GTR

One truly big disapointment in a decade full of big disappointments (prog-wise, I mean). I believe I was one of thevery few old school prog lovers who actually liked Asia´s first album. I also enjoyed Genesis pop albums and some of Kansas stuff with John Elefante. Even Styx and Yes. After all, it was good prog influenced pop music. But some projects just didn´t work. GTR was an obvious exploitation of Asia´s success. Ok, nothing against it as long as the music was good, prog, pop or whatever.

Alas, tha was not the case with GTR. I didn´t like the album then and I don´t like it now, for the very same reason: the union of two genius prog guitar heroes is not enough to make a good band out of it. Even if the other musicians are very good, they simply don´t gel. And the songwriting is really bad. With two exceptions, the opener When The Heart Rules The Mind and The Hunter, the rest of the songs are just awful. The two instrumentals don´t count, of course, for they are really solo spots, not the work of GTR.

Everything sounds forced and contrived. No wonder there was not a folow up. I guess it was all too embarassing for everyone involved. Very forgetable, at least for me. It would make a nice pop single with the two aforementioned songs. Two stars is the most I can give them based on that. If you want to try it, be warned: listen before you spend your hard earned money based only upon the names involved. This may not be worth it, even for the hardcore Hackett and /or Howe fans.