Where are they now? - Steve Howe
This page last updated: 30 Apr 2008
On this page: Solo projects - Guest appearances
On other pages: Yes news - Asia - Billy Sherwood's Pink Floyd tribute albums (with Howe) - Where Are They Now? front page
Steve Howe's official site: Homepage - News - MySpace page
Yes & Asia
Howe's main commitments this year are with Yes
and continued
work in the original Asia reunion with Geoff
Downes, John Wetton and Carl Palmer. Yes
tour in Jul-Aug—see
details on main news page.
Asia are currently on a world
tour and have a new album, Phoenix, now out. Asia's set list
has
included Yes's "Roundabout"—see
details on main page. (Howe also appears on the new
John Payne
compilation, Different Worlds, via his performance on Asia's "The Last Time" (from Aura); details here.)
The
Steve Howe Trio
The Steve
Howe Trio brings together Steve on electric guitar, son Dylan
Howe on drums and Ross Stanley (Dylan Howe Quintet)
on Hammond XK3
organ. The band tour the UK in
Jun in support of the release of their debut album, The Haunted Melody, due 2 Jun; tracks: "Kenny's Sound"
(originally by Kenny Burrell),
"Mood for a Day", "The Haunted Melody" (originally by Roland Kirk), "Siberian Khatru", "Blue Bash"
(originally by Jimmy Smith with Burrell), "Momenta" (originally from Quantum
Guitar), "Laughing with
Larry" (I believe this is the only piece not played in their
2007 set), "Travelin'"
(originally by Burrell with Smith), "Dream River", "Close to the Edge"
(based on the opening section of the piece), "Sweet Thunder" (originally from Pulling Strings). Pieces are arranged for the
trio
format, so some depart significantly in form from the originals. Tour
dates:
There is a report
of a subsequent 2-week tour of Ontario and Quebec (Canada), with a
first week of solo shows,
beginning at
the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall,
Montreal on 27 Sep, followed by a second week with the Steve
Howe Trio. Dates in Toronto and Quebec City are expected.
The band played their debut UK tour in May 2007. Their set included re-interpretations of Yes and Steve Howe's solo material along side jazz guitar pieces from the 1950s/1960s, plus a solo acoustic section by Steve. Set list on 17 May, London: first set—"Travelin'", "Dream River", "Chitlins con Carne" (originally by Burrell), "Distant Seas" (originally on Natural Timbre), "Mood for a Day", "Blue Bash!", "Close to the Edge" opening section; second set, acoustic section—"Bareback" (Not Necessarily Acoustic), medley "Smile/Whispering/Trambone" ("Smile" originally by Charlie Chaplin; "Whispering" is a 1920s piece but Howe referenced Les Paul's version as how he first heard it; "Trambone" originally by Chet Atkins), "Cactus Boogie" (The Steve Howe Album), "Sketches in the Sun", "Intersection Blues"; second set, trio format—"Kenny's Sound", "Momenta", "The Haunted Melody", "Sweet Thunder", "Clap"; encore—"Siberian Khatru". The London show had an audience of ~200, while the Birmingham show had an audience of ~50. The set list varied slightly over the tour. On the opening night in Cardiff, there was no "Close to the Edge". In Morecambe, his acoustic medley began with "Freight Train" instead of "Smile" and "Distant Seas" wasn't played. Read my review of the 2007 London show.
Solo[Support this website by buying Spectrum and other releases through Amazon (US or UK): go to the Where Are They Now? Amazon listings page.]
So Far is the name given to a planned 3CD anthology of Steve Howe's career to date with accompanying DVD which was originally due in 2001. This appears to be the same project earlier tentatively entitled Headstock, being compiled by Howe for Rhino. At least at some point, So Far was to include "Traveller" (written by Currie/Howe—Currie: keyboards, viola; Howe: guitar, bass; Toby Anderson: synth) from Billy Currie's 1988 Transportation. Comments from Howe suggest So Far may also include some Yes or Yes-related material. It has been many months since anything was heard of this project. Howe has also previously talked about a documentary of his career, concentrating on his solo work from 1975-1994, which may be somehow related to So Far, and two new books, one called "The Guitarist's Survival Kit", the second a collaboration. Most recently, at the Steve Howe Appreciation Society workshop in Jun 2005, Howe read a chapter from an autobiography that he is writing (which I guess may be related to some of these other projects).
