STEVE HACKETT

This was a bit of a surprise. This was tagged as "symphonic prog" on RYM, but it doesn't typically feel that way. In fact, there are dense textures bordering on space rock, reminiscent of plenty of things you would hear in Germany at the time. Steve Hackett's Spectral Mornings seems to take a few pages out of the book of Pink Floyd, especially where DSOTM and WYWH were concerned, relying on accessible yet shifting textures to do a large portion of the work, striking a near-perfect balance between prog rock inventiveness and rock accessibility. It's quite a serene and pleasant experience throughout. There is one little problem that's present throughout, however: the songs don't seem to bear the same kind of thematic depth or presence at first. The depth gradually increases throughout the album, but there are still a couple of empty feelings involved. Overall, this is a damn good one, but not as deep or catchy as DSOTM.

Hackett to Pieces!!

The follow up to the somewhat lightweight Cured LP saw Steve Hackett still tying to give Charisma the hit single they appeared to be demanding.He succeeded-sort of with "Cell 151" which reached the dizzying height of 66 in the UK singles chart for about 2 weeks.Clearly Hackett was not cut out as a hitmaker.As for the attendant LP Highly Strung the good news was that it was much more Proggy than the previous album.Although it was essentially just Hacket and Magnus as with Cured, this time they had Ian Mosely(Yes-that one!) on drums and what a difference it makes to the overall sound.

The opening track"Camino Royale", although a farly conventional song, opens and closes with some very Prog instrumentation.Hackett clearly loved this song as it oftern featured in his concerts.There are a few rather Poppy tracks as well as Cell 151, including "Walking Through Walls" which unfortunately relies a bit too much on the very 80's gated drum sound and "Give it Away" which is actually a prety decent track and reminds me of the sort of song Trevor Rabin led Yes were doing at the time .I would say Steve Hackett's vocal were a lot stronger on this album than on Cured.

Apart from "Camino Royale", the real standout tracks for me are the three instrumentals."Always Somewhere Else" is a two hander basically, the first half being a very jazzy semi improvised jam before the guitar takes off providing an uplifting second half."Group Therapy" is superb guitar-keyboard fusion fest which goes through several themes.It is easily the best track on the album-certainly the Proggiest.The closing track "Hackett to Pieces" reprises the opening and closing instrumental themes off "Camino Royale" with another burst of aggressive Prog Rock.

Overall I feel the album is only slightly compromised by Hackett's obvious attempts to get more Commercial but I still rate this album highly.

4 stars

After hitting the top 10 in the British Album Charts for the first (and sadly only) time with the overall very Proggy Defector LP, one would assume Steve Hackett would follow up with more of the same.Sadly no as the follow up album Cured showed.So what changed? Firstly Hackett simply could not afford a full band this time.Secondly he felt under pressure to provide Virgin with a hit or at leat a more commercial sounding album.Thirdly and perhaps most significantly he wanted to prove himself capable of handling vocals.

Overall this new direction did not automatically have to lead to a sub-standard album.The main problem is he made a couple of mistakes in the presentation of the album.Firstly he decided to not use his wife Kim Poor for a cover unlike all his previous albums and go for a photo of himself enjoying himself with his cure (Cured-geddit?) near a beach.Hmm-shades of Love Beach by ELP....Not only that but like the ELP album he front-loaded the album with a couple of fairly straightforward :"Pop" songs.Not something we expect of this guitar hero.Ofcourse the very light production compounded by his fairly weak vocals and the dreaded use of drum machines made for a fairly underwelming experience for the listener. Fortunately and the truth is Cured is actually quite an enjoyable album in many respects.The songs although with one notable exception not even remotely Proggy, probably arranged to suit his limited vocals are actually quite engaging in their own way.The notable exception is "Overnight Sleeper" which features a particularly engaging Latin style instrumental section showcasing John Hackett's always superb flute playing.The album also includes the dramatic "The Air Conditioned Nightmare" which is one of his best instrumentals.

