CONSPIRACY

Review Nº 447

Conspiracy was a progressive rock project founded by Chris Squire, then the bassist of Yes (R.I.P. Chris, we'll never forget you) and Billy Sherwood, formerly and subsequently a member of Yes in the end of the 90's. The band released two studio albums, "Conspiracy" in 2000 and "The Unknown" in 2003, and a live album "Conspiracy Live" in 2007.

So, Conspiracy is one more project released by Yes' family members. Steve Howe was the first one with Steve Hackett in the 80's with GTR project and Chris Squire and Billy Sherwood were the next with this one. However, Squire would still participate in another project, Squackett, this time with Hackett, as happened before with his bandmate, Howe.

Chris Squire and Billy Sherwood had a long lasting musical relationship that began somewhere at the end of the 80's when Yes were trying to go on without Jon Anderson, who was doing the Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, and Howe project, at the time. Sherwood had released the debut album with his band, the World Trade, which got the attention of the Yes line up, I mean of Squire. Eventually Sherwood became an official member of Yes years later, but left in 2001.

So, three years after their first joint musical adventure Squire and Sherwood, personal friends for long more than 10 years, released the second album. "The Unknown" is the successor of their debut album "Conspiracy", and from which the title has now become the handle of their partnership. From what I know, "The Unknown" isn't so different from that album. It has pleasant sounding accessible rock songs on the edge of symphonic rock, thanks to adequate keyboard contributions, mostly in the form of organ and orchestral sounds. Very good vocal harmonies, most lead vocals are sung in unison. Interesting acoustic and electric guitar play from Sherwood. It's very much like the guitar play of Yes guitarist Steve Howe. In fact Conspiracy sounds very much like Yes especially from their "Open Your Eyes" period.

So, "The Unknown" is the second studio album of Conspiracy and was released in 2003. The line up on the album is Chris Squire (lead and backing vocals and bass) and Billy Sherwood (lead and backing vocals, guitars, keyboards and mixing). The album had also the collaboration of Jordan Berliant (guitar), Jimi Haun (guitar), Michael Sherwood (keyboards) and Jay Schellen (drums and percussion).

Conspiracy creates a mix of modern progressive rock and AOR, with the emphasis on the "modern" parts. The keyboards and guitars all have an underlying electronic and metallic edge, no Hammond organs or "retro" guitar sounds are here. Sherwood's distinctive production style makes the most of current technology, with electronic effects, synthesized vocal treatments, and stereo panning, all used in clever ways. The vocals are also pretty impressive. I've always liked Sherwood's high breathy voice. It's also great to hear Squire given more lead vocal time here, while also blending nicely with Sherwood on some multi tracked harmonies, as I mentioned above. Actually, this is probably the best vocal showcase that Squire has had on any album since his solo album "Fish Out Of Water" in the mid of the 70's.

About the tracks, don't expect explicit instrumental outbreaks, even not from Chris Squire, although in songs like "New World" is driving bass surely takes the lead and the title track "The Unknown" offers a short bass solo. This long composition, the lengthiest track on the album, is unfortunately and somehow, one of the letdowns of the album. Sincerely, I expected much more of a track like this. The album opens with fine tracks like "Conspiracy", "Confess", the aforementioned "New World" and "1/2 A Word Away". "Conspiracy" is one of the strongest tracks on the album, is full of energy and has a true impressive vocal work. "Confess" is a track with a great melody and a very strong chorus. The creative juices between Squire and Sherwood have great consistency. "New World" is an uplifting track with a very powerful bass work and where the vocal arrangements are pretty good. "1/2 A Word Away" represents one of the few sings lead vocals of Squire. Here Squire can show his choirboy past track that starts calmly, but then evolves into a great power rock ballad. But, when listening to the rest of the album I can get a little bored. It seems to me less creative.

