Back in the late ‘90s, musical conceptualist Billy Sherwood made significant progress with Yes on albums like Open Your Eyes and The Ladder. In early 2000 Sherwood teamed with Yes bass great Chris Squire for a pair of albums with Conspiracy. On the first CD by the prog-rock supergroup CIRCA, Sherwood draws up a new musical blueprint of the prog-pop vibe he and Squire perfected on 2003’s The Unknown, with mixed results. Having Yes keyboardist Tony Kaye and John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band thumper Alan White on drums more or less stabilizes the Yes connection and on the first album from the band CIRCA the sound is a near perfect amalgam of Sherwood’s diverse musical background. With Sherwood playing bass on the CD, he, White and Kaye are joined by guitarist Jimmy Haun, who clearly has listened to both Steve Howe and Trevor Rabin. With a big sound and cutting edge musical ideas, Circa have crafted a modern prog-rock classic. Trevor Rabin is listed as co-songwriter here, as clearly the sound is a flashback to the vibe of mid ‘90s Yes and beyond. www.circahq.com

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