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Review:
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Guitar virtuoso, philanthropist and bon viveur Steve
Thorne returns with his third album, Into The Ether, his
first on Festival Music, after the conjoined twins of Emotional
Creatures : Part One and Part Two : Emotional Cratures.
Previously when Steve's albums have turned up, someone in
the office has said "Oh, can I review that?", and on both
occasions they've buggered off, never to be heard from again.
Well, that's not going to happen this time!***
Once again, Steve has surrounded himself with some
of the prog worlds best musicians. This time, luminaries
such as Tony Levin, Nick d'Virgilio, Pete Trewavas. John
Beck, Gavin Harrison, John Mitchell, John Giblin and Gary
Ghandler lend their talents.***
The album kicks off with Kings Of Sin, a homage to
the hedonistic and enthusiastic It Bites of the 80s, a fact
made blatent by the accompanying photo in the booklet. Musically,
it's a rocker, not a progger, in the vein of a solo Fish
type song, with un-It Bites like guitar from John Mitchell,
and Stick work from Tony Levin. After reading the lyrics,
I'm sure the It Bites boys must have toned down their act
now. This flows neatly into Feathers, more uptempo than
before, and planted firmly into the IQ era Subterranea fold.
This track must have been a last minute addition, as it
wasn't mentioned in the previous press releases. The gentler
Paper Tiger emerges next, featuring typically restrained
keyboards from John Beck.***
The title track, Into The Ether brings the rockier side
of Steve back to the ears, with a darker guitar sound, while
Granite Man, which features drums from Gavin Harrison and
keyboards from Beck, starts out all whistfully, like a cross
between IQ and Porcupine Tree, before crashing into the
chorus. This gives way to Black Dahlia, no, not a cover
of the Porcupine Tree song from their latest album, but
quite possibly the best track on the album, the gentle verses
giving way yo the sinisterness of the chorus.***
Sons Of Tommorow could almost be an It Bites track,
but without their trademark harmonies. This of course could
be due to having Beck on keyboards and Mitchell on guitars
again. The folky Easterish twangs of Valerie provide a dirverting
and entertaining interlude before Victims arrives on the
scene, with it's dissatisfaction at the modern world, along
with some Lennon references...***
The pop-prog strains of The End provide the albums
most uplifting moments, before the Curtain falls on the
album in style!***
So, we have another damn fine album from Mr Thorne,
which surpasses the "Emotional Creatures" duology, and will
appeal to virtually anyone over the age of 6***
The album is available from www.f2music.co.uk.***
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