Overall while not an essential album it is still worthy of 3 stars

Spectral Mornings Part 2

At first glance- and listen, Defector seems like it is joined at the hip with Spectral Mornings.Similar artwork, same line up and so on.Also as with the previous album Defector is conceptual in nature making references to the uneasy truce between Russa and the USA at the time it was recorded. It opens with"The Steppes"- a terrific brooding and slow burning instrumental showcasing his unique guitar style as well as some fine flute playing by John Hackett.The next track "Time to get Out" is a fairly straightforward rocker but nothing more.The next track, "Slogans" is another excellent instrumental showcasing Hackett's unique style.The whole band is on fire on that track."Leaving" is a fairly straightforward acoustic song and the closing instrumental track on side 1 "Two Vamps as Guests" showcases Hackett's nylon string playing while referencing the opening track.

Side 2 starts promisingly enough with "Jacuzzi" another sprightly and melodic instrumental featuring more excellent flutework.."Hammer In The Sand" is a yet another instrumental this time showcasiing Nick Magnus's keyboard skills."The Toast" is a pleasant song with a particularly beautiful symphonic instrumental section clearly iunspired by Classical Composer Satie. The second last track "The Show" is a surprising;y upbeat with a baseline making it sound a bit dangerously close to Disco for my liking.The closing track "Sentimental Institution" is one of those oddball tracks Hackett is so fond of, this time a cod 4o's crooner using the optigan to create the old school sound.

Overall I have mixed feelings about this album.Parts of it -mainly the instrumentals are flat out brilliant.The songs are a bit pedestrian to be honest but given that half the tracks are instrumental and really do showcase both Hacketts and Magnus so well this is another essental Hackett album

5 stars-just

Half a century ago, at the time Yes were taking their really productive sabbatical leave of 1975, Steve Hackett turned a two months break of his band Genesis into a chance to work on a solo debut of his own, namely Voyage Of The Acolyte, and certainly made good use of it.

The album opens under dense jazz-rock spitfire, supplied by the trio of Hackett with bandmates Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins (who was taking also an intensive fusion training with Brand X by then) as sidekicks on bass and drums repectively. Not the best moment of the album, to my taste at least, but a good appetizer anyway. Other rather uncook moment comes with A Tower Struck Down, a piece co-written with brother John that sounds like an outtake from The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway to me, yet a bit overdone with studio trickery.

The acoustic moments of both Hands Of The Priestess and The Hermit are filled with pure idyllic magic, being the cor anglais in the last one played by Robin Miller, who keeps spreading charm with his oboe in Star Of Sirius, a track sung by Collins alterning moods ranging from bucolic to hectic that brings back the fusion pyrotechnics, with better result this time around.

Shadow Of The Hierophant comes last (but not least) as the piece de resistance of the album. Of course, it all comes down to what you feel about iterative forms in this point. I don't want to reduce this to a superficial resemblance with other well-known pieces using that same technique. This works for me, and I think that's for good reasons: First, the impeccable sense of dynamics and ornamentation constructing over the repetition of rythmic patterns and chordal sequences. Second, the exquisitely ethereal vocals by Sally Oldfield, leading the way to a path not dissimilar to that opened a couple of years before by her brother, and confirmed at the time with Ommadawn.

I have to say that my rating comes, not from the algebraic sum of each track figures, but from the feeling that this album is excellent as a whole, because of its outstanding creative freedom, and its freshness.

How many live recordings of 'Firth of Fifth' (on CD and/or blu-ray) do you need, really? And of 'Clocks', 'Every Day' and 'Los Endos', to name just three numbers that have become Steve Hackett live regulars? Just like you, I had my doubts about this release, but if you compare it to the many Hackett live albums that came before it, there's one significant difference: in Craig Blundell, Steve found a young and energetic drummer who adds a lot of pizzazz to every song he appears in. I'd even go so far as to say Blundell almost totally TRANSFORMS those tunes, so that you hear them anew. Perhaps SELLING ENGLAND never sounded so good on stage. The sense of newness is reinforced by the contributions of saxophonist Rob Townsend, who plays a far more prominent role than in earlier concerts, sometimes adding delightful new improvisations, sometimes playing a melody that was originally taken up by Tony Banks's keyboards, and sometimes just clowning around. (By the end of the show, Townsend's clowning actually started to grate, at least when I was watching the blu-ray.) I also have nothing but respect for Nad Sylvan, who performs the old Genesis vocals with great subtlety, even accomplishing the near-impossible: equalling Peter Gabriel in the ultra-theatrical 'The Battle of Epping Forest'. (It's probably better to keep schtum about Hackett's own lead vocal on one or two pieces from SPECTRAL MORNINGS.) Add some glorious singing by Amanda Lehmann, a lot of sophisticated playing on bass and twelve-string by Jonas Reingold, AND a superb lightshow, and you've got a release that should delight any Steve Hackett acolyte.

