Where are they now? - CIRCA: & Yoso
+ Psy-op, Conspiracy and tribute albums headed by Billy Sherwood

This page last updated: 4 Mar 2010
 
YES and projects with several Yesmen
Jon
Anderson
Chris
Squire
Steve
Howe
Alan
White
Rick
Wakeman
Bill
Bruford
Tony
Kaye
Peter
Banks
Patrick
Moraz
Trevor
Horn
Geoff
Downes
Trevor
Rabin
Billy
Sherwood
Igor
Khoroshev
Anderson & Wakeman
Asia
CIRCA:
Yoso
Oliver Wakeman
Benoît David
Others associated with the band

On this page: CIRCA: (Sherwood, Kaye) - Yoso (Sherwood, Kaye) - Psy-op (Sherwood, Downes, Kaye) - Billy Sherwood's tribute albums (with Howe, White, Wakeman, Bruford, Banks, Kaye, Downes, Levin)


Billy Sherwood is the nexus for a number of projects involving other Yesmen, both current and former band members. On most of these projects, he has been working with Tony Kaye. CIRCA: and Yoso also include Kaye and CIRCA: formerly included White, while Sherwood features various Yes members on his various tribute albums and a Jim Ladd's Headsets album. He also has a spin-off from Conspiracy, no longer with Squire but with some new Yes connections. Sherwood's main focus in 2010 is Yoso.

Yoso Yoso MySpace page; Yoso official site (to launch early 2010); Yoso YouTube channel
Yoso unites former Toto vocalist Bobby Kimball (MySpace page; lead vocals, additional keyboards live) with CIRCA: members Billy Sherwood (lead vocals, bass, drums in studio), Tony Kaye (keys) and Jimmy Haun (worked on Union, Jonathan Elias, ex-Lodgic, ex-Conspiracy, ex-Air Supply; guitars, backing vocals), and drummer Jody Cortez (worked with B. Sherwood, ex-Cinderella). Drums were originally by the fourth CIRCA: member, Jay Schellen (GPS, ex-Hurricane, ex-Badfinger, ex-Peter Banks), but given his prior commitments to Asia Featuring John Payne, Louis "Lou" Molino III (MySpace page; working with Trevor Rabin, worked with Billy Sherwood, The Tubes, Julian Lennon; drums, backing vocals) took over for work in late 2009, but has now too stepped aside given other commitments. As of Dec 2009, Yoso are managed by Derek Shulman (ex-Gentle Giant; managed Yes; signed World Trade, Dream Theater) and they also have a new booking agent. On 15 Feb, Sherwood said: "New management {Derek Schulman/Leonardo Pavkovic}, new booking agency, shows being booked as we speak for 2010 and beyond..."

In Sep 2009, Sherwood announced that they had finished mastering (with Joe Gastwirt) a 12-song CD (dur. 53:30). Tracks include "Yoso", "Walk Away", "No Way to Return", "Higher Road", "Where You'll Stay", "New Revolution", "Only One" and "Path to Your Heart"; the latter two can now be heard on the band's MySpace. The album, also called Yoso, is due soon through their own online web store, before general release late spring/early summer 2010.

International touring is planned for 2010. The band play the Frankfurt Musikmesse Festival, Germany, on 24 Mar, followed by another to-be-announced venue in Frankfurt on 26 Mar. Mid-Apr dates in Mexico follow; and a 21 Aug 2010 show in California at Rancho Murieta is being advertised. There are plans for further touring in Europe, North and South America, and south-east Asia. The band's live debut was 3 Mexican dates in Oct 2009 (with Molino on drums). (The touring band was at one point announced to also include Matt Brown (Brian Travis Band, Genesis tribute band Gabble Ratchet, Yes tribute Closer to the Edge) on keys and backing vocals, although he was not with them for the 2009 dates.)

