Five years have passed since Nick Steed joined COLOSSEUM, making the move which made him slow down with other projects – and leaving "Feeling For The Blues" and "Thr33" as only albums by, respectively, NS5 and THR33 – but the keyboard player continued his solo career in parallel with his ensemble work. 2023 saw the ivories master deliver “Influential Guidance” – and now he’s ready to release its follow-up.
It’s a proggier affair, titled “Secrets Of The King’s Court” and featuring, among other instrumentalists, Steed’s bandmates, Clem Clempson and Mark Clarke. But what’s it all about?
“‘Secrets Of The King’s Court’ is a small collection of three pieces of music split into themes and variations,” elaborates Nick. “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’ which, as the name suggests, is a little crazy as you will hear. Finally, the last, titular piece is split into six variations taking the piece through a storyline of emotions, with album totaling around thirty minutes.”
Secrets Of The King’s Court
The English Garden Suite:
1. Theme 1 – The Work Of Man
2. Theme 2 – A Flourish Of Life
3. Wind, Rain & Storm
George III ‘The Mad King’:
4. Variation 1
5. Variation 2
Secrets Of The King’s Court:
6. Variation 1
7. Variation 2
8. Variation 3
9. Variation 4
10. Variation 5
11. Variation 6
