STEPPIN' OUT

Having already established himself under the tutelage of Jean-Luc Ponty in the 70's and following exstensive touring with Genesis, Daryl Stuermer released this debut album in 1988. The hints of JLP and his guitar style from Genesis tours are curiously apparent in that there are subtle nuances all over the album but at the same time not so easy to shake a stick at ( if you get my drift). The Jazz/Fusion side is the most dominant characteristic on Steppin' Out which makes for an excellent release.

The album kicks off with 'Kyoto Rose', unusual timings but after repeated listens becomes quite addictive to the ears. His version of the Phil Collin's song ' I Don't Wanna Know' is next and he does a great job as an instrumental version. The next three songs are probablty the most progressive sounding on Steppin' Out, wonderfully structured, uneven tempos and dare I say it unpredictable yet all great tracks marking the highlight to this album. ' Anthem', ' Venturing Out' and the brilliance of ' Electric City'. You need to listen to this to fully appreciated his guitar skills.

' The Highlander' closes Steppin Out with distinctive Scottish flavours and brings the album to a frenzied fusion like climax. If you are familiar with Daryl Stuermer due to Jean-Luc Ponty or even Genesis but have not heard his solo work then start with this album, in many respects his best. Not necessarily from a technical viewpoint but more from an atmospherical angle. A worthy four stars!

In 1991 I bought the "The Mama Tour" concert video from Genesis in the VHS format, and I watched it with a friend who at that time was listening to a lot of music similar to the one which Duran Duran and other similar bands were playing then (and apart from one song, called "Ordinary World" from Duran Duran, I really never liked all these bands that he listened to at that time). I realized that he really didn`t like that Genesis`concert video (he never was a fan of Genesis, but he liked Rush a lot), but he commented about the two tour musicians (Daryl Stuermer and Chester Thompson) who appear with Genesis in that video (and also in others too): "Why these two very good musicians are happy only being session musicians? Are they not frustrated to be only session musicians for bands like Genesis?" Well. I commented to him that I didn`t think so, because I knew that at least Stuermer at that time had released a solo album (this "Steppin` Out" album; Thompson released a solo album later in the nineties, I think, titled "A Joyful Noise", which is also a very hard to find CD in the record shops and it is not yet included in the Prog Archives`s database). At that time I never saw a copy of this "Steppin` Out" album in the record shops of my city, but I knew about it thanks to see it in the record listings of the Schwann Record Catalogues. It was released in late 1988. It was until 1994 when I saw a CD of it in a record shop, but I didn`t buy it then because I saw a copy of Rick Wright`s "Wet Dream" album on CD and that album was also very rare. So, I bought Wright`s CD then as I only had money to buy only one CD. Some days later I went to the same record shop to buy Stuermer`s album,. but I couldn`t find it anymore. So, it was until this year that I found it available for listening in youtube that I fiinally listened to it.

I read in one website the liner notes from this CD, written by Phil Collins, introducing Stuermer`s music and his first solo CD with a lot of jokes. Anyway, Stuermer is supported in this album by two other very good session musicians who like Stuermer and Thompson also played in Collins`s touring band several times (Leland Sklar and Brad Cole). The sound of this album in production is very typical of the eighties, particularly in the sound of the drums and the keyboards, and with the use of a drum machine in some tracks. The predominant musical style of this album is in the Jazz- Rock Fusion style but also it has some commercial Jazz and even some Pop Rock influences in some arrangements. For my taste, the songs which are the best and are the most influenced by the Jazz-Rock Fusion style are "Venturing Ou" (the best of all), "Electric City", "Night Flyer" and "20th Century Lady". Don`t expect very complicated time signatures, as the rhythms and the drums playing are really very conventional, very accessible. But as expected, the main instruments are the guitars, of course. Stuermer is a very good guitarist and all the songs of the album are instrumental and full of melodies and very good guitar solos, plus also very good rhythm guitars, all played with different sound textures. So, I think that with this album Stuermer had his first chance to show how good he is as a composer and as a soloist (there is also one song , called "Only You Know and I Know", co-written with Collins and also released in one of Collins `s solo albums, but played in this album as an instrumental and with a different arrangement).The recording and mixing are very good, very clear, but maybe very eighties in sound, as I commented above. Stuermer has a very long and respected career as guitarist, and the members of Genesis have commented that he and Thompson became very important to the live sound of the band during the years they played with them on tours. They also commented that Stuermer helped a lot to remember how a song was played in the past. This is a very good solo album and the only solo album from him that I have listened to until now.Unfortunately , I think that it is now out of print.