STEPS ON EDGE

Side Steps are an instrumental jazz-rock band from Japan, who have so far released nine albums, and this is a reissue of their 1994 album 'Steps On Edge'. They are an instrumental act and are all undoubtedly extremely strong musicians, but I did find myself thinking of them more jazz-lite than a band with real depth. This is unfair as there are some extremely fine passages ? during "Triumphal Return" guitarist Atsunobo Tamura seems to play a solo at breakneck speed forever. He moves up and down the frets making musical sense of what is going on behind him, but this album must have seemed fairly dated when it came out ten years ago, let alone now.

When they gel, they are quite some force to behold but a lot of the time I get the impression that these could be Americans with big cheesy smiles saying "look at me ? I'm clever". Very mean I know, sorry guys. I do have to confess that I did enjoy playing the album but whether I would return to it frequently then that is another matter altogether.

Originally appeared in Feedback #78, April 2004