Customer Reviews

Spectrum

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This CD can be monotonously boring at times but overall I enjoyed Steve and Tony's playing here. The other musicians, Oliver Wakeman, Virgil Howe, and Dylan Howe are somewhat situational beneficiaries of their respective father's fame and in my opinion are prog rock's "not ready for prime time" players. The arrangements seem to be dumbed down for them; often plodding and repetetive, and the rhythm momentum and changes on many cuts has a stuttered feeling, not quite sure of itself. Even amidst this jungle, Steve's multiple guitars do shine through more than once with his inimitable glistening melodical precision. I can't help but wonder though if some of the 15 songs on this CD were thrown together in too quickly a manner so that Steve could play more of his many different instruments, I suppose to show the "Spectrum" of his talents and modes. Some tunes come off instead as being more cursory studies than truly mastered arrangements. While not quite nepotism, this would have been a better album with more experienced and seasoned musicians backing Steve and Tony and they needed to take more time in crafting the sound. Alas, I continue to mourn for the days when art rock albums were actual masterworks of the prog rock art. I am disappointed that high caliber musicians whom I greatly respect rush music to the marketplace for $$ sake clearly without the passion and obsession and intense creativity that marks the finest of the genre. Wealth and fame make you lazy. I copied this CD into iTunes and put it back up on the Marketplace.

Given that I recently read a statement from Steve Howe that said: "I have tried to capture to the greatest extent possible, different styles from around me and bring them into a format which fits my guitar instrumentals.", Spectrum is certainly a very fitting title to his new solo album. It covers a wide array of musical styles that are meticulously worked into Howe's clever songwriting style which exhibits versatile compositions, cohesive musical structure and eclectic musicianship.

Accompanied by his sons Dylan on drums and Virgil on keyboards, Steve Howe also enlisted the services of bass god Tony Levin whose chiming bass arpeggios are priceless and Oliver Wakeman of Ayreon and Wakeman-Nolan fame to present us with the highly optimistic-sounding music on Spectrum. Throughout the whole album which easily spans over an hour of running time, Howe plays happy melodies that express feelings of "self-confidence, a freshness and a feeling of 'being above'" as the InsideOut press info documents. Most of the songs on the album are wonderfully easy to enjoy, often played on Howe's trademark acoustic guitar with a lush sound to them. Oliver Wakeman and his son Virgil Howe provide the sweeping moog sounds on tracks like "Without Doubt", "Hour of Need" and "Free Rein" over which Howe lays down delicate segments of acoustic guitar notes that are enhanced by various world music elements including sitar and tabla. "Band of Light" and "Ragga of Our Time" are two cuts that seem to come from Howe's love for Latin-inflected jazz that is also reminiscent of Santana a bit. The Latin groove of the former track is especially haunting when it's matched up with glorious cymbal work by Dylan Howe.

The most progressive outing on the album has got to be "Realm Thirteen", which at face value, may seem rather bland, but repeated listens reveal its numerous time changes and memorable melodies. "Fools Gold" sees Howe going back to explore some more blues-jazz-rock styled songwriting where Tony Levin's bass shines like never before and proves why Levin was the best choice for the position on this record.

Given Howe's long career with Yes, Asia, GTR and a good number of solo releases, it would be hard to say Spectrum is an essential release. However, it will certainly have more appeal value for those interested in Howe's instrumental side mixed with his not-so-progressive-but-utterly-cohesive attitude to songwriting.

Steve's playing is delightful on this CD! Too bad the song writing isn't up to the same standard. This may have otherwise gone down as a classic. Regardless, this still is one of Steve's better releases and it will remain in my collection.

This is an extrodinary CD by and extrodinary guitarist. Steve seems to shy away from the blazzing guitar solos that he played in the 70s but he more then makes up for it with his complicated, excellent chord playing. Steve is truly a guitarist playing excellent chords and lead solos within a variety of musical styles. This CD features mostly electric guitar with some accustic guitar sprinkled in. Buy this CD along with Elements and Skyline

Keep the CDs coming Steve.

