GTR (album)


GTR is the only album from the English rock supergroup GTR, released in April 1986. The album peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard 200 chart, and the single "When the Heart Rules the Mind" reached No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Another single, "The Hunter", peaked at No. 85. In the UK, the album was released on 7 July 1986, where it reached No. 41 on the album charts.
An instrumental piece recorded by Yes, GTR and Asia guitarist Steve Howe years before, "Sketches in the Sun", was included on the album due to a shortage of content. It resurfaced on his solo album Motif Volume 1 and again on his Anthology album. Steve Hackett's "Hackett to Bits" was a simplified version of the title track from his Please Don't Touch album. Asia recorded their own version of the Geoff Downes-penned "The Hunter" for their 1997 compilation album Anthology.
The group, founded by Hackett and Howe, disbanded in 1987. Downes, who like Howe had been a member of Yes and Asia, produced the album.
The band's name, anecdotally, comes from the marking on the studio mixing console that indicates the 'guitar' volume control.
The album was reissued in 2001 as a remastered CD and again in 2006 as a Japanese mini-LP CD, but otherwise remained out of print until a deluxe 2-CD version was released in 2015.

Reception

Paul Stump, in his History of Progressive Rock, said the album "managed to make two of the most distinctive guitarists in rock sound like autopiloted sessioneers at a Foreigner recording."
A retrospective review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine in Allmusic agreed that the album "didn't deliver the fireworks that Howe and Hackett fans desired. Part of the problem is that the two guitarists crowd each other out; it rarely sounds like they're trading licks, but rather like they're stepping forward for solos at their pre-scheduled times." He praised the hit single as "anthemic, professional stadium rock at its best" but said the rest of the album feels like a missed opportunity.
Musician reviewer J. D. Considine wrote simply: "SHT."

Track listing

  1. "When the Heart Rules the Mind" – 5:24
  2. "The Hunter" – 4:51
  3. "Here I Wait" – 4:54
  4. "Sketches in the Sun" – 2:29
  5. "Jekyll and Hyde" – 4:42
  6. "You Can Still Get Through" – 4:53
  7. "Reach Out " – 4:00
  8. "Toe the Line" – 4:29
  9. "Hackett to Bits" – 2:10
  10. "Imagining" – 5:49

Deluxe Reissue CD 1 - Studio Album plus bonus tracks

  1. "The Hunter " – 4:56
  2. "When The Heart Rules The Mind " – 4:28
  3. "The Hunter " – 4:00

Deluxe Reissue CD 2 - Live In Los Angeles, 19 July 1986

  1. "Jekyll and Hyde" – 5:47
  2. "Here I Wait" – 5:55
  3. "Prizefighters" – 5:17
  4. "Imagining" – 7:12
  5. "Hackett to Bits" – 2:22
  6. "Spectral Mornings" – 3:57
  7. "I Know What I Like " – 6:24
  8. "Sketches in the Sun" – 2:44
  9. "Pennants" – 4:31
  10. "Roundabout" – 8:38
  11. "The Hunter" – 6:44
  12. "You Can Still Get Through" – 6:55
  13. "Reach Out " – 5:54
  14. "When the Heart Rules the Mind"– 6:06

Personnel

;GTR

Production

  • Geoff Downes – producer
  • Alan Douglas – engineer
  • John Brough – assistant engineer
  • Noel Haris – assistant engineer
  • Andy Mason – assistant engineer
  • Howard Fritzson – art direction
  • Ian Miller – design
  • Mike Russell – photography
  • Miki Slingsby – photography
  • Tom Biondo - photography
  • Jimmy Starr – remastering
  • Eddie Wilner – reissue producer

Charts

Album

Chart Peak
position

Singles

When the Heart Rules the Mind
Chart Peak
position

The Hunter
Chart Peak
position