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NATURAL TIMBRE

Steve Howe

Crossover Prog


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Steve Howe Natural Timbre album cover
3.53 | 58 ratings | 8 reviews | 12% 5 stars

Excellent addition to any
prog rock music collection

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Studio Album, released in 2001

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Distant Seas (6:14)
2. Provence (4:00)
3. Intersection Blues (2:28)
4. Family Tree (4:29)
5. J's Theme (3:52)
6. In the Course of the Day (3:32)
7. Dream River (3:58)
8. Golden Years (4:35)
9. The Little Galliard (1:22)
10. Up Above Somewhere (3:56)
11. Curls and Swirls (2:33)
12. Pyramidology (3:06)
13. Lost for Words (3:34)
14. Winter (Vivladi) (2:16)
15. Solar Winds (3:53)
16. Your Move (3:27)
17. Disillusion (1:41)
18. To Be Over (6:13)

Total Time: 65:09

Line-up / Musicians

- Steve Howe / acoustic (6- & 12-string) & Hawaiian steel guitars, dobro, banjo, mandolin, mandocello, koto, bass, autoharp, percussion, arranger & producer

With:
- Andrew Pryce Jackman / piano, recorder, glockenspiel
- Anna Palm / violin
- Dylan Howe / drums

Releases information

CD Eagle Records ‎- EAGCD 166 (2001, UK)

Thanks to ProgLucky for the addition
and to Quinino for the last updates
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STEVE HOWE Natural Timbre ratings distribution


3.53
(58 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(12%)
12%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(47%)
47%
Good, but non-essential (31%)
31%
Collectors/fans only (10%)
10%
Poor. Only for completionists (0%)
0%

STEVE HOWE Natural Timbre reviews


Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by Greger
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars The YES guitarist Steve HOWE's new album "Natural Timbre" is quite far from the music he have recorded with YES and ASIA through the years. The album contains eighteen all- acoustic instrumental songs witch moves within many different genres. And they're performed in an emotional, relaxed, and for being Steve HOWE, different way.

I saw Steve performing together with MARILLION on MTV a couple of years ago, and I remember that I was thinking that the man had grown old and his guitar playing wasn't as good as before, but this album shows the opposite. The music is complex, vital and more refreshing then Steve have been in many years.

But there are actually some YES connections on this album after all, as Steve has included three new versions of some old YES-songs, selected by his fans: "Your Move", "Disillusion" and "To Be Over".

With this album Steve proves that he's still one of the world's finest guitarists.

Review by ghost_of_morphy
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars I'm shocked to see that this excellent album has only four reviews. I can understand that many people may have felt burned by some of the releases from earlier in Steve's career, but this one is very nice indeed. It will be quite a departure for people who are only familiar with Steve's most well-known stuff, as most of this album is made up of laid-back, jazzy instrumentals (with a strong country influence on some songs as well.) Steve is still mesmerized by the sounds of his various guitars, and brings them to us in a some delightful works that showcase their sounds and characteristics as much as they showcase his talent.

That's right, I said instrumentals. We can all breathe a sigh of relief. Steve doesn't sing.

Anyhow, this is the best of Howe's albums that I have heard and it is well worth having. If you gave up on Steve's solo career in the last millenium, try this one out. It's different and better than those old albums you bought in the '70's.

Four stars. Steve may have released things that required more impressive chops in the past, but this is the right mix of skill and taste.

Review by Gatot
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
3 stars For the love of YES ...

Well, I have to be honest that the chief reason to have this album for me personally was the facts that there were three Yes tracks included here in this Steve Howe record. I just wanted to have another style of those three tracks played buy Steve Howe himself. My reaction was mixed as I was not quite impressed with Your Move as it has made the music not that proggy compared to the original studio version and live version with Yes ...and of course this version is no vocal. But I like To Be Over as I do with the original version.

