Album: The Fusion Syndicate
Artist: The Fusion Syndicate
2012 Purple Pyramid Records (Cleopatra Records, Inc.)
CD: CLP 9314

With:
Rick Wakeman: keyboard solos (1)
Jerry Goodman: violins (1)
Nik Turner: sax (1)
Jimmy Haslip: bass (1)
Billy Cobham: drums (2)
Steve Stevens: lead guitar (2)
Jordan Rudess: keyboard solos (2)
Mel Collins: sax (2)
Colin Edwin: bass (2)
Gavin Harrison: drums (3)
Jay Beckenstein: sax (3)
David Sancious: keyboard solos (3)
Billy Sheehan: bass (3)
Larry Coryell: lead guitar (4)
Derek Sherinian: keyboard solos (4)
Eric Marienthal: sax (4)
Chester Thompson: drums (4)
Randy Brecker: trumpet (5)
Steve Morse: lead guitar (5)
Jim Beard: piano solos (5)
Percy Jones: bass (5)
Tony Kaye: Hammond organ (6), synths (6)
John Etheridge: lead guitar (6)
Chad Wackerman: drums (6)
Asaf Sirkis: drums (7)
Steve Hillage: guitars (7)
Scott Kinsey: keyboard solos (7)
Theo Travis: sax (7)
Justin Chancellor: bass (7)

Billy Sherwood: additional instrumentation (keys, guitars, drums, Rhodes, synths) & vocals

Produced, recorded and mixed by Sherwood
Recorded between Apr-Aug 2012
Mastered by Maor Appelbaum
Cover art by Jesus & Javier Carmona Esteban
Design layout by Lucie Tran


Tracks:
1. "Random Acts of Science" (7:54)
2. "Stone Cold Infusion" (7:32)
3. "Molecular Breakdown" (7:20)
4. "Particle Accelerations" (7:39)
5. "At the Edge of the Middle" (7:37)
6. "Atom Smashing" (7:36)
7. "In the Spirit of..." (7:16)

All written by Sherwood


Notes: On delivery of The Prog Collective, Brian Perrera at Cleopatra commissioned this instrumental album, originally to be called The Fusion Collective, along similar lines, and not long after 'The Prog Collective 2' and 'The Fusion Collective 2' were also contracted. The material was all written by Sherwood and he performs on all the tracks (in May 2012, on Facebook, he said: "I'm playing a drum track, some basses here and there all rhythm guitars, synths and percussion.").

There is an array of guest musicians: some of the guests were familiar from prior Cleopatra Records/Billy Sherwood projects, like Rick Wakeman, Tony Kaye and Jerry Goodman, but many were not. Sherwood successfully reached out to an interesting mix of musicians working in fusion or prog... although some of the choices seem odd for a fusion project (remember Bruford's comment on Wakeman and jazz?)! Sherwood described how many of the pieces were written with specific guests in mind, although the only specific example confirmed is that (4) was written for Thompson. Stevens previously worked with Chris Squire in the 1990s; one song of theirs made it to Conspiracy. Sancious has worked with Jon Anderson. Coryell, Jones and Hillage have worked with Bill Bruford.

Sherwood didn't quite get everyone he wanted. Keith Emerson, John Goodsall, Allan Holdsworth and Peter Erskine were all announced by Sherwood—he even gave dates for sessions with Emerson and Erskine—but they do not appear on the final album. At one point, he talked of having Stanley Jordan play guitar on (3) and he had also hoped to recruit Jeff Berlin.

The project was assembled quickly. Across various Facebook posts, Sherwood described being commissioned on 3 Apr and by 7 Apr, he was saying he had finished writing 6 of the pieces, was about to start on the 7th and was also recording bass parts that day. The guests' contributions followed: e.g. Haslip recorded his parts on 26 Apr, Wackerman on 4 Jun. The album was released 16 Oct in the US and 5 Nov in the UK on CD, double LP and download. (HP, 29 Jan 13)

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