GTR

It's been a long time. I can't remember whatever moved me to buy GTR back in the day. Was it the promise of Howe and Hackett together? Did I really enjoy When the Heart Rules the Mind back then? Did a friend give it to me? Was it one of those twelve albums that I got for a penny from the record club? For the life of me, I can't imagine why I'd have grabbed this.

Anyhow, I did own it, and forgettable is probably the best adjective to describe it. There is nothing on it that is really awful (hence I'm not giving it one star) but there is precious littl on here that rises above mediocrity. The only reason I'd listen to it now is to hear the two guitar solo pieces. Sketches in the Sun is a decent Howe composition in a style that we expect from him, while Hackett to Bits makes up in energy what it lacks in originality. The rest of this is slightly substandard AOR.

If you want to get some GTR, get the King Biscuit live album instead. GTR was a decent live band and included a lot of solo stuff from the two Steve's in their show. The KB album includes a decent sampling of that.

2 stars. If you don't already have an idea that you will like this, don't bother.