From Sunarts LTD., the folks who brought you those progressive rockers Yes and Asia, comes ... GTR. But instead of featuring its vocalist, like Asia, GTR is fronted by two guitarists, Steve Hackett and Steve Howe. The singer, Max Bacon, almost comes across as a sideman. And unlike Yes and Genesis, GTR has no full-time keyboardist – no one to steal the spotlight from the Two Steves by slipping into a white cape, à la Rick Wakeman, and dazzling the fans with his tresses and his cadenzas.

Like a musical Tombstone, Arizona – the town that wasn't big enough for Wyatt Earp and Ike Clanton – GTR is ruled by the guitar. Gibsons, Fenders and Martins are the Buntline Specials of GTR, a band determined to carry its sidearms to victory at some imaginary O.K. Corral of rock and run those troublesome organists right out of town.

As extreme as GTR's antikeyboard crusade may seem, the two-guitar format works well. In addition to sharing lead guitar and songwriting chores, Howe and Hackett had complementary roles in molding GTR. Hackett drew the supporting players – bassist Phil Spalding, drummer Jonathan Mover and Bacon – from a pool of musical newcomers. Howe, always the perfectionist, toted some forty guitars to the studio so he could get the lead parts down just right. GTR also hired a ringer – songwriter-producer Geoff Downes of Asia – to give the arrangements the requisite keyboard flavor with a minimal amount of keyboard playing. Those organs and pianos, though, were sampled through a Synclavier, generally triggered by a guitar synthesizer, which allows GTR to have it both ways.

GTR is sure to hit the bull's-eye, for Downes and the Two Steves evidently have worked themselves pallid getting their songs to sound big and chartworthy. "When the Heart Rules the Mind" and "Here I Wait" balance rhythm, melody and solos in a way that tends to burn holes in the Top Forty. "The Hunter" – a rundown in metaphor of Asia's backstage problems – boasts a seamless arrangement and a bright vocal melody that, ironically, could have been sung just as effectively by John Wetton of Asia.

Having rid the ranks of those egomaniacal singers and organists, GTR faces some thorny new questions. Which Steve wears the star in this band? Whose guitar is faster and louder? Maybe a theater in Tombstone or Tempe really will be the best place to watch GTR face off and add some gunsmoke to the clouds of dry ice that smother progressive rock. (RS 478/479)

RICHARD HOGAN