British keyboard player Nick Steed introduces himself on his Bandcamp page with the words:" Welcome to my page, I'm Nick, Keyboardist with Classic prog band Colosseum. I'm based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, a composer of varied music from Classical to jazz rock/prog music, performing all over the UK and Europe." I must honestly confess that I had never heard of him until the release of his latest album. Yet the band Colosseum is a household name in the music world. And if you are the replacement for Dave Greenslade, you clearly have talent. And that becomes evident after listening to his solo album Secrets Of The King's Court (Themes & Variations). For those who didn't know Nick before, just like myself, I will first tell you a little more about the musician himself. He started playing keyboards at an early age at around 7 years old, his father was an amateur musician and always had instruments in the house which included organs, guitar and a drum kit and he took to the organ listening to his dad's record collection and playing by ear to tracks which included Jimmy Smith, Focus and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. And an array of other great bands of the 70's. By around the age of 11, he was performing on the organ in his parents pubs and by 15 joined his first Blues band performing with some of Stockport's local blues players and gigging regularly on the local blues circuit. Over the following years growing up he gained experience through many musicians and styles of music from Blues, Jazz, Rock, Fusion, Classical and worked with many bands along the way including his own bands and collaborations from The Nick Steed Five, Optimystik Visionaries, Norman Beaker Band, THR33 and more recently Colosseum. He also has a trio named Nick Steed & Friends featuring L.A session guitarist Sebastian Lorenz and long time friend drummer Steve Gibson (Sadcafe) that has recently toured Austria/Germany and currently in the process of booking an Autumn tour for 2026. For this new solo album Nick played on many keyboards and includes instruments such as the mighty Hammond organ and legendary Moog synthesizer. Of course Steed did not everything by himself on this album. His two Colosseum mates, Clem Clempson (guitar) and Mark Clarke (bass) helped him out. Just like Ray DeTone (guitar), who also plays with this band. Greg Morgan (drums) and Peter Mason (acoustic guitar) are members of Nick's Optimystik Visionaries and can be heard as well. Finally Stephen Cordiner a sought-after session musician for string instruments (violin, viola) contributed as well. Secrets Of The King's Court (Themes & Variations) is a small collection of three pieces of music split into themes and variations. The concept album was to be finished a few years ago, but other projects were more important to finish, so it was put on hold. The English Garden Suite makes an appearance as three themes, as this piece was originally intended for this album, and features harpsichord and violin in the first two themes, as well as full band - guitar, bass, drums, Hammond and Moog. And then there is two variations of The Mad King George III. Finally, the last, titular piece is split into six variations taking the piece through a storyline of emotions. For those who specifically want to know what is happening musically on this album, I will try to explain what is going on on this beautiful instrumental album. I will do this by going through the songs with you one by one. The English Garden Suite - Theme 1 The Work Of Man starts as classical piece of music before the full band joins in. It goes from mellow to more up tempo and the first influences of Rick Wakeman comes to the surface on this rather short piece. The English Garden Suite - Theme 2 A Flourish Of Life is a musical mix of Kansas meets Rick Wakeman. Kansas because of the great playing on the violin. Rick Wakeman of course of the similar kind of keyboard playing which moves most of all into the direction of the album The Myths And Legends Of King Arthur And The Knights Of The Round Table (1975) and specifically the track The Last Battle. Certainly one of my favourites and highlight of the album! The English Garden Suite - Theme 3 Wind, Rain & Storm is a great Jazzrock and Fusion up tempo track with strong bass parts and a great synth solo is included as well. George III 'The Mad King' Var.1 is another Rick Wakeman kind of up tempo tune and has a great organ parts. It also features again a great synthesizer solo. George III 'The Mad King' Var.2 is a bit like the first part. It's again rather up tempo and has nice guitar and organ solos. Secrets Of The King's Court Var.1 takes us back to The Myths And Legends Of King Arthur And The Knights Of The Round Table and reminds me of Merlin from this album. The organ and synthesizer parts are out of the ordinary here! Secrets Of The King's Court Var.2 continuous the Merlin association and features great synthesizer and guitar solos. In general this piece of music more mellow. Secrets Of The King's Court Var.3 has a faster tempo and here you can enjoy strong contributions on the organ with a great solo. Secrets Of The King's Court Var.4 is rather mellow with beautiful flute (Mellotron?) and synthesizer parts in the style of Rick Wakeman. Secrets Of The King's Court Var.5 is a mellow piano piece with great playing on the violin with nice Mellotron accompanying parts Secrets Of The King's Court Var.6 ends the album. Once again Rick Wakeman's The Last Battle comes to mind on this rather mellow composition. It features again nice guitar and synthesizer parts and ends the album in a perfect way. Nick Steed's Secrets Of The King's Court (Themes & Variations) is an awesome classical progressive rock concept. Where classical music meets rock music in a perfect way and progressive rock in general. The collection of 11 tracks organized into three primary suites/themes are most of all a must for fans of Rick Wakeman. However this album, which is focused largely on classically inspired tunes, is recommended to everybody who likes most of all keyboard inspired progressive rock tunes. A great album indeed which never gets boring to listen to because it only features top notch instrumentals. Only too bad the album is way too short. After a half hour you have to put it on again. But that not a punishment I guess! **** Henri Strik (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
