Category: THE PROG COLLECTIVE

Producer Billy Sherwood once again leads this uber talented prog rock supergroup THE PROG COLLECTIVE for the release of its new album ”Songs We Were Taught” out today via CleoRecs.
This time THE PROG COLLECTIVE rides on a trip through some of the most recognizable and influential folk and art-rock songs of their generation with performances from Yes’ Jon Davison, Geoff Downes, Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal (Guns N’ Roses/Asia), Steve Morse (Deep Purple/Dixie Dregs), Martin Barre (Jethro Tull), Dweezil Zappa, Candice Night (Blackmore’s Night) and more.
Morse and Roine Stolt (The Flower Kings) split “Summer Breeze” somewhere between Seals & Crofts’ original jasmine-scented memory and the metallic ecstasy of the Isley Brothers’ subsequent update.
Al Stewart’s “Year of the Cat” was always well suited for a prog turn, and Sherwood does a credible job in collaboration with David Sancious, who was a member of the E Street Band and has backed Peter Gabriel. Thal’s turn is inevitably the heaviest of the bunch, dropping some killer guitar work on Caravan’s cover “In the Land of Grey and Pink”.
Davison and Geoff Downes turn “The Sound of Silence” into an airy confection – all Garfunkel reverie, while
Rod Argent approach “The Weight” by The Band with a very welcomed delicacy…

* There’s no stopping to YES associate Billy Sherwood, who’s been engaging in a string of all-stars projects over the last years. And now, having just fulfilled bass duties on the Alan Parsons Project live dates, he’s busy tying loose ends on a couple albums and completed work on “Epilogue”, the second THE PROG COLLECTIVE effort. As on the very...

* As we anticipated here some months ago with an exclusive advanced track, one of the biggest musical collectives in Prog history has been gathered together by former YES musician Billy Sherwood. Today, the appropriately titled CD “THE PROG COLLECTIVE” hit the streets. Sherwood has persuaded some very high profile talents in the genre to appear as guests on a...