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.

Track List

• Kings Of Sin
• Feathers
• Paper Tiger
• Into The Ether
• Granite Man
• Black Dahlia
• Sons Of Tomorrow
• Valerie
• Victims
• The End
• Curtains

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