P.S. I'd never heard of 'Déja Vu', which seems to have been discarded from the original SELLING ENGLAND album, but it turned out to be a delight, with Hackett's lead guitar simply soaring.

I used to assume the reason Steve Hackett felt constrained while with Genesis and was not allowed to cut loose with more guitar solos but I think the real reason is his actual songs were being rejected with "Please Don't Touch" being the classic example. Having said that I was expecting him to show of his considerable chops on his solo albums. His first two albums confounded those expectations in some ways. Yes there was plenty of superb musicianship to be found and some quite sophisticated compositions as well but not a lot in the way of blistering solos. All that changes with his third album -Spectral Mornings. The opening track "Everyday" starts as another catchy song but after barely two minutes and twenty seconds through he just lets rip with some of his best electric guitar playing ever and it is not a brief interlude either- he just blazes away for another four minutes with some exquisitely melodic lines until the song finally fades away. What a great way to start an album. "The Virgin and the Gypsy" is another showcase for his compositional skills with some beautiful flute soloing by John Hackett. The brief instrumental "The Red Flower of Tachai" shows a different side to Hackett-a lovely bit of exotic World Music featuring Cantonese Koto and bamboo flutes. The next major piece "Clocks-Angel of Mons" refers to British soldiers believing they were assisted in holding of a German army by guardian angels during the battle of Mons.It's Hackett in full aggressive prog mode with an insistent riff possibly inspired by the beginning of Carmina Burana. It also features an explosive drum solo by John Shearer. Hackett cannot resist the temptation to include a humorous song to round off side1-"Ballad of the Decomposing Man" Side2 opens with "Lost Time In Cordoba" a serene and melancholic instrumental featuring some lovely guitar classical guitar. The track actually leads directly to the WW1 epic "Tigermoth" It is another slab of intense heavy prog starting with a particularly menacing staccato riff which then dissolves into a highly atmospheric synth section with Hackett providing some extroadinary sounds presumably intending to evoke an aerial battle.After the original staccato riff reprises even more menacingly with a huge organ sound backing the tracks mood lightens dramatically with some gorgeous flutes giving the sense of being in the air but after a battle.The acual song section has an almost Music-Hall ambience and lyrically is about a recently killed pilot being reunited with the ghosts of his comrades who have also perished. The mood far from being depressing and sad is actually quite buoyant. After all the drama of the preceding comes the real showcase of the album which is title track. This instrumental arguably represents the absolute peak of Hackett's guitar prowess.For all those fans who wish he would solo more often is treated here to an almost non stop impassioned solo that seems to go on forever.

For me Spectral Morning is the moment Steve Hackett finally delivers the goods and is arguably his greatest ever album.This is Hackett well and truly playing to his strengths

