STEPS ON EDGE

Japanese Prog/Fusion band, found in Waseda in 1990 by guitarist Atsunobu Tamura.Side Steps debuted the same year with a self-produced work and silently begun to put live performances on their schedule.Two more album followed in 1991 and 1992 (''Side Steps 2'' and ''Against the wave'' respectively), while all three of these releases have never seen the light out of the Japanese borders.A fourth effort followed in 1994, the CD ''Steps on edge'' with permanent members Hiroaki Itoh on keyboards, Koichi Iwai on bass and Ichiro Fukawa on drums, reissued in 2003 by Musea Records.

Excellent teamwork on this lovely album full of well-composed and balanced compositions, characterized by its shifting moods and gears.''Steps on Edge'' contains seven mostly long instrumental compositions, based on fiery guitar solos, flashy synthesizers, flexible bass lines and powerful drumming, ranging from virtuosic passages and technical solos to ethereal piano breaks and melodic textures.It is a typical example of Japanese Fusion with strong jazzy overtones and even atmospheric symphonic leanings on the keyboard parts, reminiscent of MR. SIRIUS, but more on the Fusion than the Prog side of rock music.The guitar work of Tamura has a light HOLDSWORTH edge on it and his ideas are definitely the highlight of the release.However the numerous keyboard themes and the solid rhythm section make ''Steps on edge'' an album full of nice interplays and balanced instrumentation.

Fans of MR. SIRIUS, BRUFORD or MONGOL should definitely check this album out, this is certainly a pretty good discovery by the Musea team.Melodic and at the same time technical Fusion with a rich sound, of course strongly recommended...3.5 stars.

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