Every once in a while a musician that escaped your radar is stumbled upon quite by chance. I refer to keyboard player Nick Steed. How have I never heard of this guy before? I clearly need to pay more attention to things as Nick has a phenomenal musical CV and as a consequence played with some of the finest bands and artists in the world from many different musical genres. A band known for attracting musicians of the very highest calibre is Colosseum, a band with a rich musical heritage and one that Nick Steed is currently a part of.
Having read a synopsis of Nick’s new album Secrets Of The King’s Court Themes & Variations I felt compelled to contact him and find out a little more about it. I am so glad I did as the album and the virtuosity of all players included in the project is second to none.
The album features Colosseum bandmates Clem Clempson (guitar) and Mark Clarke (bass) as well as American session musician Ray DeTone (electric and acoustic guitars), Peter Mason (acoustic guitar), Dare’s Greg Morgan (drums) and the very talented Stephen Cordiner (violin/viola). The album is the produce of pieces that Nick Steed has written over the years all of which intended for a solo classical, progressive concept album which thankfully has now come to fruition in this eleven track beautifully executed baroque style roller-coaster.
The album tracks are each represented with different themes and variations most of which segue seamlessly into the next. The first piece The English Garden Suite is in three parts, The Work Of Man, A Flourish Of Life and wind, Rain And Storm each having their own theme. A version of The English Garden Suite was adapted for Colosseum’s 2025 release, Colosseum XI, something I would like to hear. Stephen Cordiner’s crisp violin and viola gets the show on the road so to speak in a very serene way on the first theme (The Work Of Man) with only Mark Clarke’s subtle bass lines as back up until Nick Steed’s piano and Hammond break the sedate piece and tranquillity. The pace picks up even further with Harpsichord and Moog which I have to say is on par with anything I have heard on either a Rick Wakeman or the late Francis Monkman album.
A lithe piano introduction heralds the beginning of the second theme (A Flourish Of Life) with violin accompaniment and astounding cohesion between all instruments, not least the myriad of keyboards and a peppering of Mellotron for good measure.
There’s some fine guitar playing here too by Clem Clempson airing on the side of subtlety and melding beautifully with the violin bringing a great deal of class to the piece, which, once again morphs into the next theme (Wind Rain And Storm) lead by bassist Mark Clarke. The firm foundation of Nick Steed’s Hammond organ is the perfect match for Clem Clempson’s guitar whilst a string patch and Moog build to an exciting crescendo. I doth my cap.
Moving onto George III The Mad King which is represented in two variations setting away at some speed with Variation 1. Harpsichord and Hammond are backed by a more grungy sounding guitar courtesy of Ray Detone. However, the neo-classical overtones are never far away opening this album’s appeal to a larger audience of Prog fans. Ray DeTone’s guitar break along with Nick Steed’s lightning synth interplay are nothing short of stunning.
The guitar foray continues into Variation 2 which has a the cohesion of band in full flight. The speed and velocity of both Hammond and Harpsichord are breathtaking. The tortured mind of George III is captured perfectly within the erratic nature of both variations.
As the subtitle of the album informs the title suite of variations number six in all and begin with an Elizabethan style with Nick Steed’s exquisite Harpsichord playing once again. This pretty much sets the scene for most of the six Secrets Of The King’s Court variations along with equally superb Hammond and Moog playing too. The stand out variation for me is Variation 3 which has a little extra bight and a little rockier than the majority. Nick Steed made a good job of string arrangements too. Throughout the majority of the six variations Guitarist Peter Mason added some fine acoustic guitar, though, at some points the subtlety of his playing is a little harder to define in the mix.
Throughout the whole of the album Greg Morgan simply gets on with laying down solid drums which due to the calibre of the lead instrumentation is easy to overlook. However, both Greg Morgan and Mark Clarke are a great rhythm section for such a heady project.
It would be all too easy to compare Secrets Of The King’s Court to albums recorded in the infancy of Progressive Rock (Rick Wakeman, Greenslade, Sky etc) but there is a freshness to this album that is hard to define with regard to such a comparison.
Whilst I will stop short of flaying myself with a length of hemp, I can’t quite forgive myself for not recognising the work of this extremely talented musician before the release of this attention grabbing body of music. Secrets Of The Kings Court will appeal to many of the prog fans of yore as well as introducing a younger audience to the genre that won’t have to trawl through the many albums recorded in that period just to discover what the fuss was all about.
In a year that so far has very few album releases that really excite and/or stimulate my musical appetite Secrets Of The Kings Court is a very welcome addition to the best of the 2026 crop.
Secrets Of The Kings Court themes @ variations is available to buy now on both download and CD via Nick Steed’s Bandcamp page. A vinyl version is also available.
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