STEVE LUKATHER: Transition (ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Steve Lukather seems to be doing better for the last two years and let us know at the beginning of 2013 with a new studio album. And from the intro of the first track, the tone is set: "It's Me Again, My Mind Is Racing Faster Than The Speed Of Light". "Transition" is therefore a good compromise between "Ever Changing Time" and "All's Well That Ends Well". By his own admission, the first part of the album evokes the end of his painful period and the beginning of a lighter one after the eponymous title, hence the name 'Transition', even if in the end, everything is not that simple.

Once again surrounded by a bunch of old friends, including Greg Bissonette who was on Ringo Starr's tour this summer, but also Renee Jones, Steve Weingart and Eric Valentine who were on the All's Well That Ends Well Tour, Lukather is holding his own and spoiling us with superb melodies and unique guitar touches. And if CJ Vanston gets his own personal page in the booklet it's not by chance since the keyboards are back in force in this album with rich and majestic ambiences, an album in which once again Lukather knows how much the sometimes discreet backing vocals transform a bridge or a chorus, raising it to a higher level.

As we said above, Luke feels better but his lyrics remain sometimes dark and tormented like those of the languid shuffle 'Creep Motel' (Luke finally gets back to the Blues) painting with a cold humour the hell he comes back from or 'Right The Wrong' with a Gilmour solo, a very heavy track (Chad Smith obliges) co-written with his son and whose complex and muffled guitar line on the verse contrasts with the unifying chorus. He even wrote his first politically-sounding text with 'Do I Stand Alone'.

On the music side, some pieces are top notch like 'Judgement Day' which is surprising at first glance. Luke's voice is deeper, his inflections new and even if the dynamics are different, the groove remains intact and hits the bull's eye in the end. 'Once Again' is another ballad by Lukather who, although very familiar with the exercise, manages to touch us again with the purity of the melodies and his divine touch. Finally, 'Transition', with its deceptive intro, is a superb tribute to the Prog Rock of the 70's evoking in turn the spirit of Los Lobotomys and Toto's 'Better World' in its tryptic construction and its sudden incursion of acoustic guitar.

In a more joyful vein, the classic and direct 'Do I Stand Alone', will mark more than a heavy and banal 'Last Man Standing' (evoking many other tracks of our Californian, whether solo or with Toto) while 'Rest Of The World', although very "commercial" (we think of Joe Walsh) is doing well with its round and sensual groove a la Porcaro and its warm chorus.

Ending with emotion on Charlie Chaplin's instrumental 'Smile', "Transition" will delight the master's fans, whether they like AOR or Fusion, because these two styles intertwines with a lot of class. Another success to be granted to Lukather whose solo career seems to have definitely become his priority. We couldn't hope for better. - Official website

STEVE LUKATHER

TRANSITION

MASCOT LABEL GROUP

ROCK