Band logo and artwork are by Michi Sherwood (Billy's wife). The band are being promoted on their links to Yes and Toto, a combination reflected in their name. In Oct 2009, Sherwood described the band: "Sounds like a hydrid of Toto/Circa:Yes/Steely Dan/The Band and others in the tradition of classic rock." Kimball blogged in Apr 2009, "The CD [...] has so many elements from Toto/Yes[ ]and Asia in the music." Asked about the style of music in Apr, Sherwood said:

The arrangments are more straight ahead and song oriented, Where CIRCA: stretches those limits "AKA" remains within the traditional bounds of classic song writing structures. That said it remains very musical.

Kimball was initially invited to play a series of Italian dates and invited CIRCA: to join in. An early 2009 Italian tour was announced under the CIRCA: name, but then cancelled. Sherwood then tweeted about what he called the Hybrid Project, before the new band was announced under the name AKA. However, in Jul 2009, Sherwood said to ProgressiveEars.com: "Due to the trademark "AKA" being taken we are renaming the band." Sherwood tweeted about writing and recording 10 songs across Apr: music by him, lyrics by Kimball. On 25 May, he said to Yesfans.com: "10 songs well on their way but still needing TLC." On 7 Jun, he tweeted, "Working on backing vocals for the "AKA" record... 6 songs near completion, 4 to go"; in late Jun, about recording Kaye's final organ parts for the album. In mid-Jul, he tweeted about a recording session for a track called "Higher Road" with Kimball and said they only had three more lead vocals to record. Mixing followed in Aug. In mid-Aug, Sherwood said to Yesfans.com:

The new record {cd} is almost completed. I am mixing it now. 3 Songs mixed, 9 to go.

On 1 Sep, Sherwood said: "It's an inter[e]sting mixture of styles. Of course it has the Toto/YES/Circa: elements which come by proxy of the people involved but... there is something all it's own about the sound." And then:

my personal choices are 3 songs that are super strong, hooky, radio friendly....

1: Yoso
2: Where You'll Stay
3: Walk Away

[...] not sure of a release date, unlike CIRCA: presently YOSO has proper management handling affairs oof the state.


Schellen drums on 4 songs and Sherwood drums on the other 8 (Molino did record drum parts for them, but these are not now to be used). In Oct 2009, Sherwood said to Yesfans.com:

We are of 2 minds about the method of release for YOSO.

On one hand the traditional means of doing deals per territory is an option for us.

On the other I personally enjoy the CIRCA: model of self distrobution. [...]

We have discussed the idea of self distro for now... whilst we build the brand name via touring, then in time perhaps a traditional deal will kick in.

In any event as far as when... I'd imagine it won't be too long before it's made available one way or the other.


In late Aug 2009, Sherwood tweeted about Yoso rehearsals at his studio. In Sep, Sherwood said:

it looks like Yoso will be playing the Laserium Theater in Hollywood sometime soon !!

I have a feeling it will require a set up period of at least 6 to 8 weeks. The band is ready to play but Laserium will want lead time for promo etc...

