Review of Locomotion by Howard Snell - August, 2005

In the parallel universe of brass-world Steven Mead is a celebrity. He amazes, astonishes and astounds afresh with each recording or concert appearance. He continually renews and invigorates his repertoire and never fails to offer something novel to the public. He never lets his fans down.

His latest recording has two purposes. Firstly he offers a trip down his personal memory lane, mainly revisiting Salvation Army repertoire with a few secular items for variety. His new recording 'Locomotion - a tribute to my childhood' was recorded with the Boscombe Citadel Band under Howard Evans and joins a very long list of solo releases. It should have a very wide appeal, having the secondary aim of introducing an attractive range of SA pieces to a wider public. For all euphonium players and brass soloist fanciers this CD is naturally a 'must'. For Salvationists who want to tuck up with their memories and also see what's new, there are plenty of well-loved melodies, some Saturday-night show-pieces and some tasty novelties.

Let me put my cards on the table at once and declare an interest. I have worked with Steven since I persuaded him to come to Desford in the early eighties. He was then just about to leave university for a teaching career, and I knew he had what was needed to help in the Band's great leap forward. Which is what he did, not only playing at a dizzy level himself but persuading, cajoling, helping, and bullying … when necessary … all those around him. He was always the one that worked hardest. Then at CWS (Glasgow) and during many subsequent one-off concerts and recordings, we have collaborated regularly.

Norman Bearcroft's title piece kicks off the disc in high style, the soloist immediately establishing his trademark liquid tone and fluent technique. Peter Graham's The Holy Well follows, a very satisfying melody with just the right mood for some impressively gentle playing. At this point in my listening, like an adjudicator settling in to a good performance, I was enjoying myself a lot. Apart from the soloist, the uniformly imaginative writing, the lively recorded 'picture', not least was the Band and Conductor. They were not just making up the numbers, but right there as full partners, delivering lively intelligent playing with typical SA character, and in possession of excellent technical know-how. And so the disc continued. When He Cometh, Bandmaster Howard Evans own soulful offering, was followed by a likeable Variants on 'St Francis' by David Chaulk. Again, fine skill in all areas. The next title, was by Joy Webb, There Will Be God. (Back in the fifties or sixties she ran a group called Joystrings, an ensemble whose success launched a thousand guitar groups onto the religious scene.) This one for the faithful, I think. We'll All Shout Hallelujah (Norman Audoire) is the first traditional-style variation solo on the disc, while My Unchanging Friend (Ivor Bosanko) also uses variation form. Three secular pieces are placed at various points on the menu: Slavische Fantasie (Carl Höhne), Banjo and Fiddle (William Kroll), and Deep Inside the Sacred Temple (Georges Bizet). All given first class treatments. The penultimate offering is a multitrack version of A Quiet Place by the Take 6 gospel group. It is beautiful! Their CDs have been on my shelf for years. Their arrangements, their range of musical expression from utter calmness to deepest intensity and then to exhilaration, are brilliant musically, and technically stunning. Equally impressive for me was Journey into Peace, William Himes essay in which he illuminates his personal contemplations. Skill that knows what to leave out rather than how much can be put in, less is more in other words, draws the best performance of the disc from Steven and the Band. These final two items cap the recording perfectly for me.

The CD is presented impressively without skimping on supporting information and background. Interesting graphics abound and while photos of the Infant Mead in pram are not shared with us, we get two shots of the Boy Mead in the process of growing up to add to our store of knowledge. Somewhere, no doubt, someone is already mugging up on a 'Life and Works of' in preparation for a Mastermind contest.

Seriously …Having seen most sides of the music business first hand I must put into focus the sheer hard labour that Steven and his wife Tracy have put into his career, quite apart from the matter of playing the instrument. One doesn't just fall out of bed into being good, much as today's educationalists talk of learning being fun. He wears his achievement and status very lightly. He accepts and enjoys the work of other fine players who place themselves elsewhere in the playing spectrum. I have never heard him rubbish the playing of any other euphoniumist. A rare virtue!

Steven's years on the road, the constant search for new repertoire, a teaching role where no trouble is too much, all of these things go well beyond that of being merely a great performer, of which there are quite a few, and take him into the position only the blinkered would contest: his world-wide role as the euphonium's foremost ambassador.
- Howard Snell