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Steve Sabet From My Living Room Review by Gary Hill Steve Sabet proves himself to be a solid instrumentalist and songwriter with From My Living Room. The album sits in the general vicinity of melodic progressive rock. Since all the songs are strictly instrumental, the fact that it never feels redundant is a tribute to Sabet’s skill. Still, it would have benefited from some vocals, assuming they were done well. A few of the songs really feel like they were written to have singing in the mix. This set is quite powerful and effective. Other than the fact that it could have benefited from the addition of vocals, the only complaint is that the production feels a bit flat. It’s not something that will detract from the listening experience, but it’s obvious it wasn’t recorded in a big studio, but is more of a home recording. This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2012 Volume 2 at lulu.com/strangesound.

Track by Track Review

Crush Powering in with a hard rocking progressive rock sound, “Crush” drops to a mellower motif for the “verse” section. The keyboards are really what make this instrumental progressive rock in nature. There’s a great melodic guitar solo later that has some serious crunch built into it.

68 Mellower motifs start off “68,” but there’s sort of a bumping rhythmic element that hangs in the backdrop early. The cut works out to harder edged, crunchy sounds later, but the intricate and complex melody from the opening remains. Then it shifts to a more full on melodic progressive rock jam from there.

Slide Song This appropriately features some slide guitar and it has more of a straightforward rock sound to a lot of it. Featuring some great guitar soloing, this is arguably along the lines of fusion, with links to artists like Joe Satriani valid.

Written on Friday “Written on Friday” has a pretty and rather complex introductory section. After a short time, though, a more rocking sound is merged with that motif as Sabet continues. It turns out to some harder edged sounds. It still remains melodic, though and seems to alternate between those two basic musical concepts.

Electronic Interlude This number manages a rocking rhythm section after a mellower introduction, but overall it’s intricate and complex progressive rock. Some intriguing bits of keyboard are laced over the top and this has one of the more complex and dynamic arrangements on the CD. It also features some of the tastiest keyboard bits of the disc along with some great crunchy guitar riffs.

Waiting for What With “Waiting for What” the music seems more “song” like. It feels like it could easily have lyrics. The tune seems to combine mellower AOR sounds with harder rocking prog. Although there is some crunch at times, it manages to remain quite melodic. There’s a great guitar solo later in the piece that’s quite straightforward hard rock in nature.

No Exit The mellow acoustic guitar tones that lead this off call to mind the soft rock of the 1970s. Keyboards come over the top bringing some variety to the scenario along with some more pure progressive rock. There’s an almost Latin beat introduced as the tune continues. It works through mellower and harder rocking sounds at times. There are some great melodic keyboard parts to this number.

The Current Intricate acoustic guitar starts off here. The arrangement becomes fuller as the piece continues with the addition of keyboards, but it remains pretty and mellow. This is the most beautiful piece on show and one of the highlights of the set. It’s complex, but in a very subtle way. Even when it gets a bit more energized later it still remains most ballad-like.

Let’s Go “Let’s Go” resembles high energy modern progressive rock more purely than anything we’ve heard to this point. Comparisons to any number of retro inspired melodic prog rock bands would be appropriate. It’s got a lot of great tones and soloing. Here’s a song that seems like it would surely benefit from some vocals. The guitar solos at times feel a bit like Steve Howe.

Late Night Lullaby Based on mellower progressive rock sounds, this track has definite classical music leanings. It’s another of the prettiest pieces here and another highlight. It feels a bit melancholy, but that’s part of its charm.

From My Living Room The title track is a complex and involved acoustic guitar solos. In a lot of ways it calls to mind some of the acoustic guitar work presented on early Genesis albums. It’s a tasteful way to end the set.

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