Artist: Circa:
Label: Self-released
Release date: 2007
Since Yes just can’t seem to get it together for another studio outing, we’ve recently been seeing a wave of solo projects from members of Yes. Circa: is one of them, and it’s more of a short-lived project than a proper band. Circa:, who originally went by the name Family, bring together current and former Yes members and people who have worked with Yes on their albums in one way or another. Sounds complicated, right? It’s not that bad. Just run your eye over the names: Billy Sherwood, who played guitar in Yes in the second half of the nineties; Alan White, a member of Yes ever since 1973; the lost Yes soul Tony Kaye on keyboards; and guitarist Jimmy Haun, who carried a big share of the guitar work on that abortive Yes prank “Onion”, pardon, “Union” (1991). The conditions are ripe for a literal refuge or safe haven, a place where all the creative energy that could flow back into Yes, if only the chance were there, gets channeled through Circa:.
Circa: skillfully take advantage of Yes’s absence. At times that opportunism is downright shamelessly tasteless in every cross-comparison of Yes and Circa:. The real surprise Circa: bring is that this time Sherwood is on bass instead of guitar, where we’re used to him. It’s an even bigger surprise because Sherwood completely takes over the Chris Squire role from their Conspiracy project. The hint that Sherwood picked up the best of Squire and slipped it neatly into Circa: is spot on, which means that if you didn’t check the lineup before sticking the CD in the player, you could easily mistake Sherwood for Squire. The album “Circa” is basically Yes caught in the era of “Open Your Eyes” (1998), and thanks to Haun’s playing being so similar to Steve Howe’s, the album leans heavily in places toward the Yes album “The Ladder” (1999). And if Conspiracy is basically Yes with Sherwood on guitar, then Circa: is Yes with Haun on guitar. It’s fun to wonder what would have happened if Chris Squire had stepped into John Wetton’s spot in Asia in 1981. Maybe we’d have gotten something back then that smelled strongly of Conspiracy meets Yes’ “The Ladder” or “Open Your Eyes”.
Because Sherwood’s vocals are pitched much like Chris Squire’s, because the guy literally steers through the same bass lines as the esteemed Yes stalwart, and because he’s copied the production sound of the bass that’s so typical of Squire, the whole thing reminds you of Conspiracy at first listen. Sherwood’s vocals simply carry the most weight in all this comparing, tipping the scales in that direction. As already mentioned, the only thing that sets Circa: apart from Conspiracy is Jimmy Haun’s guitar. But it doesn’t take us anywhere other than back toward Yes of the late nineties. Kaye and White are business as usual. Kaye floats through collages of laid-down layers; you won’t get any keyboard solos out of him, since Kaye is one of the main architects of atmosphere. That said, the short Procol Harum-style solo on Hammond B3 organ in the song Look Inside, courtesy of Kaye’s fingers, is a real mini treat on the album and a huge surprise.
So, after all that, the album is nothing special if you know late-era Yes or Conspiracy. It’s a very nice progressive rock album, dressed in a solid dose of epic, melodic symphonic sweep. The Circa: crew effectively fills the void left by Yes being absent from the scene. The Circa: project does exactly what they’d be doing in one of Yes’s hypothetical lineups, and does it very convincingly and with real flair. “Circa” is an album that will be of interest to Yes fans, and it’ll be especially handy as an artificial stand-in that helps soften, at least a little, Yes’s currently overlong hibernation, a wait that’s been dragging on hopelessly into its seventh year since the last Yes studio album, “Magnification” (2001). I have just one more hint left. If Jon Anderson joined Circa:, we’d instantly get a brand-new reincarnation of Yes out of the Circa: project.
Lineup
Billy Sherwood – vocals, bass guitar
Jimmy Haun – guitar, backing vocals
Tony Kaye – keyboards, Hammond organ
Alan White – drums, backing vocals
Production
Billy Sherwood
Track List
1. Cut the Ties (5:40)
2. Don’t Let Go (6:57)
3. Together We Are (6:31)
4. Information Overload (5:54)
5. Trust in Something (7:55)
6. Keeper of the Flame (2:32)
7. Life Going By (3:47)
8. Look Inside (5:04)
9. Brotherhood of Man (11:48)
Trajanje albuma: 56:08
