Steve Howe - Spectrum

The latest solo album from Steve's long and successful career is packed full with fine musicianship and styles. This new release features old friend Tony Levin on bass and offspring from Steve and Rick Wakeman in the shape of Oliver Wakeman and Virgil Howe sharing the keyboards, with Dylan Howe on drums.

All the YES fans reading this, will know Steve from that very same band, and when you hear this release, you can pick out Steve's input within the band. This is an experimental album, and is full of colourful melodies from other styles and cultures of music, such as African, Latino and a brief Santana style influence.

Fifteen tracks make up the just-over-the-hour-mark barrier of the album, which is a pleasing listen. All of the tracks differ from the preceding ones in tempo and style, and with no vocals at all, make way for Steve to flex his guitar muscles with some amazing solos.

Steve plays a Sitar on certain tracks, and knowing that fellow Yes man Jon Anderson likes real instruments also must have struck a chord in Steve's mind to use one on his projects. With Steve's impressive C.V, and his influences to many guitarists today, this album will be very welcomed by a lot of players today.

With so many styles on offer, it is difficult to gauge a highlight, but it is very well performed and it will certainly appeal to any YES fan on the planet. I would recommend it to anyone that likes instrumentals with good sounds and performances.

Danny Mayo

Steve Howe

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