Further news on Laserium shows has yet to materialise. Yoso played three Mexican dates in Oct (tickets still had the old band name and read "TOTO Y YES JUNTOS: AKA", or "Toto and Yes together: AKA"), a corporate gig for Microsoft Mexico (~600 attendance) and two public concerts with attendances around 2,000 each. The set list for the opening night was [SPOILERS—highlight to read] "Yoso", "Girl Goodbye" (Kimball sang lead on the Toto songs), "Cinema", "Good for You", "Hold On" (Sherwood sang lead on the Yes songs), "Walk Away", "Gift with a Golden Gun", "Owner of a Lonely Heart", "Africa", "New Revolution", "Yes Montage" (with "Yours is No Disgrace", "Heart of the Sunrise", "South Side of the Sky", "Starship Trooper", "All Good People"—vocals on "All Good People" only), "Where You'll Stay", "Rosanna", "Changes", "To Seek the Truth", "White Sister", "Hold the Line", "Roundabout". The opening song can be heard in Doty's podcast while West Coast Sound and Light have another podcast available with an extract from the show. The aforementioned Mexican article says future touring will cover South America (Argentina, Brazil and Chile) and Europe. Sherwood in Oct, reporting back after these Mexican shows, said, "more gigs [...] are being discussed and sorted out for 2010". To Yesfans.com in Nov 2009, Sherwood said, "We are now speaking about going down to South America for shows." In Doty's 2 Nov podcast, he said South American dates (Argentina, Brazil and Peru) are planned this year. The podcast then contains a press conference by the band in Mexico in Oct at which they say plans are being finalised for a tour of Argentina, Chile and Peru, and possibly back to Mexico, before the album release (implying late 2009), although that didn't happen on that timescale. One of them, I think Kimball, then says there are plans to tour Europe with an orchestra for about a month. In Jan 2010, Sherwood said, "Currently I am about to start a rehearsal for Yoso, looks like we are going back to Mexico mid Feb." However, those dates appeared not to happen. Sherwood said in Jan 2010 that, "We plan to add/remove songs as we go to keep it fresh, perhaps CIRCA: music will be explored at that time, we shall see." The band rehearsed further in Feb 2010, including "Owner of a Lonely Heart" with Kimball taking over lead vocals.

Sherwood was producing, mixing and co-video editing a "Yoso Live in Mexico 2009" DVD release in HD from these shows. Multiple tracks have been made available on the band's YouTube page
. The DVD was expected around Apr 2010. However, plans appear to have mutated somewhat: promotion in Mar described an intention to film several live shows this year for a live DVD out in the spring.

The band (with Schellen) played a showcase of ~45 min.s at Uncle Studios, CA on 1 May 2009 for a promoter. The set consisted of material by Yes ("Roundabout", "Owner of a Lonely Heart", "Changes", "Hold On", "Cinema") and Toto ("Rosanna", "Africa", "White Sister" and another piece). Sherwood explained to AllGoodPeople.net in Jun that the tour set would have "a lot of the new AKA material and also play some YES / Toto / Circa: and some Zep..." The latter, specifically "Stairway to Heaven", was Kimball's suggestion.

Kimball and Sherwood first met at the beginning of the 1980s when Sherwood was in Lodgic, and Kimball has appeared on a number of Sherwood's tribute album projects. The It Can Happen tour of Italy by CIRCA: and Kimball was planned for Feb 2009, with a 2-hour set to include "Cut the Ties" and "Information Overload" from CIRCA: 2007; "Set to Play", "Ever Changing World" and "Twist of Fate" from CIRCA: HQ; "Changes", "Hold On", "Owner of a Lonely Heart", "Cinema", "I've Seen All Good People" and "Roundabout" by Yes; and "Rosanna", "Africa" (Sherwood singing the verses and Kimball, the chorus), "Hold the Line", "Gift with a Golden Gun", "White Sister" and "Girl Goodbye" by Toto. However, the tour was cancelled late in the day. The full line-up was also to include Brown (replacing Michael Sherwood (Billy's brother; ex-Conspiracy, ex-Lodgic, worked with CIRCA:) who had to withdraw).

B. Sherwood, Kimball and Molino also appear together on 1 track on An All-Star Salute to Christmas (see below).

CIRCA: Official website; MySpace page; online media kit; official forum
CIRCA: are Billy Sherwood (lead vocals, bass), Tony Kaye (Hammond B3, keys), Jimmy Haun (worked on Union, Jonathan Elias, ex-Lodgic, ex-Conspiracy, ex-Air Supply; electric & acoustic guitars, backing vocals) and Jay Schellen (GPS, Jim Ladd's Headsets, ex-Hurricane, ex-Badfinger, ex-Asia, ex-Peter Banks; drums, backing vocals). Schellen replaced Alan White in 2008, who left the band on amicable terms to focus on Yes; announcement here. The original line-up released an album, CIRCA: 2007 (see below) and DVD, "CIRCA: Live", the latter including a lengthy medley of Yes tunes. (See my review of CIRCA: 2007 and "CIRCA: Live" here.) Schellen has worked extensively with Sherwood (in World Trade and Conspiracy and on Sherwood's first solo album) and Kaye (in Badfinger) and previously filled in for White at a Feb 2008 CIRCA: show; he was also one of the cameramen on the "CIRCA: Live" DVD.

