STEVE HOWE'S REMEDY: ELEMENTS

Steve Howe needs no introduction at all, and his new band Remedy includes his songs Dylan (drums) and Virgil (keys) plus Gilad Atzmon (woodwind) and Derrick Taylor (bass). All of the tracks were written by Steve himself, so he has to shoulder the responsibility for this one. There are some good songs on here, no doubt of that at all, but there is a lot of inconsistency which makes the album very hard indeed to listen to. It shifts styles, and Steve himself says that it is "guitar based progressive rock containing influences from blues and jazz".

That the musicianship is top quality is never in doubt ? Steve has been one of the most important guitarists in the rock scene for over thirty years, but that doesn't mean that the music itself is of the same mark. This is not an album that many people will be approaching in its' own right; that many people will purchase it just because of the Yes connections is a shame. The fourth song is "The Clap (Where I Belong)", is Steve trying to say something? This is not the instrumental of a similar name a la Yes but instead has a much more laid back Wishbone Ash feel. Not an album that I will often be returning to.

Originally appeared in Feedback #78, April 2004