When neo-progger Steven Wilson says he loves the texture and scope of music from the 1970s, he doesn’t just mean classic recordings by the likes of King Crimson, Pink Floyd and Jethro Tull. He means all of it — ABBA, jazz, the Bee Gees, all of it.

When Steven Wilson decided he wanted to give his retro-cool new solo project the spacious, complex sound of his favorite classic rock albums, he knew who to ring up: Alan Parsons. Even if they’d never met before.

Count Alan Parsons, engineer on Pink Floyd’s legendary Dark Side of the Moon, as another in the long line of skeptics when it comes to syncing the album up with “The Wizard of Oz.”

The stereotype stands to this day: John Lennon wrote the rockers, Paul McCartney the love songs. But the Abbey Road track “Oh! Darling” challenged this notion by having McCartney write and sing the blues.

Even as Steven Wilson reenters the studio with legendary engineer Alan Parsons to record his third solo LP, fans are getting a sneak peek at one of project’s new songs.

Though Alan Parsons recently took part in The Prog Collective, don’t look for a new full-length album under his own name anytime soon.

As Billy Sherwood assembled an all-star cast for the forthcoming 2012 Cleopatra Records release The Prog Collective, he thought of an old friend: Former Yes bandmate Chris Squire.

Billy Sherwood is in the final mixing stages on a pair of new guest-packed recording projects, one an original prog rock effort and the other a tribute to Supertramp.