The new CIRCA: line-up released the band's second album, CIRCA: HQ (duration 65:07), again only available from their website. Tracks:

1. If It's Not Too Late (10:50)
2. Haun Solo (1:18)
3. False Start (5:08)
4. Chasing After Ghosts (7:05)
5. Set to Play (1:49)
6. Ever Changing World (4:18)
7. We Can Last (9:16)
8. Twist of Fate (5:17)
9. All Intertwined (7:29)
10. Remember Along the Way (12:36)

In an Apr 2008 interview, Sherwood talked about the album some more:

We are still going to continue to distribute it ourselves because it’s been very very good and very easy. [...] The idea for us is it is a long slow journey as opposed to looking for some quick pay off in terms of record sales. We could just sign with a label, I have had a few offers and it just didn’t make enough sense to do. I just kept feeling like we are going to lose that intimacy and direct contact thing. And I think in this modern age with the Internet it can be achieved and I think with what we are doing we don’t need that middle man. We just do it ourselves.

CIRCA: Overflow is an iTunes-only digital release (iTunes Plus format) of 7 tracks, out May 2009: "The Story Goes" (5:48), "Shifting Sands" (4:42), "Life Goes On" (5:02), "Pure Intuition" (3:46), "Coming at You" (7:48), "Fate and Destiny" (5:10), "Words on Paper" (5:24). The tracks all feature the new line-up—Billy Sherwood (lead vocals, bass), Tony Kaye (organ, keys), Jimmy Haun (guitars, vocals), Jay Schellen (drums, percussion, vocals)—and were mixed by Sherwood. Sherwood these: "These tracks we're [sic] extra ideas and recordings from various points along the CIRCA: journey that never found there way onto either the debut CIRCA: cd or the second CIRCA: HQ CD." Sherwood has previously announced plans to release 2 additional tracks through iTunes: "Shifting Sands", "Story Goes". Sherwood explained the reasoning to Yesfans.com in Oct 2008: "to release music that is cool but didn't exactly fit into the over all spectrum of this new CIRCA: CD. The songs do stand alone with CIRCA: Style though". On 27 Mar, Sherwood tweeted about "Meeting with Tony Kaye at my studio re: making some Instrumental tracks for Itunes", which may be in reference to these or some other project.

In Dec 2009, Sherwood described discussions with Joe Gastwirt (mastering for CIRCA:, Yoso, Yes) about possibly doing a remastered CIRCA: box set, including a CD release for Overflow and the "CIRCA: Live" tracks, plus new material.

On 10 Oct 2009, CIRCA: and radio DJ Jim Ladd (spoken word) performed the entire second Headsets album, Chapter 2: Sides, live, followed by "Universal Garden", "Ever Changing World", "Brotherhood of Man", "Cut the Ties, at the Laserium Theater in Hollywood, CA, with multi-media visual effects including pre-filmed segments and lasers. The band was also supplemented by Dan Smolley (acoustic guitar, backing vocals). Headsets is the project from Sherwood and Ladd based on Ladd's freeform radio shows of the same name: see here for details. This was a 90 minute show, with two performances that evening. The show was recorded.

