STEVE LUKATHER

I had heard great things about this but in the end for me at least it misses the mark, though I’m sure it will delight some.

Starting off with a seven minute ‘Prog epic’ may you feel be a misfire, that is until the guitar kicks in. We are soon awash with melody and thunder and by the end it wins me over but only just. ‘On My Way Home’ the next song draws the line for me with its jazzy easy listening lounge-rumba, to be honest I’m cringing more than a little. It’s not pulling me in at all.

‘Can't look back’ is much more straightforward a nice simple rocker that sounds amazing it's still almost five minutes but not as showy as the two lengthy openers. A few more songs in and I’m starting to realise that the odd thing here is that some of the melodies rock along nicely; it's just what they are wrapped in that makes them hard to swallow.

Elsewhere we get more long songs ‘Don't say it's over’ really would have benefited from getting to the point and ‘Flash in the pan’ a song about fame today, misses me completely. Things are just starting to sound a little too clever. ‘Watching the World’ is world weary and again over long but has a great chorus dragged down by weary verses; whilst ‘You'll Remember’ funks it up in an annoying way before attempting to become a swing tune. Again it’s a little too much to stomach.

I get the distinct feeling that there are too many ideas on the go here: only ten songs but within them another twenty lurk and if only a few had been pulled apart we would fare better. ‘Brodies’ is a song which at least has a sense of simplicity and some great guitar. It’s one of the best here as Steve watches the world from his booth at the aforementioned Brodies. Heaviest here is closer ‘Translucent’ that starts with hard guitar but swamped by proggy synth, it's a meandering instrumental and a weird way to close.

You've got to admire Steve for making and album with just the one song clocking in at less than four minutes. But this does show the value of brevity. I’m sure fans and AOR purists will love this but I was always more of a ‘Hold the Line’ fan rather than someone who always yearned for a Prog version of ‘Rosanna’.

Mark