YES - Before and After They Were Famous

It's time to wake up and smell the coffee for "Doors of Sleep". The most surprising thing about this first song is hearing Steve Howe's lilting tones for the very first time, and he does a pretty commendable job as a singer too. The song has all the trademark ascending arpeggios and descending diminuendos that we've come to know and love from Steve Howe during his YES years. Not surprisingly, this music is very reminiscent of YES, and one thing's for sure, you won't be falling asleep to the sound of the chiming chords and rousing chorus in "Doors of Sleep". This is no hushaby lullaby. This is a cadence and cascade of crashing crescendos in the best traditions of powerful and pulsating polyphonic prog. We're heading for a land down under next for "Australia", which sounds like it could be an ad for the Australian Tourist Board with Steve Howe urging us all to "Come to Australia". It's an optimistic feel-good travel song with some nice proggy YES-style power chords, although one can't help thinking the song would have sounded better with Jon Anderson on vocals. Riding in on the next wave is "The Nature of the Sea", an instrumental number with enough staccato stop-starts and sudden chord changes to keep even the most hardened of prog fans happy. The music opens in tranquil fashion, conjuring up a beach scene of being sat on a deckchair and watching the waves gently lapping over the shoreline, but watch out for the tide coming in because there's a tsunami of passionate and powerful prog arriving on the next wave. The next song "Lost Symphony" is an up-tempo and uplifting Jazz-Rock song of surging and symphonic splendour, with the sound of a cool saxophone very much at the forefront. This particular song represents quite a departure from the sound of YES, but variety is the spice of life, so they say, and this lively song could liven up many a dull evening spent indoors.

Side Two opens with the title track and longest piece of music on the album: "Beginnings". It's a seven-and-a half-minute long classically-inspired pastoral piece of music, sounding like a Bach Cantata, with sweeping violins, charming cellos, gently tinkling pianos, a woodwind section, and of course, featuring the magnificent maestro himself, Steve Howe on classical guitar. It's a delightful piece of classical music that conjures up a peaceful Bachian image of a green and pleasant meadow where sheep may safely graze on a warm summer's day. The next song appears like a "Will o the Wisp", and represents a return to more familiar Prog-Rock territory, sounding like a curious cross between Renaissance and YES, with a pounding bass guitar making its presence loudly felt in the formidable style of YES bassist Chris Squire - although it's actually Colin Gibson. Charging in next is "Ram", although this is a gently playful acoustic guitar ram that wouldn't hurt anybody. It's a perfect opportunity for Steve Howe to showcase his magnificent talent. Next up is "Pleasure Stole the Night", a gorgeously mellow and mellifluous slice of pastoral Prog-Folk. This lovely music sounds as English as strawberries and cream at Wimbledon, or maybe a troupe of Morris Men gaily prancing around the Maypole - well, maybe not THAT English! "Pleasure Stole the Night" is a real pleasure to listen to though - at any time of the day or night. Sadly, the "Beginnings" album is now coming to an end because we're about to "Break Away From It All" for the final song. Steve Howe treats us to another dazzling display of stunning guitar virtuosity in a song that sounds like a funky version of YES, with shades of "Owner of a Lonely Heart".

As with any first solo album from a longtime band member, this is an album where Steve Howe really stretches his wings and displays his versatile musical feathers in magnificent plumage by firmly establishing his Jazz and Classical credentials, long before The Steve Howe Trio came into existence. Steve Howe might not have the strongest voice in the world, but the marvellous music on this debut album more than makes up for any vocal deficiencies. Although the music is generally a bit of a departure from the familiar sound of YES, it's still very proggy and there's enough glittering guitar glissandos and captivating chord changes on offer here to keep any ardent YES fan happy.

More Albums by Steve Howe

 1979: Steve Howe - The Steve Howe Album - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mvBJadPGzcpyccwfLqUyxMPtjOA1KuBUA

 1988: Steve Howe & Paul Sutin - Seraphim - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nyb9ujMw-Zx9s8FVMSufr8pwnex-y9ll4

 1989: Steve Howe - Guitar Player - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kucIkPjiANeQ6flwGbCS14u7WrRbVRc4s

 1990: Steve Howe - The Early Years with Bodast - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ4JbF9rN12iyZGrG9Q8wanr-KJHuCiSX

 1991: Steve Howe - Turbulence - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_ni9_IT3xqZu5HKzQlbJEJ_76_RJogfjGA

 1993: Steve Howe - The Grand Scheme of Things - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mS4SWw0q5qZv3QrJGuj3XHNweT181bXoc

 1995: Steve Howe & Paul Sutin - Voyagers - 

 1995: Steve Howe - Guitar Plus - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mftKK7VXieqJWq2S2KOSTD0WvYnX9ksrQ

 1996: Steve Howe - Homebrew 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEOdJ0qpmac

 1998: Steve Howe - Quantum Guitar - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coyLZOMCQ4k

