GTR (album)
GTR is the 1986 debut album from the short-lived supergroup GTR. The album peaked at No. 11 on the "Billboard" 200 chart, and the single "When the Heart Rules the Mind" reached No. 14 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 singles chart. Another single, "The Hunter", peaked at No. 85. An instrumental piece recorded by GTR guitarist Steve Howe years before, "Sketches in the Sun", was included on the album due to a shortage of content. It resurfaced on his solo album "Motif Volume 1" and again on his "Anthology" album. Steve Hackett's "Hackett to Bits" was  a simplified version of the title track from his "Please Don't Touch" album. (It has no connection with the similarly titled "Hackett to Pieces" from "Highly Strung".) Asia recorded their own version of the Geoff Downes-penned "The Hunter" for their 1997 compilation album "Anthology". The group, founded by Hackett and Howe, disbanded in 1987. Downes, who was an ex-Yes and ex-Asia member like Howe, produced the album. The band's name, anecdotally, comes from the marking on the studio mixing console that indicates the 'guitar' volume control. The album was reissued in 2001 as a remastered  CD and again in 2006 as a Japanese mini-LP CD, but otherwise remained out of print until a deluxe 2-CD version was released in 2015. Reception. Paul Stump, in his "History of Progressive Rock", said the album "managed to make two of the most distinctive guitarists in rock sound like autopiloted sessioneers at a Foreigner recording." A retrospective review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine in "Allmusic" agreed that the album "didn't deliver the fireworks that Howe and Hackett fans desired. Part of the problem is that the two guitarists crowd each other out; it rarely sounds like they 're trading licks, but rather like they're stepping forward for solos at their pre-scheduled times." He praised the album's hit single as "anthemic, professional stadium rock at its best" but said that the rest of the album feels like simply a missed opportunity. Chart performance. Singles. When the Heart Rules the Mind The Hunter