GTR

'GTR' is the eponymous debut studio album of GTR and was released in 1986. It's the sole official studio album released by the short lived super group GTR. The group was founded by the ex-Genesis' guitarist Steve Hackett and then ex-Yes and ex-Asia's guitarist Steve Howe. The group lasted for two years and made two albums, a studio and a live album, and disbanded in 1987. Curiously, Hackett has subsequently been strongly critical of this musical project.

The band's name, anecdotally, comes from the marking on the studio mixing console that indicates the guitar volume control. In comparison to the two leaders' earlier works within progressive rock, GTR's work followed on an album with a more oriented rock format. One of the central ideas for GTR, as a project, was an attempt to create a fully fleshed contemporary band that sound without the use of keyboards and synthesizers. Instead, Hackett and Howe's guitars were outfitted with Roland guitar synthesizers. All the synthesizer sounds on the album was created using this method.

The line up on the album is Max Bacon (vocals), Steve Hackett (vocals, guitars, guitar synthesizer and bass), Steve Howe (vocals, guitars and guitar synthesizers), Phil Spalding (vocals and bass guitar) and Jonathan Mover (drums and percussion).

'GTR' has ten tracks. The first track 'When The Heart Rules The Mind' written by Hackett and Howe is one of the better tracks on the album. Max Bacon is at his best with his voice similar to Dennis DeYoung of Styx and with Hackett and Howe contributing with their customary guitar work duets. It was the first single of the album. The second track 'The Hunter' written by Downes is a track with nothing of progressive on it. The track is saving by those fleeting guitar moments especially Hackett's guitar ending and Phil Spalding's bass playing. This was the second single of the album. The third track 'Here I Wait' written by Hackett and Howe represents a complete contrast to the previous track with its heavy guitar sound. The duet between Hackett and Howe is excellent and a relief and it remind us that these guys can really play when they want to. The fourth track 'Sketches In The Sun' written by Howe is the first instrumental on the album and is Howe's showcase. This is one of the few reasons why we should buy this album. It has one of the best solo performances made by him. This short instrumental track shows that both could have offered something better to this album. The fifth track 'Jekyll And Hyde' written by Hackett, Howe and Bacon see the band returning to the same style of the first tracks of the album. Once again it has a whole load of synthesizers and guitars with a sound very much like the sound of Yes created when Howe left the band. The sixth track 'You Can Still Get Through' written by Hackett and Howe is possibly one of the worse tracks on the album. Once again we have the eighties keyboard sound and it seems that the band have run out of ideas. The seventh track 'Reach Out (Never Say No)' written by Hackett, Howe and Spalding is a track dominated by the guitars. Fortunately the guitar work manages to save this track from becoming another run to a typical AOR track. The eighth track 'Toe The Line' written by Hackett and Howe is a complete different story and it was primarily written by Howe. This is a good track with a nice acoustic guitar work with some delightful guitar licks, making of it one of the better numbers of the album. The ninth track 'Hackett To Bits' written by Hackett can clearly be identified as a track in the Hackett's back catalogue. This isn't a new piece of music but only a revisit of an original version of their album 'Please Don't Touch'. It seems that Hackett was very reluctant to include new material of his own on the album. The tenth and last track 'Imagining' written by Hackett, Howe and Mover is an excellent track and we may say that this is one of the tracks that save the album. This is one of the few rare moments on the album where we can hear real progressive rock music. The acoustic guitar work is a delight while the percussion and the vocals blend in well making this track are one of the few that can be heard without sounding to much outdated.

Conclusion: One of my last reviews on Progarchives was 'Squackett', the other album with a partnership with Genesis and Yes. In reality we can't compare these two albums. Have these two albums the same quality level? No. 'Squackett' is much better than 'GTR' is. Still, we must note that both albums were released in completely different times. Probably the worst thing to 'GTR' was its release in the 80's, those troubled times for progressive rock music. In my humble opinion, basically 'GTR' can be described as a fairly decent AOR album. It has five tracks that save the album 'When The Hurt Rules The Mind', 'Sketches In The Sun', 'Toe The Line', 'Hackett To Bits' and 'Imagining'. The main problem with it is that it was and still is a truly disappointment to all progressive rock fans who felt that the collaboration between Steve Hackett and Steve Howe, considered two of the best and most respected musicians in the progressive music, could possibly lead to a classical 70's progressive rock album. The fact these two guitar legends also succumbed, like so many others, to the whims of the music industry shows the sad state of affairs the music is.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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