic and homogeneous quality that most of them seem to embody. It's probably because Sherwood pretty much writes and plays and sings and produces and mixes EVERYTHING, aside from the guest appearances which gladly give at least a hint of variation to the proceedings.

So Citizen is good, and it is a typical McSherwood. He does have a solid professional work ethic, and he comes up with plenty of good material, but I personally have to be in the mood to hear it (as is the case with a lot of other artists).

Looks like most of Citizen has been posted at youtube.

[bondegezou]

^ I'm writing a longer review, but... yeah, sounds like Sherwood's umpteen other similar projects. A bit more pop, a bit more personality in places, but also some dull songs and weak-arsed lyrics in other places. The closer with Davison singing is my highlight.

Henry