STEVE HOWE TRACK BY TRACK

THE YES LEGEND UNCOUPLES FROM THE MOTHERSHIP TO DRIFT THROUGH EVER-SHIFTING LANDSCAPES, BOTH INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL, ON HIS FIRST SOLO ALBUM IN NINE YEARS

- RICHARD BIENSTOCK

WITH YES, STEVE HOWE’S LEGACY IS FIRMLY CEMENTED AS THE SIX-STRING force behind some of prog rock’s most indelible songs, from “Roundabout” and “Close to the Edge” to “Starship Trooper” and his classic acoustic instrumental, “Clap.”

Howe still tours and records with Yes — in fact, he’s the sole remaining member from the classic early Seventies Fragileera lineup — but he has also kept up an active schedule over the years with other acts (among them Asia and Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe) as well as working as a guest musician and, of course, as a rather prolific solo artist. His latest solo effort is Love Is, and it presents 10 new Howe compositions, half of which are instrumental and half featuring his own vocals. Howe plays electric, acoustic and steel guitars on the album, as well as keyboards, percussion and bass, with help from current Yes singer Jon Davison on background vocals and bass and Howe’s son, Dylan, on drums.

And while the songs range from trademark bright-toned, nimble-fingered instrumentals like “Fulcrum” and “Sound Picture” to the textured ballad “Love Is a River,” the slide-guitar-focused “The Headlands” and the distorted riff-rocker “On the Balcony,” the sound and guitar style is 100 percent classic Steve Howe.