Back in the '70s the members of prog-rock giants Yes thought it would
be a good idea if they all made solo albums yes, even the drummer. Well it
was the '70s, and even if the resulting albums were mostly pretty
awful, the devoted fans still bought them.
Which is perhaps why Steve Howe, the band's on and off guitarist for the
last 30 years, has been putting out warehouse-loads of solo albums over the
past decade. To be honest, this isn't any better or worse than the rest of
them, the only difference being that he's enlisted his sons, Dylan and
Virgil, to join him in a band called Remedy. To all intents and purposes,
however, this is just another Steve Howe album.
There's no doubting that Howe is an accomplished guitarist, and on this
album he turns his hand to folk, classical, jazz and blues stylings with
equal dexterity. Pacific Haze and Westwinds are pleasing jazz work-outs,
with echoes of the early Yes albums, and the folky strains of A Drop In The
Ocean makes for a suitably elegiac finale.
Considerably less convincing are the tracks where the band stumbles, and I use the word advisedly, into heavy rock territory. Rising Sun chugs along at a fair lick, propelled by
ace saxman Gilad Atzmon's florid flourishes, but Load Off My Mind is just
plain horrible, and someone really ought to take Steve to one side and tell
him to lay off the vocals.
Perhaps they should also point out that the template for this, and in fact
all Howe's multitudinous solo albums should be The Steve Howe Album, the
guitarist's second, and most convincing, lone effort, which was wholly
instrumental and opted for real, organic instruments and string sections
rather than the heavily synthesised backings that adorn, and mostly ruin,
this album.
Yes fans will no doubt add this to their collection, especially as itıs
graced by a suitably ethereal Roger Dean cover, but it's hard to imagine
anyone else taking the plunge. Don't give up the day job Steve.
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