The four band members were planning to record a 'live in the studio' DVD, "CIRCA: HQ LIVE". As Sherwood described it, "The approach will be similar in the way that the "Conspiracy Live DVD" was produced, in a controlled atmosphere, set up and play for a few days and get the best of the best live takes for the creation of the dvd." Tracks:
  1. If It's Not Too Late
  2. Haun Solo
  3. False Start
  4. Chasing After Ghosts
  5. Set to Play
  6. Ever Changing World
  7. We Can Last
  8. Twist of Fate
  9. All Intertwined
  10. Remember Along the Way (first 10 tracks being their second album, HQ, in its entirety)
  11. Shifting Sands
  12. Story Goes (tracks 11 & 12 are from the iTunes Overflow set)
  13. Just Another Day (from forthcoming Psy-Op release—see below)
  14. The Unknown (from Conspiracy's The Unknown)
  15. Seeing Through the Walls (from Sherwood's solo album At the Speed of Life...see under Sherwood)
  16. Golden Age (from World Trade's Euphoria)

Sherwood also said: "The dvd will also include behind the scenes footage of the making of... and some other goodies. We are excited to get production started on this project and look forward to it's release, most likely near the end of the year." However, this has yet to materialise. In Jan 2010, Sherwood said, "We had planned to record and film a live session and make it into a DVD. I spoke of this a while back... As life happens Yoso [see below] started coming into view and the over all trajectory of things shifted. That said, I love making music and creating so the battle plan remains in tact, with the exception of the time line of engament of operations." Meanwhile, the band have also released a download-only audio version of most of their "CIRCA: Live" DVD through iTunes, as Circa: Live. This version consists of 10 tracks—"Cut the Ties", "Don't Look Back", "Together We Are", "Information Overload", "Trust in Something", "Keeper of the Flame", "Life Going By", "Look Inside", "Brotherhood of Man", "The More We Live—Let Go"—i.e. the same as the DVD except without the extended Yes medley

In Dec 2009, Sherwood said to ProgressiveEars.com: "CIRCA: is still Circa: ... HQ is out 1 year now so we didn't want to record for a bit, that said we are planning to record another record. [...] it has become a studio project more then a touring act, unlike what Yoso is about to do in 2010." In Jan 2010, he said, "Circa: remains Circa: and will be recording a new CD in 2010, same line up as the "HQ" record." An Italian tour planned for Feb 2009 with Bobby Kimball (ex-Toto; vocals) was cancelled, although members of CIRCA: have united with Kimball as Yoso—see below.

The live DVD, "CIRCA: Live", consisted of all of their album, followed by "Chronological Journey", a 50 minute-long medley of material from every Yes studio album up to The Ladder, consisting of "Beyond & Before"/"Looking Around"/"Harold Land"/"Every Little Thing"/"Survival"/"Something's Coming"/"No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed"/"Yours is No Disgrace"/"Heart of the Sunrise"/"South Side of the Sky"/"Roundabout"/"Close to the Edge"/"And You and I"/"Ritual"/"Sound Chaser"/"Parallels"/"Arriving UFO"/"On the Silent Wings of Freedom"/"Tempus Fugit"/"Changes"/"Owner of a Lonely Heart"/"Cinema"/"Rhythm of Love"/"Lift Me Up"/"Endless Dream" (part 3)/"Mind Drive"/"Open Your Eyes"/"Lightning Strikes". The whole of "Cinema" was performed; otherwise, this was a medley with parts from each song. While mostly instrumental, Sherwood did sing on the "Endless Dream" extract. The encore was "The More We Live—Let Go". In the NftE interview, Sherwood said, "We'll find a way to do [Yes material] where it's a new, creative spin, because the one thing I definitely don't want have it appear is we're trying to recreate Yes music in its entirety as us, re-doing it, because there's no point to that." In Sep 2007, he said to AllGoodPeople.net: "Eventually with time CIRCA: won't be playing yes material.... for now it seemed the most logical thing to do with the 2nd hour, since we were all involved in some manner shape or form." Sherwood posted to AllGoodPeople.net in Sep 2007 about playing in Europe:

it's very expensive to fund a 5 piece band {live line up} in your home town let alone gathering forces to go to Europe. There are many things to consider [...] ultimately is there enough $$$ to make it doable. Forget profitable...lol If the CIRCA: CD continues to build as it has been we may be able to fund the above mentioned. Reality from me to you folks, we are a long way off from that, it takes "serious coin"

