“Retuning The GTR” - GTR Live DVD reviewed by Alan Hewitt.

Remaining on the nostalgia trail we have this release, another Japanese effort. Once again, this DVD captures another era in Steve’s career. This time it is his short-lived flirtation with AOR super group GTR. This performance was originally filmed and broadcast in Germany and is taken from a TV concert performance at the Alabamahalle in Munich on 22nd September 1986.

GTR were supposed to be the inheritors of the mantle of The Yardbirds and so many other guitar driven combos of the past and combining the talents of both Steve and Steve Howe the group should have had a long and potentially prosperous future. Sadly, for a variety of reasons, this was not to be the case and the group imploded after the self-titled album and the one tour of which this is the only available visual document.

As such, it serves as yet another reminder of both the strengths and weaknesses of the band. Tracks such as the two singles; The Hunter and When the Heart Rules The Mind are excellent tracks of a certain type. Sadly, even these pale in comparison to the glories of Hackett To Bits and Roundabout which only demonstrate how much better the two main protagonists were within their respective alma maters. The DVD is irritating in the inclusion of a mere one extra track from the gig in the shape of Prizefighters which makes me wonder if the entire gig was filmed and if so, what became of the rest of it?! Sadly, I doubt if such mysteries will ever be answered and so in the meantime, console yourselves with this all too brief look at GTR!

GTR LIVE. Track listing: Jekyll And Hyde/Here I Wait/The Hunter/When The Heart Rules The Mind/Prizefighters/Imagining/Hackett To Bits (Edit)/Roundabout/You Can Still Get Through/Reach Out (Never Say No). WHD Entertainment IEBP-10015.