To label Steve Howe merely as a guitar player is to overlook the full extent of his talents, as he excels not only on the guitar but also as a songwriter. Above all, he is a legendary guitarist who gained prominence with bands like Yes, Asia, and GTR. Additionally, he has cultivated a successful solo career, having released over 30 albums to date.
The origins of this latest release began in 2019 when Howe acquired a Novatron Summit keyboard, which became his inspiration to explore new sonic territories. As he says, “The sound of the keyboard sparked something in me.” Using a keyboard has allowed him to become a little more experimental and ambitious in his songwriting, giving him the opportunity to stretch out, improvise and be more melodic. There are all manner of styles on this album, ranging from tracks with rock leanings, like ‘Hail Storm’ and ‘Spring Tide,’ to the acoustic ‘Distillations’ and ‘Passing Through’ to the lush classy playing on ‘Equinox’.
It’ll surprise nobody to realise Guitarscape is rammed through with some truly fine playing from a master musician, and the pieces of music here are a tribute to his dexterity and skill as a musician, someone always looking to go beyond what has been done before. The 14 tracks included are all relatively short pieces – all of which were composed by Howe, with him playing all instruments apart from when son Dylan Howe helps out on drums. Several tracks hover around or slightly below the two-minute mark but still come over like complete pieces rather than something cut abruptly short. As Howe says, the secret is knowing when a piece of music feels complete so that less really can feel like more; and it’s not as if he doesn’t get to play much longer pieces in his day job with Yes!
Guitarscape is a showcase demonstrating just how extremely talented Steve Howe is on all manner of stringed instruments, to which Keys can now be added, but this is an album which will probably only appeal to the committed Yes fan or Steve Howe completists, which is a pity as there’re some delightful pieces of music on this album.
