I always preferred 'Break away from it all' due to his guitarpyrotechnics and broofs drums.
And it was difficult to ignore his vocals totally, especially when he tries to reach notes he only almost can... Australia is tough
But I managed.
Ages since I heard it so http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj9BT4qSSAE
For those who haven't seen it, this is a cool video of Steve and Chris with Bob Harris of the OGWT, talking about Fish Out Of Water and Beginnings. At the end are videos for "Beginnings" (played live w/ Patrick Moraz) and "Break Away From It All".
He may not have been the greatest classical guitar player, but I've always loved Steve Howe's sense of melody and inventiveness on the instrument. Is it just me or does it seem like he's really moved away from classical guitar over the past few decades? A shame, really.
I'm holding out for the Wilson-mixed 5.1 super-duper walletbuster special anniversary extra adjectives edition.
Gave this a spin last night after not hearing it for years. It's never been a favorite, partly due to the vocals, but I agree it does have a sort of naive charm about it that can be fun once in a while. Last night's spin was no exception. There are some nice moments, and there are some vocal passages that you just cover your face in shame.
I thought the last two tracks were a little weaker than the rest of the album in composition and execution. Break Away From it All just never quite catches its stride for me.
After spinning Beginnings, I decided it would be old home night and spun Ramshackled. I actually like the first five tracks on that album, but after Giddy I think it falls apart. My favorite track in this is Avakak, which I think is super cool.
My CD copies of these albums I bought in Germany back in 1988, so I assume they are the first Japanese pressings. I got Olias, FooW, Steve Howe Album and several others at that time. They still sound great... except for Steve's vocals.
Bill
Commented on this release before.. but when I bought the solo releases all of them were in the $2.99 cutout bin.. so I picked them all up at the same time.. which made it seem like Christmas.. 5 new Yes releases! Beginnings has some real nice stuff on it.. vocals still grate me.. why Steve didn't ask Jon to sing on it the way Alan asked Jon to play on Song of Innocence is beyond me.. the album would have been soo much better.. I forget which show I've got where Yes performed Song of Innocence and you'd of thought it came right out of the Relayer sessions.. and some of Steve's work on Beginnings has that feel (although a lot of it is very Tales like..) which makes sense.. I remember an interview with Steve around this time where he mentions how everybody had all of this backlog material that couldn't fit on the next Yes release so this was a way for them to get it out.. I still play this one a few times a year.. album cover art is cool for sure..
The only 3 songs where I like his vocals are 'Pleasure Stole The Night', 'Alls A Chord' and 'Beautiful Ideas'. Other than that, I really enjoy his instrumental music.
And by doing this, you have the rare added benefit of enhancing the quality of the record. This can be done with Wakeman and VdGG albums as well...Originally Posted by Kenny
His voice is awful. But you gotta love 'im.
Vocals on this first album of Howe's are difficult for me, but not a dealbreaker.
I guess I'm one of the few who really enjoys "The Grand Scheme of Things" as an album, I'd rank it up there among his best solo efforts. Although, my favorite is "Turbulence."
Mike
I'm just amazed that a record company would allow records to be made with Howe's vocals. I mean, really?! I guess they figured Yes was so big and that Howe was such a respected guitarist that it wouldn't matter what the vocals sounded like. I bought 'em all but rarely listen to them anymore.
Remember, thems were the days when record companies let LOTS of bands do LOTS of things they would *never* get away with today.
I'm holding out for the Wilson-mixed 5.1 super-duper walletbuster special anniversary extra adjectives edition.
Overall I think 'Grand Scheme' is one of his best, if only for several of the instrumentals, what is that one toward the end 'Maiden Voyage' I think, is incredible. There's a lot of good stuff on there, and, as I mentioned before, I do love 'Beautiful Ideas'. But, yes, I think Turbulence is his most consistent. Spectrum and Natural Timbre are good ones too. The one I don't care for is the new agey 'Skylines'. Haven't heard the Homebrew albums, but hear they are hit and miss.
The Grand Scheme Of Things was good, but I didn't feel it quite matched up to Turbulence before it. That was a great album, the first Howe solo in some time, since he had been occupied with Asia and GTR for quite a while. I recall listening to it often instead of Union, as the music was so much better - even though a few guitar licks here and there appeared on both releases). At roughly the same time as Turbulence and Union was the 4-disc Yesyears boxed set and accompanying video, which I loved. These days it's hard to believe that at one time a 4-disc set was the size of an LP boxed set! (the famous Zeppelin box with the crop circles was similar.) Anyway, that was a fun time for me, a nineteen-year-old fan who was so enthralled by these musicians.
As for Natural Timbre and Spectrum, they are both good, but especially Natural Timbre, a lovely album featuring Andrew Jackman. I really enjoyed that one upon release and occasionally return to it when the mood strikes. One that I don't hear mentioned often is Elements (officially by "Steve Howe's Remedy")... I really rather like that one, and would like to have seen more like it. As for the Homebrew series, I only have the first one, which I like... but I don't imagine I'd ever play the rest of them more than once. They are just items of interest.
Y'know, since making this thread I've come to love Beginnings more than ever in my life. Odd, that.
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 3 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
Off topic but Time has some nice stuff on it as well..
I think Howe's "Quantum Guitar" album does what "Turbulence" attempted to do just a notch better. Impressed with both, but QG wins the race.
As for "Beginnings" Howe doesn't really sing too much on the songs really, except for the opening number, which coincidentally is the most interesting melodically of the vocal tracks. I always liked the short Side 1 better than Side 2 anyway. The title track is pretty boring imo, but "Will O' The Wisp" is interesting structurally despite the poor singing.
Who has heard Portrait's of Bob Dylan?
How can it be POSSIBLE to sing WORSE than Zimmy, ol' Minnesota Mud Throat?
Being a guitarist - I liked all the guitar playing. But even I thought the singing was "wonky," if nothing else. Did Steve really not realize that his voice was never the strongest of the three? Seriously?
Bob actually could sing back in the day.Who has heard Portrait's of Bob Dylan?
How can it be POSSIBLE to sing WORSE than Zimmy, ol' Minnesota Mud Throat?
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
It had a certain distinction...
I was going to post a link to "Lay Down Your Weary Tune," but, apparently, it's being blocked on YouTube by the publisher. It's a great example of Dylan's early singing.
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
That's one of the only Howe discs I've never heard, apart from some of the Homebrews. I'm not a Dylan fan, to say the least, so it's never been high on the priority list.
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 3 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
I never felt the need to own this, but I listened to it again on Youtube and... a lot of it is pretty good. Most of side 1 is cool, and some of the vocals I can deal with. Australia is painful, the title track is a too-long bad neo-classical noodle and the whole album sounds like it was recorded through a bong but you can see how inventive Howe was when it came to chord structures.
I read recently where Donna Godchaux accepted blame for her horrible backing vocals with The Grateful Dead and admitted she'd been drunk most of the time. So there's never been any kind of admission of guilt or explanation for those terrible vocals on Beginnings...?
That's interesting. A very good friend of mine has performed with her. I wonder what his take is on that.
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
She wasn't blaming it all on the drinking, but largely.
I'm the opposite of a lot of people- I hated this album when it came out and never bothered with it for years. Then a while back I checked it out and found it all kind of charming and fun, vocals and all. Well, apart from the title track, that's still an overlong pretentious crap-fest imho. But the rest is fun.
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