 1999: Steve Howe - Portraits of Bob Dylan - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_ldJ5f2XSyTY5aEDsXd0fy9jnrvJpwDjvc

 2000: Steve Howe - Homebrew 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeE9UhT9bbM

 2001: Steve Howe - Natural Timbre - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lf-WWKNKnpl7GK_Vse5BKZIBsAW6UitFw

 2002: Steve Howe & Martin Taylor - Masterpiece Guitars - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9CL8hZyysWloj86ZTWLvfagh-jmcxii8

 2002: Steve Howe - Skyline - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsxaAYl401M

 2003: Steve Howe's Remedy - Elements - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXKqJwtqYK8&t=3s

 2004: Steve Howe's Remedy - Live - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E6OJL0X_iw

 2005: Steve Howe - Spectrum - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE690D528BC1500D4

 2005: Steve Howe - Homebrew 3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACFT4pWPuPU

 2008: Steve Howe - Motif, Volume 1 - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lewjAPr_Nddt7YBD9H1LINXIlBp_3KZAE

 2009: Steve Howe - Homebrew 4 - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_m0mUJPgeCWiCyuKdgWM89vcZfNGXyKb8M

 2010: Steve Howe Trio - Travelling - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mPtyQ353IH3F4OsrKU3iZHQylemLlIaTE

 2011: Steve Howe - Time - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQ0Duia5Zaqse20sZ8ZwojsNxQy0Vtqsp

 2013: Steve Howe - Homebrew 5 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVZRLTgpahQ

 2015: Steve Howe - Anthology - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lkFer7SDHm-BhhFTK2nFEDwysKzRiZQdY

 2016: Steve Howe - Homebrew 6 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4Asso6Mylk

 2017: Steve Howe - Anthology 2: Groups & Collaborations - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0eIXb5QX_DZuZLo-dzQS44_OO8eYZDCJ

 2017: Steve Howe & Virgil Howe - Nexus - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kEZO-ogHzBPTCnXqPkgPqJoSP2Ol3Z0RQ

 2019: Steve Howe Trio - New Frontier - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n6EUzzMHQuM99-r8tTPZOYq3gSrQFoCe8

 2020: Steve Howe - Love Is - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_msRTPQ265EAksT9ZS2hY_mtPxVW-iBzn8

 2021: Steve Howe - Homebrew 7 - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_ll3uSYU2wOVM61LCOoXu-yhJ1WLzH2g30

"Space Hymns" - The final frontier! Prepare to blast off into orbit with an out-of-this-world collection of 11 devotional space- themed songs where Ramases boldly (or baldly!) goes where no album has gone before. The countdown has begun..... Five!.....Four!.....Three!.....Two!.....One!.....We have lift-off!..... Launching us into orbit in spectacular style on this 11-stage rocket is "Life Child", which opens in suitably atmospheric style with some spacey sound effects. The spaced-out song takes us on a wild acid guitar trip, where the singer tells us with a religiously-inspired passion for the environment that..... "The sun is fading from Your city, Life Child, From where I stand it ain't so pretty, Life Child, I see Your sun is going down, I see Your wreckage on the ground, Life Child, Your seas are full of poisoned water, Life Child......" Taking us through the stratosphere and up into orbit comes "Hello Mister", which sounds like a devotional Hare Krishna chant, with the title words of the song chanted seemingly ad finitum, although that's no bad thing. Achieving orbit now, and along comes Space Hymn No. 3, "And the Whole World", another Hare Krishna inspired song with the pleasant harmonies blending nicely with the gentle sound of the acoustic instruments. You can almost picture the singers gathered half-naked around a campfire at night with their eyes pointed towards the heavens. "Quasar One" continues our journey around the Earth in similar devotional style with much chanting and featuring a whole jamboree of acoustic instruments. "You're The Only One Joe" follows next, where the only lyrics are the song title repeated endlessly for 2 minutes, which does become rather repetitive and you're left wondering who on Earth Joe is. The next song "Earth People" features a beautiful female vocal lead and represents one of the highlights of the album. It's a delightful song to listen to at night with the lights turned down low where you can be carried away into a higher orbit, or failing that, you can drift off to sleep and have pleasant dreams of drifting through endless space with the magnificent Earth down below. The next song "Molecular Delusion" is probably the most religious-inspired of all of the Space Hymns on the album. It's an acid-tinged song George Harrison might have recorded during one of his more meditative moments after visiting the Indian guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Next up is "Balloon", where the singer imploringly sings "Don't burst your bubble, or you're in trouble." which doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but who cares, because it's a fun lyric and a great song. The intriguingly titled "Dying Swan Year 2000" is a short little a capella album filler before "Jesus Come Back", an unapologetically devotional song that wears its religious heart on its sleeve with these words, "Have you got fears for the future, my friend Jesus, Jesus come back". It's *almost* enough to turn a confirmed atheist into a devout follower of Jesus. Who needs Jehovah's Witnesses knocking at their door when there's devotional music as good as this to inspire you!? Finally, we return to Earth with "Journey To The Inside" to close out the album. It's a weird 6-minute-long, drug-induced acid trip, which is nothing less than you'd expect from a religiously-inspired album drenched in psychedelic colours.