Conclusion: Is this a very good album? I really don't know. Sure, with Squire and Sherwood on board you will find some good playing but, in my humble opinion, to the album lacks a kind of feeling. Obviously, other reviews can show that the opinions are just what they are. It's all subjective when we are talking about music. I own almost all Yes' albums and a handful of solo albums. "Fish Out Of Water" is simply wonderful. Anderson's "Olias Of Sunhillow" is simply beautiful. But, to this album just lacks to it some creativity, I think. I feel bad giving this a poor review but I'm trying to be honest. I sincerely hesitated with the rating to give to this album. My conclusion is that this album probably appeals most to people who appreciate the more accessible music of Yes, like they presented on albums like "90152", "Big Generator" and "Open Your Eyes". Overall, "The Unknown" is a good listen, and worth checking out for those who are into some new sounds that don't totally alienate the structure of pop music. So, I think it's good but not essential.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Chris Squire is my favorite member of Yes - - my favorite band. And Billy Sherwood, the other half of Conspiracy, is a wonderful person and another key part of Yes over the past thirty years. But their second and final collaboration, The Unknown, is among the worst Yes-related albums I own. It's comprised of two decent tunes, one epically bad song, and half an hour of cheese.

Let's start with the good news: the bonus track, "I Could," isn't bad. I assume it's listed as bonus content because it's an alternate version of "Finally," released on Yes's 1999 album The Ladder. "I Could" is a little silly, but it's catchy and fun, and it's considerably better than the Yes version. I'll also cite "New World," a song which would've been acceptable filler on a latter-day Yes album. I should be careful not to overpraise "New World;" it's about twice as long as necessary (7:22), and its lyrics are a hokey rehash of "People Get Ready," "Peace Train," and "Love Train:" "all aboard now / rolling across the nation / station to station / ... it's the new world train on a one way track." Some of the bass parts are pretty OK, though.

The bad news begins with the fact that the mediocre "New World" is the only quality song on The Unknown other than the bonus track. The really bad news is the album's title track, the only "epic" this duo ever recorded. In terms of compositional quality, "The Unknown" is as uninspired as the majority of the album, and if that's strike one, so to speak, then strike two is the unsuccessful attempt to make this into a modern epic. Conspiracy was a crossover project, so it made sense that no song on the debut album exceeded seven minutes, with most in the five-minute range. In short, a meaningful eleven-and-a-half-minute rock song requires much different material - - in quality and quantity - - than what's present here.

The worst of it - - strike three, if you will - - are the lyrics. I wish I could report that they're silly or empty or something like that. Unfortunately, they're juvenile and short-sighted, shallow and glib.* The first lines set the stage: "Towers of life and dreams brought down" and "Like any other morning people walking to the sun..." Yes, it's about 9/11, by far the deadliest terrorist attack in the history of humanity, which had occurred less than two years before the release of The Unknown in the summer of 2003. It was the most horrible and horrifying national event ever for Americans like Sherwood, and in the immediate aftermath, vengeance was on the minds of many, including some who were otherwise relatively pacifistic. Sherwood (who I'm assuming wrote most of the album, including these lyrics) was not immune to jingoism: "...you'll get it, all right / You'll never get away / For all the lives you've taken in spite / You're gonna have to pay / Only one true justice can apply." He was, perhaps, blind to the irony that such absolutist reasoning exactly mirrored the Islamic-extremist propaganda which inspired the terrorists in the first place. Amazingly, he goes on to characterize the retaliatory War on Terror thusly: "we're bringing our toys / coming' over to play," espousing a might-makes-right ideology and perhaps agreeing with the terrorists that power implies morality. I agree that the 9/11 attacks were beastly and sickening, and it makes sense that artists would write many, many heartfelt songs about that dark day - - I just think that Sherwood's and Squire's approach is amateurish at best, falling far below my expectations of these veteran artists.

But even if the words were replaced with the average Sherwood-Squire lyrics, the song fails to meet its own clear aspirations - - which is fair to say about The Unknown as a whole: most of the album isn't substantively better than the title song. If, like me, you're a fan of Sherwood and/or Squire, or of late-1990s Yes, try this pair's Conspiracy (2000). If you like that, you might want to download "New World" and "I Could" from The Unknown. Unfortunately, I can't recommend anything on this album beyond that.

