Billy Sherwood - Citizen (2015)
EAC | Flac(Image) + Cue + Log & MP3 CBR 320Kbps
Frontiers Records, FRCD710 | Russia | ~ 511 or 112 Mb | Scans Included
Progressive Rock / Crossover Prog
EAC | Flac(Image) + Cue + Log & MP3 CBR 320Kbps
Frontiers Records, FRCD710 | Russia | ~ 511 or 112 Mb | Scans Included
Progressive Rock / Crossover Prog
US artist and composer Billy SHERWOOD is a rather well known name in the music business. His various tenures as a member of legendary progressive rock band Yes arguably his main claim to fame, but he has also been involved in numerous other bands and projects over the years. His solo career has been ongoing since the tail end of the 1990's, with eight studio albums released to date. "Citizen" is the most recent of these, and was released in the fall season of 2015 through Italian label Frontiers Music.
As Billy's career have been rather firmly tied in with the history of Yes for a few decades, an obvious question that will rise when he release a solo album is how close, or not, the music will be to the material made by that band, and especially when quite a few guest musicians that also have been members of that band have contributed. The answer to that question is, I guess, a yes and a no. There are similarities, most certainly, but no, this is not a Yes album released as someone's solo project.
The album as a whole is a conceptual one from what I understand, so those who find such ventures fascinating will have a concept to immerse themselves in, and the music at hand is a rather compelling one throughout, where the focus is on smooth, elegant themes and arrangements employed in compositions that tends to be fairly slowly paced. Those fond of dramatic effects, challenging escapades and instruments clearly highlighted as dominant features while going through technically challenging, virtuous territories will have to look elsewhere. While we are treated to a fair share of instrument solo runs and some of them rather virtuoso indeed, these are flavors provided without using the limelight to hone in on them as the central or dominant aspects of the compositions, instead they come across as one part of a total package, one element among many rather than the key element everything else builds up to.
Acoustic guitars and fairly careful, toned down guitar riffs and solo runs combine with layered keyboards throughout to form careful, elegant soundscapes, ranging from the relative sparse and fragile to the rich and majestic, with the bass guitar possibly having a slightly more central place in the arrangements by way of firm and at times booming basslines, but rarely if ever in a dramatic or dominant manner. Elegant and sophisticated comes across as key words for me to describe the totality, with subtle nuances and details used to add tension. I get the impression that a lot of work have gone into the mix and production here, and that this album is the kind that will reward the listeners by carefully unveiling additional detail upon repeated listens. There's a lot going on throughout, but the smooth, melody-oriented focus doesn't hone in on these details as such, and it usually will take multiple listens for most listeners to become aware of these.
The lead vocals and vocal harmonies, both by Billy and the occasional guest vocalists, all give me strong associations to the music of Yes, and then primarily the landscapes they have explored from the tail end of the 1980's and onward. I'm not an expert on that band by any means, so those who have a deeper knowledge of and experience with that band that I have may not concur to this description, but for me it's the vocals that adds that touch of Yes to the landscapes explored here first and foremost. Some nifty, atmospheric guitar solo details hovering in the background on occasion and the aforementioned bass guitar emphasize this somewhat, but at least for me the greater totality isn't all that similar: The songs on this album are generally slower paced and lacking the focus on dramatic movements and other features of a more bombastic nature I associate with Yes.
My main impression is that "Citizen" is a well made and excellently produced concept album, in terms of style residing somewhere in the neo-progressive oriented parts of the symphonic progressive rock universe. The main focus is on melodies and harmonies, and with the lead vocals given a lot of the limelight here. Which isn't all that unexpected presumably, as a concept is explored and stories are told. Those with a general taste for compelling, well made and well produced albums that arguably may be placed somewhere close to a neo progressive context comes across as a key audience for this album in my book.by Windhawk, progarchives
Billy Sherwood at Wiki | Billy Sherwood at Discogs | Billy Sherwood at Allmusic | Billy Sherwood HomePage
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Billy Sherwood - Citizen at Discogs
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Billy Sherwood - Citizen at Discogs
Billy Sherwood - Citizen (2015):
Tracklist:
1. The Citizen (6:34)
2. Man and the Machine (6:44)
