Musician and producer Billy Sherwood, who is a former member of Yes, has been busy in the last months with a series of ambitious productions such as The Fusion Syndicate and the Prog Collective. The idea is to bring together some of the finest musicians in a genre or related genres and make something special. This is the goal behind this project, The Prog Collective.
I gave the album several listens to make sure I didn’t miss anything. My conclusion is that there are only two real progressive rock tracks in the album and a third piece with notable moments. The rest is AOR and generic hard rock, of little interest to progressive rock fans.
The albums opens with what is probably the best cut on the album, a piece titled ‘The Laws Of Nature.’ It’s no wonder since it features Tony Levin on bass, John Wetton on vocals (his great voice has changed somewhat, but it’s still recognizable) and Jerry Goodman (former Mahavishnu Orchestra) on violin. The key essence in this piece is Goodman’s violin performance, which is outstanding. The combination of Wetton’s vocals and the electric violin has strong connections to the sound of the fabulous short-lived progressive rock band UK.
The other notable track is ‘Social Circles’ with former Yes guitarist Peter Banks and Renaissance’s Annie Haslam on vocals. Annie Haslam has one of the most recognizable voices in progressive rock music. In this piece, however, she sounds remarkably similar to Jon Anderson.
‘Check Point Karma’ is the remaining composition of some interest, primarily because of the spectacular and familiar keyboard work by one of the legends of progressive rock, Rick Wakeman.
I think that a project like this in the hands of a better composer and producer, and more progressive rock leaning, would be a great success.
Buy the album or select MP3s: The Prog Collective