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*Yes, I totally used a thesaurus here.

Conspiracy was a side project of Yes co-founder and bassist Chris Squire and World Trade bandleader Billy Sherwood, who at the time was an ex-member of Yes (he rejoined in 2015, replacing the deceased Squire). The two began writing together around 1990, contributing songs to two Yes albums in 1991; Sherwood was a touring musician with the group in 1994, then he produced Yes's Keys to Ascension in 1997. Later that year he joined the band, eventually playing on two albums and performing 250 shows as a member of Yes before leaving in 2000.

With Yes on hiatus in 1992, Squire and Sherwood played a week-long tour on the US West Coast as "The Chris Squire Experiment;" they were joined by Yes drummer Alan White, Toto keyboardist Jeff Porcaro, guitarist Jimmy Haun, who appeared on quite a bit of Union, and World Trade percussionist Mark Towner Williams. The group auditioned about half of Conspiracy at these concerts. Some of these studio recordings may have originated from this time period.

Conspiracy contains (a) seven new songs; (b) four songs previously released by Yes ("The More We Live" (Union) and "Love Conquers All" (Yesyears), both 1991, and "Wish I Knew" and "Man on the Moon" (both from Open Your Eyes, 1997)); and (c) versions of "Say Goodbye" and "Watching the World" from World Trade's 1995 album Euphoria, both of which had featured Squire on bass and vocals.

"Wish I Knew" (titled "Open Your Eyes" on the Yes album of the same name), is notable for an unusual reason. Although it was released later, the Conspiracy version represents the original arrangement, and while it's a nice-enough rendition, Yes's version is far superior. In listening to the two versions side-by-side, we get to hear the song before and after Jon Anderson made his modifications - - changes which are at once minute and momentous. Of the five familiar songs on Conspiracy, "Wish I Knew" is the only one that isn't as good as the 1990s version.

Anderson was apparently much less hands-on on the Yes renditions of "Man in the Moon" and "The More We Live;" the Conspiracy versions are very similar to the canonical versions; in fact, some of the vocal tracks sound identical. "Love Conquers All" is missing Trevor Rabin's lead vocals and his synthesizer solo, the latter of which is replaced here by a "Jimi" Haun guitar solo.

And then there's "Say Goodbye," which in my opinion is the best song Sherwood and Squire ever wrote - - and this is the best version I've heard. Supposedly one of the Yes factions considered recording it in 1991; I'm not the first to point out that "Say Goodbye" would've likely been the standout track on Union. And as great as it is performed by Sherwood and Squire, it's entirely plausible that it would've been even better with Anderson and Rabin.

The remaining songs are pretty good, with "Violet Purple Rose" the strongest; I'll admit that the intro is pretty much just the MTV theme played in the style of "Tempus Fugit," but it has all the energy and synergy I expect in a Sherwood-Squire collaboration - - although to be fair, it was actually a collaboration among Sherwood, Squire, and Billy Idol guitarist Steve Stevens. All of the other songs on the CD were composed solely by Sherwood and Squire.

On the whole, Conspiracy is a solid album with a couple of standout tracks. Definitely an album for Yes fans, but fans of AOR/prog-crossover rock will probably appreciate it as well.

I really wanted to like this album more than I do. From the moment that Open Your Eyes was released, one of the most common points of criticism regarding it was that some of the album's material, due to the tight time constraints in recording, had come from a Squire/Sherwood side-project called Conspiracy. Of course, the reliance of OYE on Conspiracy material was overstated (Yes did raid an unfinished Conspiracy album, tentatively called Chemistry, for material, but only on two tracks, "Open Your Eyes" and "Man in the Moon"), but Sherwood had definitely had definitely taken on a prominent songwriting role during those sessions, and as somebody who had always liked Open Your Eyes (maybe my enthusiasm for it eventually fell to 85% of its original level, but it never went away), I found myself intrigued at the idea of hearing more of his material. When I eventually bought Conspiracy, which collected much of the material Squire and Sherwood had worked on together during the previous decade (in addition to the OYE tracks, the album also includes "The More We Live - Let Go" from Union and "Love Conquers All," which had made it onto YesYears, as well as nine additional tracks), I figured that, at worst, I would be getting a decent collection of pop-prog/prog-pop, and that I'd like it a little more than most Yes fans did. On my first couple of listens, I didn't think the album was that great, but it didn't seem especially offensive either, and while the various songs weren't really grabbing me, it seemed to me that they at least had the potential to do so with a handful of additional listens.