Conspiracy & Psy-op
Conspiracy has come to an end. Sherwood said in a late 2007 interview, "I don't foresee another Conspiracy record [...] my focus is on Circa and obviously Conspiracy is dear to my heart, but it took a turn and went into a dormant mode". However, Sherwood (bass, guitar, keys, vocals) and Jay Schellen (drums) from the final Conspiracy line-up have recorded a new album, entitled Psy-op. This was initially described as the third Conspiracy album, but in May 2007, Sherwood wrote on MySpace that he and Schellen were changing the name of the project given Squire's absence. The project has been held back so as not to compete with CIRCA:; Sherwood wrote, "The tracks are very prog. It will surface, I promise, just not right now." In Aug 2008, Sherwood said, "Psy-op will be released... it's just a matter of when. I don't wish to cloud nor confuse what my main goal is "getting CIRCA: in the air and on auto pilot"." In an Apr 2008 interview, Sherwood reiterated, "It's finished and mastered and ready to come out but I didn't want to confuse fans with too many products at once."

The Psy-op album also features Tony Kaye (on 1 track), Geoff Downes (on 1 track), Michael Sherwood (Vocoder), Bruce Gowdy (World Trade; co-wrote and keys on 1 track, "Gone All the Way"), Gary Green (ex-Gentle Giant; co-wrote and guitar on 1 track, "Just Another Day", which is also to be covered by CIRCA: on their planned "CIRCA: HQ LIVE" DVD—see above). (There was an earlier report that two songs on the album were written with Gowdy for an abortive third World Trade album, but Sherwood in Feb 2008 referred to just one piece.) A Jan 2006 article quotes Sherwood describing the album as being "really, really proggy". In Jun 2007, posting to the Progressive Ears forum, Sherwood described the album:

What began as Conspiracy 3 has now morphed into a new project titled "Psy-Op". Chris moved back to the U.K. [...] at the same time I was recording a lot of new music which I planned for "C3". After assembling the record it became clear to me that it is not Conspiracy but a whole new kind of "project". [...] You can hear a sample at my web page, {it's labeled Conspiracy 3, that will be changed}. It is mastered and ready for release, that being said [...] since [CIRCA:] are about to release our 1st record I don't want to cloud the waters with a new project. It will come out down the road in time...
A Sep 2006 report suggested there might be an accompanying DVD too. Artwork was prepared for the release by Bob Cesca (worked with Yes, Conspiracy and Sherwood) in 2006. As a preview, an excerpt from "Gone All the Way" was available for download on Sherwood's website. Sherwood described the song as "a story of a man dreaming he is the only human left on earth after a nuclear holocaust, by the middle of the song he reailizes he in fact isn't dreaming, warmakers had finally "Gone All The Way"." In Feb 2008, Sherwood said the album would be out in 2008, after his next solo album, At the Speed of Life (since released), but it has yet to appear.

There is a re-make of "The Lonesome Trail" from Conspiracy on the Jim Ladd's Headsets album Chapter 1: Alone Out Heresee details under Sherwood.

Tribute albums by Billy Sherwood et al.
Sherwood has been behind a number of tribute albums featuring numerous guest musicians, mostly from the world of progressive rock and including multiple Yes men.

Released Oct 2009 was An All-Star Salute to Christmas (8392, Purple Pyramid Records (Cleopatra Records)), on which Geoff Downes guests. As with Abbey Road: A Tribute to The Beatles (see below) and Led Box: The Ultimate Tribute to Led Zeppelin, Cleopatra Records have combined tracks produced and engineered by Sherwood with material from other sources. As before, Sherwood had talked of an album with just his tracks.