A very solid 5 stars

In some ways Steve Hackett's follow-up to his debut was even more important. It was after all the first solo record he produced after he left Genesis so he would have presumably been apprehensive about justifying his decision to leave especially as Genesis's popularity was gaining in momentum. In contrast to the debut which was a concept album with a fairly integrated style, Please Don't Touch is almost polar opposite being a wildly eclectic mix of styles including Pop,Classical,Folk,Straight-ahead Prog-of course and even a bit of R'N'B with absolutely no connecting feature or concept at all.He also decided to make the record in the USA employing the services of the likes of Steve Walsh and Phil Ehart from Kansas, Chester Thompson, African American Folky Richie Havens and a then relatively unknown R'n"B singer Randy Crawford. Of course his trusty collaborator John Hackett is present as always So what's the verdict? As well as being Steve Hackett's most wilfully eclectic and stylistically diverse albums, it is also and overwhelming success .It has everything. "Narnia" with it's striking 12 string riff and highly melodic vocal lines is a perfect opener."Carry On Up The Vicarage" manages to be quirky, silly and extremely Proggy all at the same time featuring the most bonkers vocals from Steve Hackett himself."Racing in A is a fast paced rocker with a chorus that is catchy and hell, "Kim" , obviously inspired by his then wife Kim Poor (and who provides the wonderful cover art) is an exquisite slice of Satie inspired classical guitar and flute tune."How Can I?" featuring the gravelly vocals of Richie Havens is highly melodic slice of US style folk.And that's just side 1 Side 2 opens with one of the most gorgeous R'n'B songs I have ever heard with absolutely stunning vocals by Randy Crawford.No, it is most decidedly not Prog or even Prog-related and I can imagine many Prog fans dismissing this song as a bit of throw-away fluff.Trust me-it is not.In fact how this song was not released as a single is to this day a complete mystery to me.After the brief atmospheric "Land Of A Thousand Autumns" comes what is surely the pivotal track.I will give the other members of Genesis the benefit of the doubt on the basis that I have never heard what "Please Don't Touch" sounded like when they allegedly tried it out in the studio. Maybe it was half baked at the time- who knows? But the bottom line is that they passed on that track in favour of "Wot Gorilla" on Wind And Wuthering. Wot indeed- more like WTF! The title track is just a slice of pure high energy Prog magic with it's twists and turns, it's siren like guitar figures it's relentless driving rhythm. No, Genesis rejected it in favour of a Phil Collins endorsed half baked clunker. Seriously, the title track off Please Don't Touch is all the evidence I need to conclude that leaving Genesis was indeed the correct decision. Anyway after that slice of dramatic Prog the album calms down with the experimental and earie "The Voice Of Necam" featuring more sublime nylon string playing and the elegant and literally uplifting "Icarus Ascending". Overall, while I think better was to come with his next album,I have a particular fondness for Please Don't Touch. How can I give it less than five stars?

Steve Hackett's Voyage Of The Acolyte produced while he was still in Genesis is a fairly assured debut. All of the tracks are based on Tarot Cards and anyone familiar with the guitarist would be very aware of his belief in the spirit world. "Ace Of Wands" in particular is a great opening track with plenty of intricate interplay. The epic closing track "Shadow of the Hierophant" is his first "Epic" and features Sally Oldfield's gorgeous vocals. Apparently the song was written with Mike Rutherford but was rejected by Genesis for inclusion on one of their albums. It could have potentially fitted on Nursery Cryme or even Foxtrot with its intricate quiet/loud dynamics but to be brutally honest I never felt it was fully developed especially with its slightly anticlimactic ending. "A Tower Struck Down" is the heaviest track on the album with its insistent staccato riff. It reminds me slightly of early King Crimson with its somewhat experimental and abstract edge. The rest of the album is quite pleasant- lots of acoustic guitar, flute, cor anglais, cellos added to the mix.Personally I almost feel guilty that I do not love this album more than I actually do.I realize that for a lot of Hackett fans the debut is the "One" and I can see why -it is certainly got that old-school proggyness not disimilar to Gabrial era Genesis but personally I prefer the next three albums more.

4 stars

Today I am going to be taking a deep dive into the 30th solo album by former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett entitled "The Circus and the Nightwhale." The album was released in February of 2024. Hackett has stated that the album is a concept album in various interviews. On the website hackettsongs.com, the concept is described as such:

A rite-of-passage concept album with a young character called Travla at the centre of it, 'The Circus And The Nightwhale's' 13 tracks have an autobiographical angle for the musician who says about his 30th solo release: "I love this album. It says the things I've been wanting to say for a very long time."