If you want to get all religious without going to church and fancy listening to some gentle and devotional Prog-Folk songs with a sprinkle of psychedelic flower-power, then this is the album for you. The album will have special appeal if you like the idea of dancing naked around a tree under a star-filled moonlit sky with some flowers in your hair. "Space Hymns" features enchanting harmonies and various acoustic delights designed to transport you to musical heaven on Earth.

The album opens in magnificent style with a tremendous power ballad: "When Evening Comes". Ken Hensley is in fine voice here and he's a very accomplished guitarist too, as he demonstrates here with some phenomenal soaring power chords and glittering glissandos. This dramatic refrain is just as strong and powerful as anything Uriah Heep have ever done, representing a dazzling entrance onto the solo stage for Ken Hensley which he can feel justly proud. Stunning debut albums like this one only come along "From Time To Time" and that's the title of our next song. It begins as a gentle strumming acoustic guitar number and blossoms out into a high and mighty passion play of stupendous sonic splendour, in true Uriah Heep style. Think of the magnificent majesty of "July Morning", and that's the kind of epic song you have here, only without David Byron's extravagant high-pitched vocals. When the dynamic keyboards appear at the midway point, that's when the song really reaches up into the stratosphere. It's back down to earth for "A King Without a Throne", a fairly routine and plodding Blues- Rock number without any great Demons and Wizards keyboard histrionics. It's time to put the umbrella up now for "Rain", which features Ken in full romantic balladeer mode. It's a gorgeous piano ballad featuring these moving heartfelt lyrics:- "It's raining outside but that's not unusual, But the way that I'm feeling is becoming usual, I guess you could say, The clouds are moving away, Away from your days, And into mine." ..... The moment when the gorgeous choir joins in is truly inspirational. This mellifluous romantic melody is guaranteed to brighten up the dullest of rainy days. We've reached the halfway point now with "Proud Words", a rousing and rollicking rock & roll song with a boisterous attitude. Ken Hensley's clearly not in the mood to stand for any nonsense here as he loudly and proudly urges us all to:- "Stand up and fight, Or you'll lose your right, Do you want to stand in a line, Fightin' hard to hold on to your mind." ..... It's a rockin' good song to close Side One, which sounds like a rousing call to arms.

We've struck lucky and hit musical gold with "Fortune", a resonant reverberant refrain with High and Mighty Ken Hensley at his exhilarating and exuberant best. It's a true Return To Fantasy in a glorious Wonderworld of classic Uriah Heep pomp and passion. It's a song with all of the storming power of a tank rolling across Salisbury Plain. This is where we get to hear the booming and bombastic sound of Ken Hensley having the Sweet Freedom to do what he does best of all - delivering dynamic and dramatic Hard Rock with all of the explosive power of a stick of TNT. It's very 'eavy, but not so very 'umble. There's a nice change of pace for "Black Hearted Lady", an uplifting romantic ballad with Ken Hensley wearing his heart on his sleeve with these bittersweet lyrics:- "Reading between the lines I find, You don't mean what you say, You cheated and you lied, And how you made me hurt inside, You turned my days into darkest nights, And re-arranged my dreams, You're just not what you seem, Black-hearted lady." ..... It sounds like Ken was writing from bitter personal experience with those emotionally-wrought lyrics. It's time to "Go Down" now for a lovely acoustic guitar ballad. It's a charming heart-warming song carried along on a harmonious wave of rich golden guitar chords and with Ken Hensley in fine impassioned voice. In an album that's choc-a-bloc full of great songs, the penultimate song "Cold Autumn Sunday" represents the highlight of the album. It's a passionate power ballad that pulls out all the stops, featuring a glittering display of stratospheric guitar riffing and a rousing honey-voiced choir that's guaranteed to lift the spirits up into the heavens. This is THE BIG anthemic number on the album with all of the grandiose splendour and magnificent majesty of a great royal occasion. And finally, here comes the real shocker..... Ken Hensley goes Country! Yes, really! "The Last Time" is the last song on the album and it's a twangy Country song, adding a countrified string to Mr Hensley's versatile musical bow - although it's hard to picture Ken Hensley wearing a Stetson hat and cowboy boots.

"Proud Words on a Dusty Shelf" is a magnificent debut for Ken Hensley and it's an album that any discerning connoisseur of classic Prog-Rock can feel proud to have on their dusty shelf. You don't HAVE to be a Uriah Heep fan to love this stunning album, but it might help. It's not as hard and heavy as Uriah Heep, but it's an album bursting at the seams with pride and power and romantic passion.