Well, a handful of additional listens later, most of this material has still refused to grab me, and there came a point where I just had to accept that this is a thoroughly mediocre album, and nearly a bad one. I really like the alternate versions of "The More We Live - Let Go" and "Open Your Eyes" (here called "Wish I Knew"); the problem is that, aside from the mildly nice feelings I have towards the opening "Days of Wonder" (where Chris' vocals in the climactic line of "These are the days / the days of wonder" are a highlight), and the nice feelings I have towards "Lonesome Trail" (which does a better job than many other tracks in weaving a decent synth part in with the guitars) these are the only tracks on the album I like. It definitely doesn't help that, while two of the old Yes tracks are great inclusions, the other two were among the worst songs ever released under the Yes moniker, and they definitely don't improve here ("Man in the Moon" is still based around a cheesy descending synth riff and with the least-deserved strutting swagger a song could have, while the arena-rock ballad "Love Conquers All" still sounds like a reject from Can't Look Away). The remaining tracks, for whatever slight variations there might be in tempo or mood, are all taken from a single mold, and that mold does not make me happy in the least. The band is trying its best to have feet in both the prog world and in the pop world, but the pop aspects are undermined by a continual disregard for memorable choruses or interesting riffs (there's nothing as remotely crisp or driving as some of the better OYE moments; "Wonderlove," for instance, would be the best of the remaining tracks BY A MILE), and the prog aspects are undermined by the general lack of interesting instrumental parts (Sherwood is a decent enough guitarist but he doesn't demonstrate enough personality here to merit lead status). Plus, well, Squire and Sherwood are pretty dull as primary vocalists; I'm not sure if these songs would be much better with Anderson on lead, but having those two relegated to supporting status would be of great benefit in and of itself.

In retrospect, I suppose it's my own fault for coming into this album with any kind of expectations of decent quality, but I really thought that there was a chance that Sherwood hadn't been given a fair shake and that this side project might be secretly ok at worst. Alas, it wasn't to be, and it's the rare case of an album that just kept getting worse the more I listened to it. Now that Sherwood's more-or-less become a footnote in Yes' history, I honestly don't know the target audience for this, and I don't see why anybody other than an obsessive like myself would want to spend time listening to this.

Conspiracy is the project of Chris Squire and Billy Sherwood, with the addition of drummer Jay Schellen. Chris provides bass/vocals and Billy guitar/vocals, and somewhat not surprising the result is an album that sounds suspiciously like Yes in many places, although without so many keyboards. It is only on listening to this that it becomes clear as to just how important Chris's vocals are to Yes, as while the music is interesting melodic rock it is the vocals that really drive this album home. It is not possible to play this without comparing it to Eighties Yes, although the music itself is quite different, it is just that all of the time the sound seems quite familiar.

Is it an album that is worth purchasing on its' own merit? Having been a Yes fan for more years than I would really care to remember I would probably want to hear this album just to see what it was about, and I am not sure how I would approach this if I wasn't so interested in knowing what the offshoot sounded like. But, this is an album that does keep the listener involved throughout. It is a bit laid back in places although the result is an album that does sound more like a band than a project. Melodic rock with just a hint of progressive tendencies which never falls into the trap of typical AOR, it will probably appeal more still to fans of Yes than of the genre as a whole.

Originally appeared in Feedback #78, April 2004

Sherwood, Squire and White (et al)

For whatever reason, "Conspiracy" is one of the lesser known albums from the Yes family. The album was initially credited to Billy Sherwood and Chris Squire, the collective name "Conspiracy" only later being adopted by the pair from the album's title. Here they are joined by Alan White on a couple of tracks to form an ELP like Supergroup.