There are long-standing reports of plans for a guitar and orchestra project. In a Nov 2002 interview, Howe referred to "an orchestral project that would likely turn some ears".
Collaboration with Fragile
Howe has been collaborating again with Yes
tribute
band Fragile (MySpace
page). He was with them for Oct 2007
dates in the UK, Netherlands
and Belgium on their 10th anniversary tour. Fragile's set will
include
material from across Yes's canon, including from Yes, Time
and
a Word, The Yes Album and a side from Tales from
Topographic
Oceans, as well as from their forthcoming debut album of original
material,
Aquaplanage.
On their 25 Oct show, Fragile
opened with a set (including "The
Revealing Science of God"), followed by a solo acoustic set from
Howe, and then
a joint set. The joint set included "A
Venture", "South Side of the
Sky" and "Gates of Delirium" (end section and into "Soon"). Fragile has
since disbanded with the members concentrating instead on original
material (including finishing Aquaplanage).
Guest
appearances
Howe appears on two Pink Floyd tribute albums
organised by Billy Sherwood: now out
is Back Against the Wall, based on The Wall, while
forthcoming
is Return to the Dark Side of the Moon, based on Dark Side
of
the Moon. He also appears on a cover of
"Starship Trooper" by Sherwood et al. on Jim Ladd's Headsets
album
From
Here to Infinity—see details for all
three
here.
Woman Transcending is a new, 16-track rarities compilation from Annie Haslam, including "Lily's in the Field", co-written and performed by Howe and only previously released as a limited single. David Biglin plays keys on the piece, while other guests on the album include Tony Visconti (ex-Rick Wakeman) and Stan Perkins.
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Other news
Steve Howe guests on his son, Virgil's album
Geniac
(released under the moniker of DJ Sparo), seemingly in the sense that
he's
been sampled on the album rather than any new recording.
CDJapan
advertise a "GTR Live" DVD (Region 2) for release in Japan on 23
Jan, billed as "Live DVD release from GTR featuring stereo TV
recordings from the band's brief career." Tracks: "Jekyll & Hyde",
"Here I Wait", "The Hunter", "When the Heart Rules the Mind",
"Prizefighters", "Imagining", "You Can Still Get Through", "Reach Out
(Never Say No)". I am unclear from what show this is taken, but it is
probably the 22 Sep 1986 Munich show that was televised.
The band were Howe (guitar), Steve
Hackett (guitar), Matt Clifford
(keys), Max Bacon (vocals), Phil Spalding (bass) and Jonathan
Mover (drums). Meanwhile, Mover is planning a
"a
two volume collection of works from various artists that I've played
with over the past twenty or so years. Mainly, a variety of tracks that
are dear to me in one way or another and have not had the chance to see
the light of day." On his website,
he goes on to refer to "unreleased GTR (1985)". As GTR was released in 1986, presuming
this is not a typo, Mover would appear to be referring to material
before the first album.
Tomorrow's "Real Life Permanent Dream" is included on the new compilation Insane Times: 25 British Psychedelic Artefacts from the EMI Vaults (Zonophone), released 2007.
As well as playing with Yes, Howe joined
Frankie
Goes to Hollywood for "Welcome to the Pleasure Dome" at the Produced
by Trevor Horn concert in 2004. A DVD is due—details
under Horn.
Howe appears to have formed his
own record label, Howe Sounds, who are releasing Motif Volume 1.
Howe appears in the forthcoming
documentary film "A Life in the Death of Joe Meek".
Any news, additions or corrections, please e-mail Henry
Potts. Thanks.