Line-up / Musicians - Steve Hackett / electric, acoustic & 12-string guitars, mandolin, harmonica, percussion, bass, vocals

With: - Roger King / keyboards, programming, orchestral arrangements - Amanda Lehmann / vocals (1,5,7,8,12) - Nad Sylvan / vocals & guitar (3) - Benedict Fenner / keyboards (7,9) - Rob Townsend / tenor saxophone & whistle (3,8) - John Hackett / flute (5) - Malik Mansurov / tar (8) - Jonas Reingold / bass (1,3,6,12) - Craig Blundell / drums (3,5,7,12) - Hugo Degenhardt / drums (9) - Nick D'Virgilio / drums (1) - Daniel Rawsie / voice (8) - Jorge Araujo / voice (8)

So, let's get into it!

Track 1 - People of the Smoke

The track fades in slowly with a collage of sounds including marching bands, sirens, cheering crowds, newscasts, "Are you sitting comfortably," (from the BBC show "Listen With Mother"), a train and more. Following that, a bit of orchestral music comes in. At around the 1 minute mark, Hackett's guitar comes in for the first time as the orchestral music begins to ascend. The rhythm section of Jonas Reingold and Nick D'Virgilio enter with a slammin' beat at around 1:15, followed by vocals from Hackett himself, I assume. There are nice vocal harmonies at around 1:35, followed by a KILLER guitar fill. Keep in mind that Hackett was doing pick-hand tapping on the fretboard several years prior to Van Halen's debut, and he is a master of the technique. A second verse follows. I believe that Amanda Lehmann is the one harmonizing with Hackett here. At around 2:45, the music pauses, and more sound effects come in. Instruments gradually join in, and Reingold and Hackett play some unison lines. The guitar solo comes in at around 3:20, and it's amazing. The steady beat returns at 3:40 and the solo continues. The orchestration and rhythm section compliment Hackett's dazzling guitar skills! The song ends with some more sound effects that lead to track 2.

Track 2 - These Passing Clouds

Ominous orchestral chords begin, then Hackett joins on his guitar with a tone reminiscent of Brian May. This is a moderately slow instrumental of just around a minute and a half, but played beautifully by Hackett.

Track 3 - Taking You Down

A short descending sound brings us into a mid-tempo rockin' riff with Jonas Reingold & Craig Blundell. The riff reminds me of Pink Floyd's "Young Lust," but isn't exactly the same. Nad Sylvan joins in on vocals at around the 35 second point. After the chorus, the riff returns for one round and leads to a second verse. I love the descending chorus line. After a second round we have a fantastic sax solo from Rob Townsend. Another verse follows but after the ensuing chorus, the music mostly drops out briefly, before Hackett takes a solo. At 74, Hackett plays with more ferocity than many players ⅓ his age. Great track, I just wanted more!

Track 4 - Found and Lost

This begins with classical guitar playing with synth-strings backing him up. At around 40 seconds, though, it becomes like a 1930s/40s jazzy-bluesy thing, with Hackett singing. This is another very short one at 1:50.

Track 5 - Enter the Ring

Storm sound effects start this one off, with cascading instrumental sounds leading to the harmony vocals. There is 12-string guitar, piano and various other tuned percussion instruments making a nice atmosphere with the haunting harmony vocals. At around 1:50, however, the vocals sustain and we go into a seriously Jethro Tull vibe. Steve's brother and frequent collaborator John Hackett provides the flute, but it's more than that that gives it the Tull feel. The underlying shifting meters are equally responsible when the rhythm section of Blundell & presumably Hackett himself on bass (Reingold is not credited for this one) kicks in. Hackett plays a lead at around 2:10. Quick- tempo vocal harmonies follow with Lehmann back onboard. Another brilliant guitar solo follows at 2:50. Hackett is still very much at the top of his game on the guitar. The harmonies are very Yes-like, and alternate with guitar lines. A 3-4 circus-music passage closes out the track, with Hackett on the last 10 seconds or so. Fantastic track! It goes directly into?

Track 6 - Get Me Out

Reingold and (I assume) Blundell and Hackett lay down a solid 6-8 groove here. The music lays back for the vocal parts, sung by Hackett again. Hackett has a nice singing voice that goes unrecognized. Wonderful harmonies join in. He plays a bluesy solo on this one. The meter suddenly changes at around 2:20, and Hackett goes into solo overdrive! Wow! The beat returns to 6-6 at around 2:50, but Hackett keeps on rolling! At around 3:55, the band sustains a note and the song fades over the next 20 seconds. For only 4:15, that was an action packed track!