Sherwood's contribution to the Yes legacy is of course somewhat controversial, with many fans feeling he pulled the band away from their prog roots into inappropriately commercial territories. Others will argue that he was a major factor in the band's survival, guiding them towards a viable path musically and financially. Here, the sound is understandably closer to that of albums such as "Open your eyes" and "Big generator" than "Close to the edge", but the presence of Squire on bass and lead vocals means that there is still a strong Yes flavour to the album.

The songs here were gathered together over an extended period, some originating in Squire's 1992 venture "The Chris Squire Experiment". That band was due to release an album called "Chemistry", but when two tracks were used on "Open your eyes", the project was put on a back burner. Some of the other songs here made the transition to become full Yes songs, while those which were used in one form or another on "Open your eyes" are added to the end of this album as hidden additions.

Squire and Sherwood share vocal and songwriting duties fairly evenly on the album, although it is Squire's distinctive tones which tend to characterise the songs. Pretty much all of the tracks have the sound of potential singles in an "Owner of a lonely heart" sort of way, although none did find success in that field.

One track, "Violet Purple Rose" was taken from a separate session when Chris Squire was joined by Steve Stevens and Michael Bland. Billy Sherwood later overdubbed his contribution to this track. This particular song is probably the most progressive on the album, while still retaining the strong melodic base which is a feature of every track here. "Lonesome trail" is another strong track with prog credentials. The song, which will be familiar to those who have investigated the "Yes friends and family" compilations, has one of the strongest hooks on the album.

Overall, a highly enjoyable album which will please those who approve of the Sherwood era Yes albums. The album will undoubtedly be castigated by some for its ease of access, but you'll get no complaints from me.

On my version, the bonus tracks are grouped together as a 15 minute medley entitled "The big peace". There is also a fine version of Pink Floyd's "Comfortably numb", presumably taken from the Pink Floyd tribute album Re-Building The Wall - A Tribute To Pink Floyd".

It was quite surprising that an album by Chris Squire had only 2 reviews in PA 10 years after its release, so here comes one more.

As for the rating, we are faced with the problem of having to rate in a prog site an album which is not meant to be a prog album. Judged as prog this would hardly deserve 1 or 2 stars, but it would be unfair to give it a rating suggesting that it is crap, because it is not. It is simply not meant to be a prog album, it is a crossover pop album and as that it's a pretty decent one. Squire himself made it clear that people should not take this album as a follower to "Fish Out of Water". I find it justified to give a low rating to albums such as Yes "Open Your Eyes" because after all Yes is supposed to be a prog band, but released as a side project and free from the Yes name things can take on a different perspective. At least this is quality pop-rock which does not insult the intelligence of the listener, and in the 21st century this is already quite something. So I prefer to give the necessary warning in the review and give it at least a dignifying 3 stars.

This is a collection of songs which Squire and Sherwood wrote together between '89 and '96. According to Squire the share of contribution by each was around a fair 50/50. Some are songs they played during a '92 tour as The Chris Squire Experiment. We have also the original versions of "The More We Live" and "Love Conquers All" which would appear in Yes "Union" and "YesYears" respectively after getting some overdubs by Anderson, Rabin, Howe and White. We also get a song ("Violet Purple Rose", one of the best) which Squire developed during some sessions with guitarist Steve Stevens (from Billy Idol and also the excellent trio project Bozzio Levin Stevens) and Prince drummer Michael Bland.

Alan White plays the drums in 2 tracks "Lonesome Trail" and "Love Conquers All", while other drums were played by World Trade (Sherwood's other band) drummers, by Sherwood himself and some are just drum machines. There is also a small guitar contribution by Jimmy Haun, the guy who was requested by Arista to replace significant part of Howe's original playing in "Union", for the rest Sherwood plays nearly all the keyboards and guitars, and Squire thinks that even some of the bass was actually recorded by Sherwood (in return he plays some acoustic guitar). Given the disparity of times and musicians involved in the recording of the tracks, the whole thing sounds quite consistent.