3. Just Galileo and Me (5:01)
4. No Mans Land (5:35)
5. The Great Depression (8:40)
6. Empire (5:34)
7. Age of the Atom (6:23)
8. Trail of Tears (6:28)
9. Escape Velocity (6:03)
10. A Theory All It's Own (5:32)
11. Written in the Centuries (7:20)
Musicians:
Billy Sherwood (Yes, Circa) - drums, bass, guitar, keyboards, vocals
With:
Rick Wakeman (Yes) - keyboards (5)
Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater) - keyboards (9)
Tony Kaye (Yes, Circa) - keyboards & Hammond Organ (1)
Geoff Downes (Yes, Asia, DBA) - keyboards (7)
Chris Squire (Yes, Squackett) - bass (1)
Steve Hackett (Genesis, Squackett) - guitar solo (2)
Jerry Goodman (The Mahavishnu Orchestra) - violin (6)
Steve Morse (Deep Purple, Dixie Dregs, Flying Colors) - guitar (4)
Patrick Moraz (Yes, The Moody Blues) - keyboards (8)
John Wesley (Porcupine Tree) - guitar (10)
Colin Moulding (XTC) - vocals (3)
Alan Parsons - vocals (6)
Jon Davison (Yes, Glass Hammer) - vocals (11)
Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 3 from 29. August 2011
EAC extraction logfile from 21. November 2015, 8:03
Billy Sherwood / Citizen
Used drive : MATSHITABD-CMB UJ242AS Adapter: 0 ID: 1
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 103
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Installed external ASPI interface
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 1024 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : Yes
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "Date=%year%" -T "Genre=%genre%" %source%
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 6:34.00 | 0 | 29549
2 | 6:34.00 | 6:44.02 | 29550 | 59851
3 | 13:18.02 | 5:01.74 | 59852 | 82500
4 | 18:20.01 | 5:35.64 | 82501 | 107689
5 | 23:55.65 | 8:40.10 | 107690 | 146699
6 | 32:36.00 | 5:34.22 | 146700 | 171771
7 | 38:10.22 | 6:23.53 | 171772 | 200549
8 | 44:34.00 | 6:28.00 | 200550 | 229649
9 | 51:02.00 | 6:03.01 | 229650 | 256875
10 | 57:05.01 | 5:32.73 | 256876 | 281848
11 | 62:37.74 | 7:20.25 | 281849 | 314873
Range status and errors
Selected range
Filename C:\EACrip\Billy Sherwood - Citizen.wav
Peak level 97.8 %
Extraction speed 2.7 X
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 2C928920
Copy CRC 2C928920
Copy OK
No errors occurred
AccurateRip summary
Track 1 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 1) [2709AF36], AccurateRip returned [0E388D7B] (AR v2)
Track 2 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 1) [BE3F20C6], AccurateRip returned [69AC6111] (AR v2)
Track 3 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 1) [71ED1673], AccurateRip returned [03629D81] (AR v2)
Track 4 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 1) [11BA5382], AccurateRip returned [24A3C619] (AR v2)
Track 5 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 1) [52B57D14], AccurateRip returned [2DE6E130] (AR v2)
Track 6 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 1) [7A330370], AccurateRip returned [E58F6A5D] (AR v2)
Track 7 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 1) [DACC33FC], AccurateRip returned [7BC55601] (AR v2)
Track 8 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 1) [FAB39B14], AccurateRip returned [146913C0] (AR v2)
Track 9 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 1) [990794D2], AccurateRip returned [D51A517E] (AR v2)
Track 10 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 1) [83C372AD], AccurateRip returned [B1D9EB4B] (AR v2)
Track 11 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 1) [A4D12139], AccurateRip returned [C643C92A] (AR v2)
No tracks could be verified as accurate
You may have a different pressing from the one(s) in the database
End of status report
==== Log checksum 219075158598B67F17FD39C8A06FC1087DC08174574C82A42067E4C089C07DF8 ====
EAC extraction logfile from 21. November 2015, 8:03
Billy Sherwood / Citizen
Used drive : MATSHITABD-CMB UJ242AS Adapter: 0 ID: 1
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 103
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Installed external ASPI interface
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 1024 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : Yes
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "Date=%year%" -T "Genre=%genre%" %source%
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 6:34.00 | 0 | 29549
2 | 6:34.00 | 6:44.02 | 29550 | 59851
3 | 13:18.02 | 5:01.74 | 59852 | 82500
4 | 18:20.01 | 5:35.64 | 82501 | 107689
5 | 23:55.65 | 8:40.10 | 107690 | 146699
6 | 32:36.00 | 5:34.22 | 146700 | 171771
7 | 38:10.22 | 6:23.53 | 171772 | 200549
8 | 44:34.00 | 6:28.00 | 200550 | 229649
9 | 51:02.00 | 6:03.01 | 229650 | 256875
10 | 57:05.01 | 5:32.73 | 256876 | 281848
11 | 62:37.74 | 7:20.25 | 281849 | 314873
Range status and errors
Selected range
Filename C:\EACrip\Billy Sherwood - Citizen.wav
Peak level 97.8 %
Extraction speed 2.7 X
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 2C928920
Copy CRC 2C928920
Copy OK
No errors occurred
AccurateRip summary
Track 1 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 1) [2709AF36], AccurateRip returned [0E388D7B] (AR v2)