Track 7 - Ghost Moon and Living Love

This is the longest track on the album, but at only 6:43, it's relatively short by prog-standards. In fact it's the only one over 5 minutes long. A-Capella choir style vocals fade in with a solo wordless melody by Lehmann soon joining in. A drum fill at around 43 seconds brings the band in with a moderately fast tempo, and Hackett's vocals begin. Blundell is playing a nice drum part on this. I assume Hackett is playing bass. The harmonized guitar solo follows with an interesting effect on the sound. This has an easy-going feel to it. Another guitar solo starts around 3:15; of course the playing is impeccable. This solo is extended and goes until around 4:35. At that time there is a brief vocal harmony, then what sounds like a clean electric guitar through some sort of harmonizing effect, such as what Steve Vai used in the Passion & Warfare era of the early 90s. Some nice harmony vocals sing over the top of that. Then a descending arpeggiated guitar line follows. The chord progression reminds me of something but I can't put my finger on it. Great track!

Track 8 - Circo Inferno

Here is another fairly short track at only 2:30. This one begins with Asian string instruments, then a mighty beat comes in at 20 seconds. The vocals follow close behind. The beat is similar to Zeppelin's Kashmir but slightly faster. Cool series of instrumental runs hit at around 1:15. Then there is a brief drum solo (Blundell, I suppose, even though no drummer is shown on this track from my source). Then Hackett plays some lightning fast licks after the whistle blows. After a few seconds of sound effects, a wild sax solo takes over. The song fades out on the echoing harmonized words "around and around?." Amazing track, especially being so short.

Track 9 - Breakout

Another very short one at just 1:37. This begins with a rockin' riff that reminds me of Deep Purple. Hackett is jamming on this one! At around 50 seconds there are harmony high "ahh" vocals. The riffs return afterwards with hot soloing over the top. The incredible guitar continues on the next track without a pause?.

Track 10 - All at Sea Unaccompanied lead guitar with accents from the rhythm section start this short one (1:46) off. The music pauses at around 15 seconds except for some synth sounds that kind of bubble. Some quieter, more distant sounding guitar kicks are present. I believe this is supposed to be the "Nightwhale" about to swallow us!

Track 11 - Into the Nightwhale

This is a bit of a more standard length song at 4:06. It begins with ominous synth sounds fading in. They definitely conjure up images of a whale in my mind. At around 1:20, a rhythm begins to fade in. Guitar notes go on top at around 1:50. The tension resolves at around 2:20. Vocals emerge at around 2:50. This segment wouldn't sound out of place on a Tales era Yes album. There are Howe-like guitar volume swells. Then it leads to?

Track 12 - Wherever You Are

A drumbeat takes over as the final note of the previous song fades out. The band locks into a rhythm , then vocals enter. Again if this is Hackett singing, he is a fine singer indeed. There are wonderful guitar fills between vocal phrases. There are nice harmonies at 1:19 on the phrase "beyond the edge of time," then there is a brief pause and a drum fill brings the beat back for a guitar solo. At around 1:50, it sounds as if some of the music is being played in reverse.at 2:03, however, a big riff takes over until the next guitar feature, which has some mind-blowing playing. There are some more big riffs, then some Queen-like chording. The Queen vibe continues with some very Brian May style guitar orchestration that continues until around 3:15. At that time A-cappella harmony vocals enter with an effect on the voice. Then the drums kick back in and other instruments follow with a reverse-sound playing some very complex lines. Another verse comes in around 3:33, but then the song concludes with a monster drum part that fades out.

Track 13 - White Dove

A masterful classical guitar part opens this one. Or actually the whole thing is a classical guitar solo. He is playing in a tremolo-style, which I can tell you from experience is not easy to master. A beautiful piece to close out this amazing album.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS:

WOW! Hackett has not lost any playing abilities to age! He proves himself to be one of the finest guitarists on the planet! But not only is he a great player, but a great composer, arranger, and vocalist as well. Color me impressed! My only complaint is that some of the tunes are too short! A Strong 4.5 out of 5!

Clicked 4, but really 4.5.