Not Necessarily Acoustic

Recorded in intimate club performances in late 1993, this live and nearly unplugged collection ably spans three decades of Howe's releases. Lead vocals are always a weak spot for him, and so he wisely constrains most of this album to solo instrumentals. The result is a headphone treat, as if you're sitting right in front of his amp and his famed collection of guitars. Of special interest is his one vocal and guitar piece, a seamless medley of each movement from Tales from Topographic Oceans; it's as close to a Tales demo session as fans will ever get. Because Howe's albums are a pastiche of already ripened styles -- a "Meadow Rag" here, a steel guitar twang in "Cactus Boogie" there, and a flamenco-tinged "Mood for a Day" to top it off -- the material on Not Necessarily Acoustic has hardly dated, and it sounds less like a retrospective than a unified new album. The one unfortunate omission is that while the concerts had a nod to his psychedelic days with Tomorrow's "My White Bicycle," there's nothing from that era on this disc.