Steve Howe's solo music isn't the sort you'd ever hear on the radio, mainly because it's low on emotion. The drumming of Dylan Howe, who also performed on dad's "Elements" with brother Virgil Howe, is not very exciting. Between Virgil Howe, whose release of "Yes Remixes" disappointed many Yes fans but pleased this one, and Oliver Wakeman, who collaborated with Steve Howe for "The Three Ages of Magick" there is very little spirit coming from the keyboards. Tony Levin is known to have soulful talent, but his bass work is low in this mix. Steve Howe plays his typical style of honky tonk rock, much of which we've heard before, and he adds some nice contemplative songs, many of them variations of his music from past decades. But there's nothing there that makes your heart pound with passion. Personally, I find Steve Howe does best when he's paired with someone who has a lyrical, musical, quality. These Yeskids are too much like their parents. I'm reminded of Benny Hill too often when I hear their performances. I own every Steve Howe release, and this one is in the middle of the pack. Highlights: "Labyrinth", "In The Skyway", and "Where Words Fail". If you like twang, you'll like this album.

Spectrum is a very good album. I'll admit first off that I'm relatively new to the Yes/Howe world and have been ingesting as much of this body of work as I can.

The guitar work is very fast and technically clean, a trend I've come to expect from Howe. The only other album I have to reference is his other recent album Natural Timbre, and these two albums are polls apart in terms of their mood and general thrust of their sound. Spectrum sounds like a jam session, moving from different styles and sounds from track to track. Some are intense and jarring while others are a bit more melodic and pleasing to the ear. Natural Timbre, being purely acoustic, had a uniformly smooth sound, and from what little I've heard, had many similarities in sound, if not implication, to what I've heard from the Album Skyline. The melodic, almost vocal style his guitar adopted for much of these two albums is less pronounced in Spectrum; there are many more blazing solos here and for many listeners who didn't enjoy natural timbre this may be refreshing.

However, as a casual listener this album made much less of an impact on me. Honestly the album as a whole is a bit all over the map. It sounds like a "Greatest Hits" album rather than a new piece of studio work, which isn't wholly welcome for me. The album just doesn't quite flow making it difficult to truly find the more exemplary parts of it.

Not to say Howe's contribution isn't top notch, because it is. His guitar work is truly legendary; I've never heard anything that he's played that isn't technically brilliant; the sound he achieves while playing is another story completely. I feel that this album overall is very well performed but a bit jumbled and schizophrenic.

While I wouldn't recommend going to far out of the way to acquire Spectrum I would definetely recommend picking it up if you cross paths with it at the record store, or if you are simply a huge die-hard fan of Howe. It actually may be a very good starting place for new listeners interested in exposing themselves to Howe's many different styles and the technical mastery he has over this instrument. I enjoy and respect it for what it is, but am cognizant of the fact that he has done much better work.

As fan of all things Yes since "Yessongs" was their newest release, I still check in every few years with Steve Howe's solo material. This is my favorite all-around Howe disc. I agree with many that on the first few listenings it sounds a bit sterile and somewhat unfinished. For some reason I continued to listen to this one and over the years it keeps revealing more depth. It works both as background music on my PC at work as well as when I'm fully focusing on the music. This is one of my "desert island" discs now !
-KV

This is so typical of Steve Howe solo albums...outstanding! The basic writing, the arrangements, the multi-layered production, all are excellent! Howe's son plays drums, Tony Levin plays bass, and Rick Wakeman's son plays some keyboards. If you are a Howe fan, a Yes fan, or a fan of music in general this is a sure win.

The good news is that Steve Howe still has a great sense of song-writing. This CD is very original, even if it does allude to other pieces from Yes and Asia in a couple of tracks. It is not too experimental, nor is it too conventional; it is a nice mix. Now for the bad news: It does suffer from being a little too unpolished and amateurish. I agree with another reviewer that this may be a result of his sons playing on most of the albums tracks. Certainly the blame cannot be placed on Tony Levin (whose contribution is not as bold as I would have liked, but solid nonetheless) or Steve. I would not say, however, that the music is emotionless. It is anything but that. It's just unpolished in places, but this isn't even bad enough to bypass the CD. It is worth listening to, and a good listener will be rewarded.

Great music for the road ... crank it up! A variety of styles keeps the progression of tracks interesting. NICE...