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STEVE
HOWE |
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Theres
so many incredible musical highlights on the 2017 Steve Howe release
of Anthology 2: Groups & Collaborations that its
hard to know where to begin. For starters, just about every musician
Steve Howe ever played with has got to be somewhere on this 52 track,
three CD set. Liner notes by Steve are understated, yet meaningful.
Early track, On The Horizon (a Leiber-Stoller cover) produced
by Joe Meek and featuring Howes early band The Syndicats
is brilliant, as are his fine recordings with lead singer Keith
West and their band Tomorrow, as well as three rarities
featuring the overlooked David Lawrence Atkinsthe latter
the phenomenal Curtiss / Maldoon singer (stage name Dave Curtiss)
from Steves lesser explored bands Canto and Bodast.
The brief instrumental by YES, Montreuxs Theme
is noteworthy but represents a sound that was tragically under-explored
in YES, while the full length Fragile version of Roundabout,
the bands breakthrough track, hardly needs any introduction.
Other insertions of additional YES material is offset by tastes of
1980s era Howe in both GTR and ASIA. Disc two
starts off with a fantastic rock edit version of Brother Of
Mine from Anderson Bruford Wakeman & Howe yet, slightly
less-played YES tracks from Keys To Ascension and humble choices
from The Ladder and Open Your Eyes are not the best
representatives of that underrated, fleeting late 1990s YES
period. For long time Howe fans who have already tasted some of the
above material, the best part of Anthology 2 is disc 3, which
features rare rock tracks that Steve made with Billy Currie,
singer Fish, Oliver Wakeman and Annie Haslam.
Annie Haslam is latter featured on the hardly-ever-heard and overlooked
track Lilys In The Field, which is the studio version
of what became the theme song from Steve and Annies fabled live
concert event in New York, organized by Steve, Annie and 20th Century
Guitar magazine, at Irving Plaza in the borough of Manhattan on the
21st of November 1995just as YES were in the throes of their
big mid decade comeback starting off the second half of the 1990s.
Despite the release of this ear-opening three CD set, 2017 was not
a good year for Steve as his son Virgil Howe, brother to Dylan
Howe, tragically died in September 2017. Virgil, at a very young
age is featured drumming on some excellent songs here that Steve chronicles
as being recorded in 1988. Those tracks, on disc three, featured Steve
reunited with Tomorrow vocalist Keith West and a 13 year old Virgil
on drums and man, that boy can play! Essential and ultra cool Howe
rock instrumentals from ASIA (Masquerade) and Ray Fenwick
& Steve Howe with Virgil (Slim Pickings from 2002)
as well as another rare instrumental from 1988, called Curved
Ballfeaturing Steve, Keith and Virgil blasting forthare
alone worth the price of admission to Anthology 2. www.stevehowe.com
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