Track 2 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 1) [BE3F20C6], AccurateRip returned [69AC6111] (AR v2)
Track 3 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 1) [71ED1673], AccurateRip returned [03629D81] (AR v2)
Track 4 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 1) [11BA5382], AccurateRip returned [24A3C619] (AR v2)
Track 5 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 1) [52B57D14], AccurateRip returned [2DE6E130] (AR v2)
Track 6 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 1) [7A330370], AccurateRip returned [E58F6A5D] (AR v2)
Track 7 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 1) [DACC33FC], AccurateRip returned [7BC55601] (AR v2)
Track 8 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 1) [FAB39B14], AccurateRip returned [146913C0] (AR v2)
Track 9 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 1) [990794D2], AccurateRip returned [D51A517E] (AR v2)
Track 10 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 1) [83C372AD], AccurateRip returned [B1D9EB4B] (AR v2)
Track 11 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 1) [A4D12139], AccurateRip returned [C643C92A] (AR v2)
No tracks could be verified as accurate
You may have a different pressing from the one(s) in the database
End of status report
==== Log checksum 219075158598B67F17FD39C8A06FC1087DC08174574C82A42067E4C089C07DF8 ====
foobar2000 1.2.9 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2015-12-07 18:04:07
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Billy Sherwood / Citizen
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR9 -1.70 dB -12.90 dB 6:34 01-The Citizen
DR12 -0.19 dB -14.39 dB 6:44 02-Mand & the Machine
DR12 -1.28 dB -14.77 dB 5:02 03-Just Galleo and Me
DR10 -1.18 dB -13.06 dB 5:36 04-No Mans Land
DR12 -0.90 dB -15.18 dB 8:40 05-The Great Depression
DR10 -1.22 dB -13.46 dB 5:34 06-Empire
DR11 -0.20 dB -12.99 dB 6:24 07-Age of the Atom
DR11 -1.68 dB -14.42 dB 6:28 08-Trail of Tears
DR11 -0.58 dB -13.57 dB 6:03 09-Escape Velocity
DR11 -0.70 dB -13.83 dB 5:33 10-A Theory All It's Own
DR11 -0.70 dB -13.29 dB 7:20 11-Written in the Centuries
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Number of tracks: 11
Official DR value: DR11
Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 932 kbps
Codec: FLAC
log date: 2015-12-07 18:04:07
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Billy Sherwood / Citizen
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR9 -1.70 dB -12.90 dB 6:34 01-The Citizen
DR12 -0.19 dB -14.39 dB 6:44 02-Mand & the Machine
DR12 -1.28 dB -14.77 dB 5:02 03-Just Galleo and Me
DR10 -1.18 dB -13.06 dB 5:36 04-No Mans Land
DR12 -0.90 dB -15.18 dB 8:40 05-The Great Depression
DR10 -1.22 dB -13.46 dB 5:34 06-Empire
DR11 -0.20 dB -12.99 dB 6:24 07-Age of the Atom
DR11 -1.68 dB -14.42 dB 6:28 08-Trail of Tears
DR11 -0.58 dB -13.57 dB 6:03 09-Escape Velocity
DR11 -0.70 dB -13.83 dB 5:33 10-A Theory All It's Own
DR11 -0.70 dB -13.29 dB 7:20 11-Written in the Centuries
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Number of tracks: 11
Official DR value: DR11
Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 932 kbps
Codec: FLAC
[CUETools log; Date: 07.12.2015 17:59:36; Version: 2.1.4]
[CTDB TOCID: C23Qi7lUqY8CGj_DRO85Hi4bhcU-] found.
Track | CTDB Status
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2 | (3/3) Accurately ripped
3 | (3/3) Accurately ripped
4 | (3/3) Accurately ripped
5 | (3/3) Accurately ripped
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7 | (3/3) Accurately ripped
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10 | (3/3) Accurately ripped
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Track [ CRC | V2 ] Status
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03 [98f02c21|71ed1673] (0+0/1) No match
04 [426c96d7|11ba5382] (0+0/1) No match
05 [86adca90|52b57d14] (0+0/1) No match
06 [43af23b7|7a330370] (0+0/1) No match
07 [0efdd446|dacc33fc] (0+0/1) No match
08 [7bd138c3|fab39b14] (0+0/1) No match
09 [549220ed|990794d2] (0+0/1) No match
10 [46d4a5a5|83c372ad] (0+0/1) No match
11 [8453c27d|a4d12139] (0+0/1) No match
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Track Peak [ CRC32 ] [W/O NULL] [ LOG ]
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09 93,5 [01FBB1BA] [D4F1361F]
10 92,2 [884785DF] [40B98FD8]
11 92,2 [709ABC1C] [29EAD6F4]
[CTDB TOCID: C23Qi7lUqY8CGj_DRO85Hi4bhcU-] found.
Track | CTDB Status
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2 | (3/3) Accurately ripped
3 | (3/3) Accurately ripped
4 | (3/3) Accurately ripped
5 | (3/3) Accurately ripped
6 | (3/3) Accurately ripped
7 | (3/3) Accurately ripped
8 | (3/3) Accurately ripped
9 | (3/3) Accurately ripped
10 | (3/3) Accurately ripped
11 | (3/3) Accurately ripped
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09 [97283e66] (0/1) No match (V2 was not tested)
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11 [aa7ef2cc] (0/1) No match (V2 was not tested)
Track Peak [ CRC32 ] [W/O NULL] [ LOG ]
– 97,8 [2C928920] [0564B9E5] CRC32
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All thanks go to HaRD
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