Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography

SPECTRUM

Steve Howe

Crossover Prog


From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Steve Howe Spectrum album cover
3.57 | 53 ratings | 5 reviews | 13% 5 stars

Excellent addition to any
prog rock music collection

Write a review

Buy STEVE HOWE Music
from Progarchives.com partners
Studio Album, released in 2005

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Tigers Den (3:46)
2. Labyrinth (3:57)
3. Band Of Light (3:34)
4. Ultra Definition (3:39)
5. Raga Of Our Time (4:12)
6. Ebb and Flow (4:03)
7. Realm Thirteen (4:27)
8. Without Doubt (3:45)
9. Highly Strung (4:30)
10. Hour Of Need (5:13)
11. Fools Gold (4:05)
12. Where Words Fail (4:16)
13. In The Skyway (3:13)
14. Livelihood (3:34)
15. Free Rein (3:52)

Total Time: 60:06

Line-up / Musicians

- Steve Howe / guitars, bass, keyboards (8), percussion, arranger & producer

With:
- Oliver Wakeman / organ (1,2,4), piano (1,2,4,14), synth (2)
- Virgil Howe / Moog (6,9)
- Tony Levin / bass (1,3,7,10,12,13,15)
- Dylan Howe / drums

Releases information

Artwork: Thomas Ewerhard with Steve Howe (photo)

CD Inside Out Music ‎- IOMCD 215 (2005, Europe)

Thanks to ProgLucky for the addition
and to Quinino for the last updates
Edit this entry

Buy STEVE HOWE Spectrum Music



STEVE HOWE Spectrum ratings distribution


3.57
(53 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(13%)
13%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(45%)
45%
Good, but non-essential (36%)
36%
Collectors/fans only (6%)
6%
Poor. Only for completionists (0%)
0%

STEVE HOWE Spectrum reviews


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

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by Muzikman
PROG REVIEWER
5 stars Steve Howe is the master of diversity on the six-string. With his new CD he covers the entire musical "Spectrum" and beyond. The entire album is instrumental and he certainly makes an immense statement without any vocals added to each track. There is no need for his YES band mates Anderson and Squire to add any vocals to this mix; it is a complete masterpiece without that element present. Rick Wakeman's son Oliver and his own two talented offspring, Dylan and Virgil, join Howe, which is a stunning combination of the old guard and the new blood emerging from the YES family. Howe is one smart cookie, he has bass player supreme Tony Levin is in the studio for the sessions to round out his resonating guitar oriented compositions. God knows how Levin finds the time to play on all of the projects he does. He is simply incredible.

When I finally sat down to write this review I had already listened to this album four times! I enjoy it more with each listen. Songs like "Tigers Den" and "Realm Thirteen" have irresistible hooks and rhythms that are as unique as they are inviting. Even to ears that are normally unaccustomed or not ready to roll out the welcome mat to progressive-jazz-rock-fusion would be surprised to find many pleasant and appealing melodies all over this CD even though it is decidedly fusion and progressive.

Howe is equally adept with the acoustic or electric guitar, hence his ability to rock and play softer more jazz Latin inflected numbers to enhance your listening experience and make it an all around instrumental voyage through several different styles. I have a fondness for prog-rock and jazz fusion, whether it is acoustic or electric it does not really matter to me, I simply love it all. You hear will jazz, rock, country, blues, or combinations of them all in electric and acoustic settings during the course of Howe's brilliant compositions. This is guitar 101. If you are an avid listener of the Howe repertoire or wish to study one of the more diverse and incredible guitar players on the face of the earth today, check out "Spectrum" now.

© Keith "MuzikMan" Hannaleck-http://www.muzikreviews.com

June 2, 2005

Rating - 10/10

Review by SouthSideoftheSky
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Symphonic Team
3 stars Steve's instantly recognizable guitar sound is here on this completely instrumental album. Steve's backing band consists of his two sons on keyboards and drums respectively, Rick Wakeman's son Oliver also on keyboards, and Tony Levin on bass. However, it is the guitars that drive the album and the backing band is really just a backing band, a solid one but still just a backing band. Except on a few occasions were they are allowed to break loose.

The compositions have some different styles but a jazzy flavour is predominant and somehow most of the songs have a particular sound that makes them all sound rather similar. Spectrum is about as good as the instrumental Turbulence album, but not in my opinion as good as Elements or The Grand Scheme Of Things. As much as I love Steve, I think that this album is rated too high here on Prog Archives at this moment. It is very well worth checking out, but it is hardly essential.

With a running time of a whole hour it tends to get a bit samey towards the middle despite the generally high quality of the music. This is a problem that haunts most of Steve's solo albums.

Not Steve Howe's best solo album, but certainly not his worst either. I would go for The Grand Scheme Of Things and Elements first.

Review by b_olariu
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars Steve Howe is without doubt one of the most influential and aclaimed guitarists of all times, his career covering almost 45 years and releasing many many albums. His solo career begin somewhere in mid '70s and since then he released more then 20 albums under his name. Spectrum from 2005 is one of the more recent works and is a fine album from first to last piece. With Tony Levin on bass, his sons Dylan Howe on drums and Virgil Howe on keyboards and Oliver Wakeman on keybords aswell as helping hands, he manage to create pleasent music and very enjoyble. I can say that this album offers simple/complex music, he covers a wide area of genres, from prog rock with similarities towards Yes, it was obvious, jazz fusion, eclectic moments, acustic parts all is done with good taste , smoothness and elegant passages. He is very versatile guitarist managing to create great moments here, and his toying with his instrument with an amazing ease. Forte pieces , the opening track Tigers Den, Realm thirteen and Highly Strung. All pieces are short, under 5 min, but the beauty of each one show how still great potential this guitarist has after so many years of making music. The overall atmosphere has a jazzy flawour but combined with aformentioned styles this album Spectrum is more then decent. So, a fine release from this master , desearve a solid 3 stars, maybe in places 3,5. Really good one.

Latest members reviews

2 stars Well I cant deny Steve Howe is a maestro of guitar. But usually his albums are more a display of his talents than inspired compositions. This one is not the exception. Very melodic between crossover a jazz fusion prog and not so close to Yes as symphonic prog Rick Wakeman,s works. But ... (read more)

Report this review (#462083) | Posted by robbob | Wednesday, June 15, 2011 | Review Permanlink

4 stars Another brilliant Steve Howe solo effort which shows very well why he's considered one of the best guitar players in the world. The album is full of different styles, bright and memorable melodies and excellent musicianship. The music is instrumental and electric, wich is good. I can't say Spe ... (read more)

Report this review (#42347) | Posted by Yurkspb2 | Wednesday, August 10, 2005 | Review Permanlink

Post a review of STEVE HOWE "Spectrum"

You must be a forum member to post a review, please register here if you are not.

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.