HOWESOUND 27th September 2024
This is a guitar masterclass. Steve Howe plays all sorts of guitars in all sorts of styles, following his muse. He adds keyboards too and only brings one other person in – Dylan, his son, on drums. There is electric guitar, steel guitar and acoustic guitar. It’s a lovely sit down, chill and listen properly album. Often quite short, the pieces feel like atmospheric snippets, like the episodes of a film soundtrack, fitting each scene, changing in mood and united only in Howe’s guitar phrasing. At the outset we see a shift from the intricate prog of ‘Hail Storm’ move to the melodic country stylings of the next track, ‘Spring Board’. ‘Up Stream’ is a treated guitar, thoughtful, spacious solo atop a synth wash, while the next, ‘Secret Mission’ is a detailed meditation, mathematical in melody, filled in with more washes. Contrast that with the acoustic loveliness of ‘Passing Thoughts’ or the light-stringed pitch-bending of ‘Equinox’.
“What I’m doing,” says Steve, “is focusing on what I do well and what I love to do.” Inspired by buying a new keyboard, Steve was moved to new structures. “I think differently on a keyboard”, he says and it seems that led his guitar playing in interesting directions, sampled here.
Howe’s most famous role is in Yes, where he co-wrote many of the songs. I’ve never clicked with the overall sound of Yes, or his other main gig, Asia, so I am delighted to hear his guitar voice in a different setting where, self-directed, it turns out to be thoughtful in composition and varied in tone. I’m rather a latecomer and, at 77 years old, this is about his twentieth solo album and he has more than earned the right to play what he likes and the respect to have it heard. This is the mature work of a man that has played a part in the making of so many significant rock artworks, whether it is Lou Reed’s first solo album or work with Queen or Frankie Goes To Hollywood or others.
One to enjoy for the range in tone and the guitar artistry on show.