SHAZAM

In the second edition of his ongoing Homebrew series, Yes guitarist Steve Howe collects another heaping helping of demos -- made available for public consumption for the first time. As with his work with Yes, Howe is not afraid to let his acoustic "sensitive side" show, especially on such tracks as the album-opening "Masquerade" and "Beginnings" -- the latter of which sounds straight out of Renaissance times. Howe also gets to show off his chicken-pickin' talents on "Cactus Boogie," while also offering a Peter Gabriel-esque album closer, "Mule's Head Stomp." With fellow Yes mates Rick Wakeman and Jon Anderson also dropping by the proceedings, most Yes fanatics will want to sample some Homebrew 2. ~ Greg Prato, Rovi