CONSPIRACY

Conspiracy was a side project of Yes co-founder and bassist Chris Squire and World Trade bandleader Billy Sherwood, who at the time was an ex-member of Yes (he rejoined in 2015, replacing the deceased Squire). The two began writing together around 1990, contributing songs to two Yes albums in 1991; Sherwood was a touring musician with the group in 1994, then he produced Yes's Keys to Ascension in 1997. Later that year he joined the band, eventually playing on two albums and performing 250 shows as a member of Yes before leaving in 2000.

With Yes on hiatus in 1992, Squire and Sherwood played a week-long tour on the US West Coast as "The Chris Squire Experiment;" they were joined by Yes drummer Alan White, Toto keyboardist Jeff Porcaro, guitarist Jimmy Haun, who appeared on quite a bit of Union, and World Trade percussionist Mark Towner Williams. The group auditioned about half of Conspiracy at these concerts. Some of these studio recordings may have originated from this time period.

Conspiracy contains (a) seven new songs; (b) four songs previously released by Yes ("The More We Live" (Union) and "Love Conquers All" (Yesyears), both 1991, and "Wish I Knew" and "Man on the Moon" (both from Open Your Eyes, 1997)); and (c) versions of "Say Goodbye" and "Watching the World" from World Trade's 1995 album Euphoria, both of which had featured Squire on bass and vocals.

"Wish I Knew" (titled "Open Your Eyes" on the Yes album of the same name), is notable for an unusual reason. Although it was released later, the Conspiracy version represents the original arrangement, and while it's a nice-enough rendition, Yes's version is far superior. In listening to the two versions side-by-side, we get to hear the song before and after Jon Anderson made his modifications - - changes which are at once minute and momentous. Of the five familiar songs on Conspiracy, "Wish I Knew" is the only one that isn't as good as the 1990s version.

Anderson was apparently much less hands-on on the Yes renditions of "Man in the Moon" and "The More We Live;" the Conspiracy versions are very similar to the canonical versions; in fact, some of the vocal tracks sound identical. "Love Conquers All" is missing Trevor Rabin's lead vocals and his synthesizer solo, the latter of which is replaced here by a "Jimi" Haun guitar solo.

And then there's "Say Goodbye," which in my opinion is the best song Sherwood and Squire ever wrote - - and this is the best version I've heard. Supposedly one of the Yes factions considered recording it in 1991; I'm not the first to point out that "Say Goodbye" would've likely been the standout track on Union. And as great as it is performed by Sherwood and Squire, it's entirely plausible that it would've been even better with Anderson and Rabin.

The remaining songs are pretty good, with "Violet Purple Rose" the strongest; I'll admit that the intro is pretty much just the MTV theme played in the style of "Tempus Fugit," but it has all the energy and synergy I expect in a Sherwood-Squire collaboration - - although to be fair, it was actually a collaboration among Sherwood, Squire, and Billy Idol guitarist Steve Stevens. All of the other songs on the CD were composed solely by Sherwood and Squire.

On the whole, Conspiracy is a solid album with a couple of standout tracks. Definitely an album for Yes fans, but fans of AOR/prog-crossover rock will probably appreciate it as well.