Legendary Yes Guitarist Steve Howe Announces Special Reissues

07-31-2025

(TPC) Legendary Yes guitarist, Steve Howe, is set to re-release highly acclaimed solo albums 'Portraits Of Bob Dylan' and 'Natural Timbre' on CD and on vinyl for the very first time on 12th September, through his own HoweSound label, distributed by Cargo Records.

Originally released in 1999 'Portraits Of Bob Dylan' saw Howe paying tribute to one of his main inspirations in his own inimitable way, with an impressive array of guests performing an intriguing selection of Dylan songs, digging deep into his repertoire rather than the obvious hits.

The album features intriguing collaborations with guest vocalists including Jon Anderson (Yes), Max Bacon (GTR), Allan Clarke (The Hollies), PP Arnold, Annie Haslam (Renaissance), Keith West (Tomorrow) and Phoebe Snow along with extra special guest Dylan Howe on drums, bringing a whole fresh approach to Dylan's classics.

Steve Howe: "What I loved about it was having the chance to arrange them as I wasn't going to copy what Dylan had done; I wanted to bring a little bit more to it."

Available on CD and for the first time, on double deep red vinyl across three sides with an etched fourth side.

Steve Howe: "The 'Portraits' idea was always a sort of pipe dream, and I originally recorded one song to start the project, and I thought, this will be good, I'll do lots of Bob"

Following two years later, 'Natural Timbre' features Howe, joined by his son Dylan on drums, in an acoustic setting with an array of instruments including acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin, dobro, lap steel guitar, mandocello and koto across a range of original instrumental compositions and Classical interpretations to produce a deeply intimate collection of moving, atmospheric and stunningly beautiful music.

Available on CD and also for the very first time on translucent green double vinyl featuring 18 pieces over four sides.

Steve Howe: "The idea behind 'Natural Timbre' was to show that the beauty of acoustic instruments is universal" He goes onto say: "I really set about it, putting the electric guitar away wanting to do another kind of exploration, because like the piano, you can't get away from the tonality of acoustic sound. It's one of those beautiful, harmonising, soothing things"