Track (time)—credited artists; notes
Þ indicates tracks produced by Sherwood for this project; other tracks appear not to involve Sherwood

Disc one

  1. "White Christmas" (3:28)—Iggy Pop
  2. Þ "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" [John Lennon] (3:25)—John Wetton (Asia, ex-King Crimson, ex-UK; vocals); originally by John Lennon & Yoko Ono
  3. Þ "O Holy Night" [trad.] (4:11)—Glenn Hughes
  4. Þ "Step into Christmas" (2:19)—Mickey Thomas (Starship; vocals); originally by Elton John
  5. "All I Want for Christmas is You" [W Afanasieff/M Carey] (4:03)—The Motels; originally by Mariah Carey
  6. Þ "Little Drummer Boy" [trad.] (4:26)—Robby Krieger (ex-The Doors, Riders on the Storm; sitars); also with Sherwood (lead vocals)
  7. "Cuz It's Christmas" (4:39)—Bay City Rollers
  8. "Christmas / Sarajevo 12/24" [J Oliva] (3:15)—George Lynch (Dokken); originally by Trans-Siberian Orchestra
  9. "Dominick the Donkey (The Italian Christmas Donkey" [R Allen] (2:35)—Doug Kershaw
  10. "Jingle Bells" [J Pierpont] (2:40)—Donna Fargo
  11. "Funky Christmas" (3:17)—James Brown
  12. Þ "Feed the World" (3:55)—Air Supply (Graham Russell & Russell Hitchcock)
  13. "Little St. Nick" [Brian Wilson] (2:08)—L.A. Guns
  14. Þ "Wonderful Christmastime" (4:07)—Dweezil Zappa; originally by Paul McCartney
  15. "Merry Xmas Everybody" (3:55)—Leif Garrett; originally by Slade
Disc two
  1. Þ "Please Come Home for Christmas" [C Brown] (3:03)—Bobby Kimball (ex-Toto, Yoso)
  2. Þ "Linus and Lucy (Charlie Brown Christmas Theme)" (3:04)—Geoff Downes (Asia, ex-Yes)
  3. Þ "Blue Christmas" [J. Johnson/B. Hayes] (4:10)—Jack Russell (Great White)
  4. "Mary's Boy Child/Oh My Lord" [J Hairston] (4:42)—Musical Youth; originally by Boney M
  5. "Christmas Time is Here Again" (3:43)—The Flirtations; previously released
  6. "Clean for Christmas" [J Brown] (2:43)—James Brown
  7. "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" [Haven Gillespie/F Coots] (2:29)—Gilby Clarke
  8. "White Christmas" (4:14)—T.Rextasy
  9. "Father Christmas" [R Davies] (3:45)—Pretty Boy Floyd
  10. "Wizards in Winter" (3:07)—George Lynch
  11. "Sleigh Ride" [Leroy Anderson/M Parish] (3:20)—Spanky & Our Gang; previously released
  12. "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" (2:01)—Donna Fargo
  13. "Amazing Grace" [trad.] (4:21)—Judy Collins
  14. "867-3509 / Jenny (Christmas Version)" (3:58)—Tommy Tutone
  15. Þ "New Year's Day" [U2] (5:47)—Steve Morse (Deep Purple, Dixie Dregs, ex-Kansas); also with Sherwood (lead vocals); originally by U2
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On his tracks, Sherwood played all the bass parts, while drums are by Lou Molino (Trevor Rabin, ex-Yoso). Sherwood also contributed guitar, keys, lead and backing vocals in places. Also credited on the album is Nancy Ellis (background vocals), while producers on the other tracks include Jurgen Engler, Christopher Lietz, Adam Hamilton and Craig Else.