Natural Timbre captures varied musical styles: straight pop, classical music, country, blues...,which all of them lumped together sounds like a music at the lounge a five star hotel; nothing is quite complex right her ....everything goes smoothly. Of course each track has special meaning for Mr Howe, depicting the memory of his journey of guitar playing. For example on Distant Seas had something to do with his memory when he was in Japan in 1973 when he bought a handmade classical guitar by Kohno and later in London, he bought a Koto (a long, curved, Japanese instrument with strings stretched across) and began recording it with groups and solo work. But he also, like in Winter, playing an arrangement of the 2nd movement from Winter, part of Vivaldi´s Four Seasons which originally from violin.

Overall, it's a good record and you should not expect something prog as you find in any album of Yes. It's a simple and straight forward music that any music lovers might enjoy it. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Review by patrickq
PROG REVIEWER
2 stars By my count, Natural Timbre is the seventh proper Steve Howe solo album. (I'm not including the two Paul Sutin / Steve Howe releases, nor his Homebrew compilations.) If Turbulence (1991) was Howe's electric album, Natural Timbre is his acoustic set.

The first fifty-four minutes of Natural Timbre is made up of fifteen new songs - - thirteen Howe originals and two covers: a movement from Vivaldi's The Four Seasons (c. 1717) and an arrangement of a lute piece by 17th-century composer John Dowland. While this seems sufficient for an album of the CD era, the final eleven minutes of Natural Timbre is comprised of reinterpretations of three Yes songs.

This album can genuinely be called a "solo album" - - more than half of the songs feature only Howe, usually playing several tracks of guitars and related instruments. Keyboardist Andrew Jackman appears on two of the Yes songs, and violinist Anna Palm and drummer Dylan Howe (the artist's son) accompany Howe on a handful of others. Some sources credit Jackman as playing the recorder, probably on "Your Move." As was the case with Turbulence, there are no vocals on Natural Timbre.

Many of the songs are pensive, and I'd call more than a few amorphous: in the middle of the album, it almost seems like Howe hit 'record' and started playing a tune he had only sketched out, and then another, and another.

The Yes tunes are the strongest here: Jon Anderson's "Your Move," Chris Squire's "Disillusion" (both from The Yes Album, 1971) and the Relayer (1974) composition "To Be Over," which is credited to Yes as a whole, but was apparently largely written by Howe. Of course, regardless of the official writing credits, these were originally largely Howe-arranged pieces. All three are excellent, but it's not enough, in my opinion, to assign Natural Timbre three stars. To Yes fans, I'd strongly recommend downloading these last tracks. Otherwise, Natural Timbre is inessential.

Latest members reviews

4 stars Acoustic guitar masterfully executed. Needless to infer that Mr. Howe has a unique style, his name is indelibly stamped on the annals of progressive symphonic rock. The reality is that his solo work have received negative reviews generally. Most of them are uneven and mixed a lot of rhythms, s ... (read more)

Report this review (#995674) | Posted by sinslice | Wednesday, July 10, 2013 | Review Permanlink

4 stars Natural Timbre is Steve Howe's all acoustic follow-up to the previous all electric Quantum Guitar and I see the two as twin albums where he explores his respective interests and influences. In fact, it is his first all acoustic album ever. As usual, he plays a cornucopia of different instrumen ... (read more)

Report this review (#511765) | Posted by Progosopher | Tuesday, August 30, 2011 | Review Permanlink

4 stars Here´s another fantastic Howe album... All the songs are acoustic, but he can make them very different one from each other, using Mandolin, Banjo, several acoustic guitars, violin(played by Anna Palm). The whole album is very calm, perfect for reading, and he makes blues(Intersection Blues, IM ... (read more)

Report this review (#59014) | Posted by Evandro Martini | Saturday, December 3, 2005 | Review Permanlink

4 stars This is one of my favourite Steve Howe solo albums. It's completely acoustic and that's great! (Mood for a Day and The Clap are also acoustic, as we all know. By the way, Intersection Blues is a new rendition of The Clap here). Every song is so full of feeling and brilliant playing. But that's ... (read more)

Report this review (#37181) | Posted by Yurkspb2 | Wednesday, June 22, 2005 | Review Permanlink

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