Some reviews are very easy to write. Others considerably less so. This falls into the “less so” category as I take on the upcoming instrumental album ‘Nexus’ by the father and son duo of Virgil & Steve Howe.
The difficulty arises in the sad fact that Virgil unexpectedly passed away in September at the young age of 41, leaving his father to continue to release the already recorded album on his own. Steve is of course the legendary guitarist of prog masters and recent Hall of Fame inductees Yes. He has also been one of my favorite guitarists for the past 21 years after being introduced to his music by my father when I was in the 8th grade. It is therefore rather difficult, and frankly distasteful and inappropriate in my mind for a reviewer to be overly critical of an album a grieving father is releasing in memory of his son, who composed and performed all the music on the album with the exception of the guitar.
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I will therefore keep this very short. I do not find this an impressive work on any level. I won’t go into individual tracks, as it is not necessary for me to do so, and there is little to differentiate between them anyway. I commend Steve for continuing to release this project, but from a listener’s standpoint, it reminds me of nothing more than a soundtrack for a C-level fantasy film from the 80s.
From a sentimental standpoint, or for the support of Virgil’s memory by his fans, I can understand the desire to own this very mellow album. From a neutral standpoint of a music fan, I can find very little to recommend in ‘Nexus’, a few guitar parts that spark a few moments of interest is about it. It is my sincere hope the fulfilling of this release has been of emotional help for Steve and the rest of his family.