Imagine a musician who\u2019s able to play, and play well, every instrument in the basic vocabulary of rock: guitar, bass, drums and keyboards.<\/p>\n
Then imagine that said musician is also a phenomenally prolific songwriter\/performer\/producer able to simultaneously record solo albums, lead a working band, tour Japan as half of a duo, produce and play on others\u2019 albums, mastermind all-star tributes, and juggle flaming swords while blindfolded.<\/p>\n
Okay, I made up the part about the swords.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
But in just the last few years, Billy Sherwood has done everything else on that list and more\u2014and I\u2019m willing to bet if you gave him a week or so to practice, the swords would start flying, too. <\/p>\n
Sherwood first came to notice around 1990, when Yes bassist\/vocalist Chris Squire considered him as a potential lead vocalist during a period when both Jon Anderson and Trevor Rabin had their energies focused elsewhere. Squire and Sherwood wrote a few songs together, but Yes soon reformed eight men strong\u2014and without Sherwood– for the Union<\/i> album and tour. Still, he continued to be part of the band\u2019s extended family, performing as a sideman on the 1994 Talk<\/i> tour, and producing and engineering during the Keys To Ascension<\/i> period, before finally completing the long leap from teenaged fan to full-fledged band member during the 1997-2000 period covering the Open Your Eyes<\/i> and The Ladder<\/i> albums and tours.<\/p>\n
For those who\u2019ve come to know him a little bit, maybe the most remarkable thing about Billy Sherwood\u2014besides the fact that he\u2019s indisputably the hardest-working man in progressive rock\u2014is that he\u2019s also one of the most genuine and accessible guys in modern music. Unfailingly good-humored, modest and upbeat, it seems that Sherwood the professional musician and producer has never abandoned his inner fan. Today, his openness and willingness to engage with people online stands in remarkable contrast to his former bandmates.<\/p>\n
Sherwood\u2019s fifth solo album What Was The Question?<\/i> feels like an extension of the work he has done over the past decade with fellow Yesmen Chris Squire in Conspiracy<\/a> and now Tony Kaye in Circa<\/a>.\u00a0 It\u2019s music that defines the happy medium between the classic prog sound of \u201970s Yes and the heavier, slicker arena-prog sound of Yes in the \u201980s.\u00a0 <\/p>\n As noted already, Sherwood has the advantage of being able to play every instrument in the standard rock vocabulary, and play them well. His best instrument, though\u2014and the one he plays in the very Yes-like quartet Circa\u2014is bass. On the bass guitar, Sherwood is up there in Chris Squire \/ Geddy Lee territory; i.e. a world-class talent. <\/p>\n You\u2019re reminded of the latter right away as the opening title track features strong \u201clead bass,\u201d along with airy vocals and a characteristically philosophical lyric. The precision and spaciousness of the arrangement reminds a bit of both Yes and\u2014particularly in its nimble, aggressive instrumental sections\u2014Rush. Sherwood throws every trick in the bag at you in this seven-minute mini-opus\u2014bass solos, guitar solos, keyboard solos, drum fills, flashes of acoustic strumming, multipart vocal sections\u2014and makes it all work together. <\/p>\n One characteristic of solo albums is that the lyrical content often tends to be more personal or topical than you might find in a group setting. Here, Sherwood pens both \u201cCounting The Cables\u201d a moody, atmospheric tune about the Wikileaks controversy, and \u201cFree World on Fire,\u201d a skeptical examination of global politics (\u201cFollow the leaders to the edge and back again\u201d) that\u2019s also quite dreamy and sprawling. Both cuts also feature nice jams in the latter stages.<\/p>\n Other highlights include \u201cLiving In The Now,\u201d a thoughtful number with a cascading central riff and positive message about getting past worries and stresses about yesterday and tomorrow and focusing on the present. \u201cDelta Sierra Juliet\u201d\u2014featuring a guest appearance by Asia lead vocalist John Wetton, whose recent solo album Sherwood produced\u2014is an intriguing story-song about a small plane that disappeared many years ago after reporting a UFO sighting. The dynamic \u201cMade Of Stars\u201d has a suitably interstellar feel, rather Pink Floyd-ish in tone. And closer \u201cJust Breathe\u201d is a rippling, contemplative affirmation. A few of these tunes feel like they might have stood a little tightening up\u2014only one of the nine tracks comes in under six minutes, and they tend to flow (and flow) rather than breaking into distinct sections\u2014but an abundance of riches is not a bad problem to have.<\/p>\n What Was The Question?<\/i> is the most consistently impressive of Sherwood\u2019s five solo albums to date, packed with fully-realized tunes that honor Sherwood\u2019s influences without ever imitating them. What he accomplishes instead is to synthesize the styles of the groups he grew up loving\u2014Yes, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Rush\u2014and create something fresh and all his own from that familiar musical vocabulary.<\/p>\n