Around '96 enough material was ready to be released with the album title Chemistry, but then Sherwood was called into Yes and the project was put on hold and 2 of its songs were reworked for the Yes "Open Your Eyes" album (curiously enough, the worst 2: "Wish I Knew" which would become "Open Your Eyes" and the even more disposable "Man in the Moon"). Finally the Squire/Sherwood album came out in 2000 renamed as Conspiracy, name which eventually they would retain as band name. The 2 tracks which had been used for "Open Your Eyes" (in their original versions) plus another one "Say Goodbye" which Sherwood had used for the World Trade '95 album "Euphoria" were also included but as "hidden tracks" at the end, meaning that they are not mentioned in the tracklist on the sleeve. Which is alright because they are the worst 3 tracks in the album anyway.

The style is basically the same as the pop side of Yes we find in albums like "Open Your Eyes" or "The Ladder", quality pop-rock with a few slight influences from prog (for what matters, quite similar to the style of Trevor Rabin songs or Robert Berry's).

Squire is not blessed with a great voice as lead singer but he more than compensates by his notorious gift for building great vocal harmonies. And Sherwood's voice is not very distinctive but it matches very well with Squire's and at times it's not too different from a mix of Anderson and Rabin, so as a result the multi-layered vocals provide an unmistakable Yes feel and they are one of the strongest points in the album. Squire does not give us a master class in bass playing technique here but his distinctive fat and powerful bass sound is still present throughout. Sherwood's performance is as we know him, not outstanding in anything but good enough at everything.

As long as you can take your proghead hat off before listening, this is a fine album.

Fish out of water

This "live" album features Chris Squire's and Billy Sherwood's Conspiracy project and songs from both of their Conspiracy albums are played together with a couple of Yes songs and a couple of songs from Squire's solo debut (and to date only) album Fish Out Of Water. While Conspiracy never actually toured (as far as I know) this is one of those live-in-the-studio recordings. There is thus no genuine live feel here and no audience participation. There is apparently also a DVD version of this performance.

Days Of Wonder and Red Light Ahead are taken from the first Conspiracy album, while Conspiracy, New World, and Confess are taken from their second effort, The Unknown. The More We Live is a Yes song that was written by Squire and Sherwood and that originally appeared on the Union album in 1991. The song was re-recorded for the first Conspiracy album and has also been performed live by Sherwood's band Circa. Personally, I like this song very much and I think that Union is an excellent album (a sentiment that I know is not universally shared among Yes fans). The other Yes song appearing here is Universal Garden which first appeared on Open You Eyes in 1997, the first Yes album with Billy Sherwood as a full member of the band. Again, I like this song which has recently been re-recorded by Billy and released as a single under his own name. Being a massive fan of all eras of Yes, it is great to hear songs like these which are never played live by Yes. We are also treated to the two first tracks off Squire's Fish Out Of Water album; Hold Out Your Hand and You By My Side. This was a nice surprise and personally I think they sound better here than on the album.

This live-in-the-studio-album is a nice addition to any collection that already holds the two Conspiracy studio albums from which most of these songs are taken. Had this been a genuine live performance in front of an audience, there would probably be another atmosphere all together which could have brought this up to four stars, but as its stands it is good but not essential.

Open your eyes!

While the first Conspiracy album contained a couple of re-recordings of songs that Chris Squire and Billy Sherwood had written together for Yes, this second release by the duo consists wholly of new material. Sherwood had left Yes in 2000, the same year as the release of the first Conspiracy CD, but he had kept in contact with Squire and written the material for The Unknown which saw the light in 2003. In the same year Sherwood released his second solo album No Comment.

The Unknown has a modern sound and production. The bass guitar and voice of the amazing Chris Squire are unmistakeable and him and Billy have very similar voices that blend perfectly. Billy plays most of the other instruments with the exception of drums which are handled by Jay Schellen with whom Billy had worked previously in World Trade. The songs are melodic and catchy. Crossover Prog is indeed a fitting category for this music. A stand out track is the ten minute plus title track.