Abbey Road: A Tribute to The Beatles (Cleopatra Records, CLP-CD-3395) has 20 tracks whereas Sherwood had earlier talked of a 12-track album. Again, Cleopatra Records combined tracks produced by Sherwood with material from other sources. On Sherwood's pieces, he played all the bass parts and contributed some guitar (tracks 1, 6, 9, 10, 13), keys (5-7, 9, 11-13) and vocals (lead: 12, 14; backing: 2, 5, 9). The drums are split between Alan White and Jay Schellen.

Track (time)—credited artists; notes
Þ indicates tracks produced by Sherwood for this project; other tracks do not involve Sherwood
Details in Yescography
  1. Þ "Get Back" (3:31)—Bobby Kimball (ex-Toto, AKA); also with Alan White, Tony Kaye
  2. Þ "Let It Be" (4:51)—Glenn Hughes (lead vocal); also with White, Geoff Downes (Sherwood: "Geoff did his own orchestral type additional section at the end")
  3. "Ticket to Ride" (3:28)—Steve Priest's Sweet, recorded for this album
  4. "Yesterday" (2:12)—Molly Hatchet, possibly a version recorded in 2008 for their new album
  5. Þ "All You Need is Love" (4:22)—John Wetton (Asia, ex-King Crimson)/Robby Krieger (ex-The Doors, Riders on the Storm); Wetton on vocals only; also with White
  6. Þ "The Long and Winding Road" (3:26)—Air Supply; i.e. with Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock
  7. Þ "Here Comes the Sun" (3:10)—Richard Page/Steve Morse
  8. Þ "Day Tripper" (3:12)—David Pack (Ambrosia); also with White
  9. Þ "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" (4:08)—Fee Waybill (The Tubes); also with White
  10. Þ "We Can Work It Out" (2:41)—Alex Ligertwood (worked with Patrick Moraz, ex-Santana; vocals); also with White
  11. Þ "Something" (3:00)—Mickey Thomas (Starship, worked with Jim Ladd's Headsets)/Albert Lee
  12. Þ "Tomorrow Never Knows" (3:09)—Dweezil Zappa/Billy Sherwood
  13. Þ "Strawberry Fields Forever" (3:50)—David Jenkins (Pablo Cruise); Sherwood said he was doing this track, but had not said with whom, so I presume this is one of his
  14. Þ "Hey Jude" (6:29)—Steve Lukather (ex-Toto)/Billy Sherwood; also with White, Kaye
  15. "Back in the USSR" (2:41)—Molly Hatchet, probably the version recorded in 2008 for their forthcoming new album
  16. "In My Life" (3:33)—Little River Band, recorded for this album
  17. "Birthday" (3:00)—Leif Garrett, probably the version from the 2008 various artists album Happy Birthday
  18. {Þ} "Across the Universe" (4:38)—Jackson Browne/Robby Krieger; would seem to be from From Here to Infinity, the digital-only first Jim Ladd's Headsets album from Ladd and Sherwood
  19. "Helter Skelter" (3:09)—Michael Davis
  20. "Tomorrow Never Knows" (5:11)—Tangerine Dream, probably the version from their 2008 Booster Vol. II album
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Buy as MP3 digital download from Amazon (US):

Buy as MP3 digital download from Amazon (UK):


Further tribute albums involving Billy Sherwood but no other Yes men are covered in Sherwood's section here. Various covers are also included on the Jim Ladd's Headsets releases, also covered in Sherwood's section.

Sherwood said in the Sep 2005 interview that he would also like to tackle Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, The Who's Tommy or "even some of King Crimson's stuff".


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YES and projects with several Yesmen
Jon
Anderson
Chris
Squire
Steve
Howe
Alan
White
Rick
Wakeman
Bill
Bruford
Tony
Kaye
Peter
Banks
Patrick
Moraz
Trevor
Horn
Geoff
Downes
Trevor
Rabin
Billy
Sherwood
Igor
Khoroshev
Anderson & Wakeman
Asia
CIRCA:
Yoso
Oliver Wakeman
Benoît David
Others associated with the band

Any news, additions or corrections, please e-mail Henry Potts. Thanks.