Album: Worlds on Hold
Artist: Prog Collective
2021 Purple Pyramid Records (Cleopatra Records Inc.)
CD: CL02513

Billy Sherwood: bass (all), drums (1-11), guitars (1-5, 7-13), keys (1, 2, 4-7, 9), lead vocals (4), vocals (12), backing vocals (1-10)
Todd Rundgren: vocals (1)
L Shankar: violin (1)
Geoff Tate: lead vocals (2)
Ron 'Bumblefoot' Thal: lead guitar (2)
Jon Davison: lead vocals (3)
Patrick Moraz: keys (3)
Jan Akkerman: lead guitar (4)
Sonja Kristina: vocals (5)
Steve Hillage: lead guitar (5)
Arjen Anthony Lucassen: lead vocals (6)
Steve Hackett: guitars (6)
Roine Stolt: vocals (7), lead guitar (7)
Graham Bonnet: vocals (8)
Derek Sherinian: keys (8)
Joe Lynn Turner: lead vocals (9)
Martin Barre: lead guitar (9)
David Clayton-Thomas: vocals (10)
Geoff Downes: keys (10)
John Wetton: vocals (11)
Tony Kaye: keys (12)
Alan White: drums (12)
David Johansen: vocals (13)
Scott Connor: drums (13)


Produced, recorded & mixed by Sherwood at CIRCA: HQ Studios, CA
Mastered by Maor Appelbaum
Additional engineers: Hackett recorded by Roger King; Kristina recorded by Robert Norton
A&R and Artists Relations: John Lappen


Tracks:
1. "Worlds On Hold" [Sherwood] (5:44), feat. Todd Rundgren & L. Shankar
2. "Two Trajectories" [Sherwood] (6:33), feat. Geoff Tate and Ron Bumblefoot Thal
3. "Anything But Goodbye" [Sherwood] (6:09), feat. Jon Davison & Patrick Moraz
4. "Meant to Be" [Sherwood] (5:29), feat. Billy Sherwood & Jan Akkerman
5. "Brave New World" [Sherwood] (5:30), feat. Sonja Kristina & Steve Hillage
6. "Glory Days Ahead" [Sherwood] (6:06), feat. Arjen Antony Lucassen & Steve Hackett
7. "Solsbury Hill" [Peter Gabriel] (4:35), feat. Roine Stolt & Billy Sherwood
8. "A Whiter Shade of Pale" [Gary Brooker/Keith Reid/Matthew Fisher] (4:33), feat. Graham Bonnet & Derek Sherinian
9. "Eye in the Sky" [Eric Woolfson/Alan Parsons] (5:07), feat. Joe Lynn Turenr & Martin Barre
10. "Nights in White Satin" [Justin Hayward] (5:20), feat. David Clayton-Thomas & Geoff Downes
11. "Penny Lane" [John Lennon/Paul McCartney] (2:59), feat. John Wetton
12. "More Than a Feeling" [Tom Scholz] (4:36), feat. Alan White & Tony Kaye
13. "People are Strange" [Raymond Manzarek/Jim Morrison/Robert Krieger/John Densmore] (2:24), feat. David Johansen & Scott COnnoer


Notes: The album was released on CD and limited edition, gatefold, green vinyl on Bandcamp on 16 Dec 2020. (2) was the lead digital single. A general release came Feb 2021.

The album mixes new compositions by Sherwood and 4 covers (7-10). As with many Purple Pyramid releases, there are several "bonus" tracks from their other releases. (11) is from Keep Calm & Salute the Beatles; (12) is from '70s Box: The Sound of a Decade; and (13) is from Light My Fire—A Classic Rock Salute to The Doors. The album was commissioned, written and recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic. (1) is explicitly about the pandemic. Sherwood said in a Feb 2021 interview, "When I was writing it [3], I thought it has a Yes vibe to it." Stolt was originally just to do the vocal on (7), but loved the track and became more involved, possibly contributing additional instrumental work than his credits imply. Sherwood first described producing, writing and playing (including bass) a third Prog Collective album on Facebook in May 2020, mentioning guests of Davison, Moraz, Hackett, Rundgren, Tate, Lucassen, Shankar, and Bumblefoot. In a Jul 2020 interview, Sherwood said he was currently working on the project and was about to start mixing. He described mixing "Worlds on Hold" in early Aug 2020.

In a Feb 2021 interview, Sherwood explained: "The studio asked me to do another one at the beginning of Covid so I started writing like mad. A lot of the lyrics of the songs reflect the times we are living in right now. [...] There was a lot of content to pull from, with all that's going on, so it became easy to get it all together. It's inspired by what we are going through so there's a serious note to a lot of it." He went on to say that all the material was "written in that period which frames the music". About the cover songs, Sherwood said, "Brad Perera, the president of the label [...] chose those songs based on what we were doing and what he thought would blend with the kind of material I was writing. He gave me a list of about 10 songs, I narrowed them down to 4. I thought ["Eye in the Sky"] would be interesting [...] Alan Parsons was on the first and the second Collectives, he couldn't participate in the third one due to his schedule, so I thought that was an interesting way to include him, by proxy."

Overall, I prefer this album to the more high profile Arc of Life with Sherwood and Davison, which was recorded before Worlds on Hold but released shortly after. (HP, 18 Feb 21)

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