People familiar with late 80's and 90's Yes, as well as with Billy's earlier band World Trade, will have a reasonable idea of what they will find in Conspiracy. Personally I like all the eras of Yes, and if you feel likewise then you should not miss out on Conspiracy. However, even though both Conspiracy albums are good, they fall far behind such excellent albums as Yes' The Ladder and Sherwood's superb solo discography.

Billy Sherwood and Chris Squire team up again to deliver something fresh and interesting. Admittedly, the music contained on this album is tame and at times pop-oriented, but the vocals are strong and the compositions tight. It's a great album with some exceptional musicianship on the part of the duo, and it remains almost consistent throughout.

"Conspiracy" The record does begin with one of the weaker tracks, however. It's full of energy and impressive vocal work, but it is a far cry from the rest of what's here. While not bad, it sounds too much like something off of Yes's Open Your Eyes. The "rapped" chorus gets old fast, and the guitar soloing is uninspired and unnecessarily long.

"Confess" Relying on acoustic guitar and rapid drumming, this song has a good melody and a strong chorus. Strangely enough, this song makes think of Collective Soul, as it's easy to imagine Ed Roland singing lead vocals.

"New World" Chris Squire delivers powerful bass work on this uplifting track. The vocal arrangements are likewise good, since the listener can hear both Squire and Sherwood individually even though they sing together. The chorus lingers a tad too long, but doesn't overstay its welcome. The final part of the song, which reminds me of "Leave It" from Yes's 90125, doesn't quite fit the rest of the song and should have been cut.

"1/2 A World Away" One of the few Squire sings lead vocals on, it ventures from lovely sentimentality to adventurous rock. Sherwood does an excellent job singing his part also, and the effects used on various parts of the refrain add more variety. The short guitar solo is a perfect fit, and moves back into the verse. This song actually has a special place in my mind since before we were married, my wife and I lived hundreds of miles away (even though the context of the song is likely much different given the bridge).

"There is No End" Kicking off with a funky, Country & Western-like guitar lick and some slide work, here we have a song that's all right. The lyrics aren't bad, but are a trifle campy.

"The Wheel" Decidedly the most solid song here, "The Wheel" is full of intriguing layers and musical textures. For once, the band is not playing as though they must get through the piece as soon as possible. The song has atmospheric keyboards and a warbling synthesizer in the introduction. The lyrics and vocal melody are excellent, and Squire does an outstanding job harmonizing. Furthermore, his bass really fills out the sound, making it thick and rich (instead of serving as more of a lead instrument). Sherwood's guitar work is prime stuff (with a striking tone), particularly that leading up to the end, which comes down to galactic sounds and some clean guitar.

"Premonitions" An above-average track, this one has a funky acoustic guitar riff and some springy clean electric guitar. The vocals throughout the verse are rich and lovely, but the chorus is what makes this song a bit cringe-inducing; quite frankly, it's goofy sounding, as is much of the instrumentation throughout.

"The Unknown" The longest track by far begins with strange vocal work and a little mandolin played over some guitar in the background. Initially, the singing is over acoustic guitar, drums, and various sounds. Joining the mandolin is a sitar, adding to the musical tapestry. Yes, the song is over eleven minutes long, but it's loaded with lyrics, lyrics about the September 11th, 2001 US terrorist attacks: "Towers of life and dreams brought down." The words undeniably show a strong feeling of vengeance, one perhaps even espousing the 2003 declaration of war in the Middle East ("Waking giant cannot be denied," "You can run away, but now we've got you dead in our sights," and "We're bringing our toys, coming over to play"). The song is also above-average, but does run on much longer than it should.

"I Could" This song is an edgier and altogether different version of "Finally" from Yes's The Ladder, which Sherwood and Squire both collaborated on. It starts off with a heavily distorted guitar, and like most of what came before, is played at an upbeat tempo. Sherwood uses another countrified guitar tone for his solos between verses. Not as good as or as colorful as "Finally," but not at all bad either.