STEVE HUGHES

Starting with "SHOW", we hear a slow piano intro which soon develops with electronic percussion and other instruments. It turns into a faster track, mostly led by piano and with a mostly standard meter which suddenly shifts to and from more non- standard meters without blinking an eye. "Static Motion" is even more electronic sounding with an almost rave-sound, but with a strong melody, not unlike the more popular sounds of Vangelis or Tangerine Dream. There is a field vocal recording introduced in the second half which is manipulated to flow with the music. Some guitar comes in later providing short melodic phrases enhanced by synth riffs between those phrases. The same simplicity continues with "The Phone Call", but with a more moderate rhythm and commercial sound. Remaining mostly accessible, "One Sentence" is a bit heavier and faster, continuing to be driven by synths and electronic percussion with some guitar passages thrown in occasionally.

After this, the tracks stay under the 5 minute mark. The next several tracks are in an easy listening style and quite mellow. "Outside the Frame is a beautiful piano solo with a few flourishes added from the synths. "Life Passes You By" keeps things simple with a mellow and simple theme from the keyboards with clock sound effects. "Don't Fade Away" is another track led by a simple piano riff and theme enhanced with bass and more synth embellishments. "Sky" is an easy listening style track reminiscent of Alan Parsons instrumentals, but less involved. It is also missing any memorable theme. "I Want to Believe" begins with a piano led theme that later finally throws in some rhythm and percussion, but it is cut short as the track turns atmospheric before the theme comes back and the pattern repeats itself.

"Can't Move On" is a bit more dynamic, but still quite accessible. At least we get more liveliness here as the rhythms changes up a few times, but nothing notable really happens. "You've Changed" has a music box style theme, but done with synths and an annoying electronic beat thumping along. Some electronic effects sound out of place at the end. "Kashin" features chirping bird sounds and a bright synth theme and minimal percussion. There is a nice string bass flourish added later, but nothing develops from it as it remains repetitive and simple. "Let Me Go" is the last track and by now we are happy to do so.

The music in this album is simply too simple to be considered progressive, but Hughes has ventured away from progressive music from time to time. With only one progressive track on this album (and that was really light progressive) there isn't anything much here that will interest the prog fan. However, if you like your instrumental simple and more in the vein of new age, then you will love this. But be warned, it is very simple, and even new age lovers might find it a bit boring. The production is great, but it really doesn't have anything that stands out, and if you are thinking it might be similar to Vangelis' "Themes" album, think again. At least Vangelis has a lot of memorable themes that he can put out a decent album with that title. Anyway, this album is not Neo-Prog in any sense of the word, and even though it is more electronic, it has very little prog in it. If you are like me, you will be bored with it rather quickly.

In a couple of years Steve Hughes have created and released some rather intriguing solo albums. As for this latest venture, I dare say that many fans of modern neo progressive rock should find this production to be a most charming one, even if not perhaps following all the expected cues from a production categorized in such a manner. Well made, well performed,. with quite a few moments of musical brilliance throughout.

In December 2016, Steve followed up May's 'Part One' with 'Part Two', and one can see why, as musically it follows a very similar style to the first one. The line-up is pretty much the same as well, although we are down to just two additional guitarists this time around (Dec and Keith), and Steve provides all the bass himself as Alex Tsentides didn't return. Nine songs at more than fifty minutes in total length, but no massive epic this time, and only one song breaking the ten-minute mark. This is an even more accessible album than 'Part One', and again there are some incredible passages (such as on 'Life's A Glitch') where the syncopated rhythmic attack really lifts this album to quite a different level.

ProgArchives classify Steve as neo-prog, and I totally understand why that decision has been made, but if it was sent to me to evaluate for Crossover then it would be a strong yes from me as it has such superb melodies within it. This is totally accessible and enjoyable prog music that just makes me smile every time I play it. There are hints of Jadis, hints of Camel, hints of Bruford, and even hints of fusion at times, but overall this is just an incredibly solid, incredibly enjoyable prog album.

I haven't heard Steve's debut album, but on the basis of these two I am going to have to go back and discover that, as both the 'Once We Were' albums are wonederful from beginning to end

Towards the end of 1991 I received a demo tape from a young Dorset prog band who wanted to know what I thought of their music. That band was Big Big Train, the tape was 'From The River To The Sea', and their drummer was Steve Hughes. In the very dim and distant past I saw Steve perform with both Big Big Train and The Enid, and consequently always thought of him as a drummer. So, when this album arrived my initial reaction was "surely it can't be that Steve Hughes", but indeed it was. This is the first of two albums, if you hadn't worked it out from the title, and this was released in May 2016, with part two following in December the same year.

I fully expected that Steve only provided drums and vocals, so I was somewhat surprised to see that he also provided bass, keyboards and guitars. He did of course also utilise some guests, and some names immediately stood out for me such as Dec Burke (Frost*), Keith Winter (Shakatak) and Alex Tsentides (The Enid), and the overall feeling is very much of a band, not a project. With a few guest guitarists, it isn't possible to say just how much of the guitar on this album was provided by Steve himself, but I do know that he is the only keyboard player, and he is no mean slouch in that area at all.

Amazingly, the album starts with a song that is more than half an hour long! What is immediately apparent right from the off is that here is a musician who not only knows exactly what he wants to achieve, but can make that happen and ensure that the listener is taken along for the ride. This is progressive music that is touching on many bases, from eclectic through crossover and fusion into a rhythmic drum-driven style that I have only previously come across in the music of Bill Bruford. Drummers think of music in a quite different way to other musicians, and there are passages that could only be written by someone who has that as a first instrument with a rhythmic attack where the other instruments must keep up. There are elements of Camel at time, but really this is quite unlike anything else around and is one hell of a long way from when I first heard him. Superb

Hughes' own description of his music is progressive ambient art rock. Personally I'll opt for eclectic to be a better description of the contents, as there's a whole lot of music at hand here that couldn't be described as ambient other than in minor parts. The key ingredients appear to be classic symphonic prog and neo-progressive rock, with a subtle addition of elements from folk music and jazz here and there, explored in a context that, at least in sum, comes across as hard to accurately define. Those fond of sophisticated progressive rock with strong ties to the symphonic and neo-progressive aspects of the genre appear as a likely key audience for this production, and at least for me, this is a recording that is well worth spending some time getting familiar with.