AT THE SPEED OF LIFE

In the 90's and early 2000's the ever prolific Billy Sherwood was extra busy, releasing two albums (as well as touring) with Yes, two albums with Chris Squire as Conspiracy, and two solo albums between '97 and 2003. His third solo album At The Speed Of Life didn't appear until 2008, but before that Billy had also formed Circa with Tony Kaye and Alan White and released an album with that band the previous year, so there were no signs of slowing down.

I think it is fair to say that this album is similar in sound to the music of Circa, but in my view At The Speed Of Life is stronger than Circa's 2007 debut album (which is my least favourite of the three Circa albums). I find it quite remarkable that Billy's solo albums in general are stronger than most of the stuff he did with various bands, at least up to this point in time. Even those who were not overly impressed by the efforts of World Trade, Conspiracy, or early Circa, might still find Billy's solo discography terrific. Having that said, At The Speed Of Life is, in my opinion, not up to par with his first two solo discs.

Consisting of seven tracks in total, two of which are around ten minutes in length and most of the rest around six to eight minutes, At The Speed Of Life is similar in structure to the superb The Big Peace. The material is of consistently good quality but the songs are not as strong as on the previous two albums and this album offers fewer surprises. One notable aspect is however the heavily Peter Gabriel-like vocal that Billy splendidly hands in for Alive And Wondering and another such aspect is the bass guitar solo In Memory Of, the latter being somewhat similar in style to Chris Squire's version of Amazing Grace.