BEGINNINGS

I have not yet heard Alan White's Ramshackled album, but of the ones that I have heard of those albums that were released by the members of Yes in 1975/76 - Jon Anderson's Olias Of Sunhillow, Chris Squire's Fish Out Of Water, Patrick Moraz' Story Of I and this one - Steve Howe's Beginnings is the least good one. It also falls extremely far behind the two Yes albums that surrounded it, Relayer and Going For The One. Indeed, this falls far behind any Yes album. But it is by no means awful.

Many complain about Howe's vocals, and while I agree that he is not a great singer, I don't think that the vocals is the main problem. If he had really good songs to sing, his limited vocal abilities would be forgiven very quickly. But the material on Beginnings is not very strong; it is certainly listenable, but not memorable. The progressiveness of the album is also rather limited; the songs are quite conventional in their structure.

Other reviewers have focused on the people involved, so I will not get onto that. There is really no need to mention specific tracks either. Nothing here is poor, but there is also nothing that stands out as great. I will have to mention Ram, though, which is almost a carbon copy of Clap - not very imaginative at all.

The strangest thing about this album is that it is not at all a very good showcase for Howe's guitar prowess. His enormous talent and unique guitar sound is far better represented on the Yes albums of the 70's and on several later solo albums.

Recommended only for Steve Howe fans!