VOYAGE OF THE ACOLYTE

A very beautiful truly symphonic prog album by one of the most important guitarists in prog. It's the only album I have of his so far and I really can't see how he could have topped it. It starts off very aggressively, which took me by surprise, (I did have the original vinyl record years ago, but I toally forgot what it sounded like). "Ace Of Wands" is my favorite song for the simple reason that it doesn't sound like Genesis. It's a tad fusiony mixed with symph changing tempo often and at only 5.25 minutes long, it has enough melodies and themes for six songs! A classic! The next three songs tell a story and are haunting and dark with the third part acoustic and pretty. "Star of Sirius" is sung by Phil Collins and is the catchiest and very memorable. But hands down, the most symphonic song on the album is "Shadow of the Hierophant". With Sally Oldfield's precious vocals and Steve's wailingly sad guitar, it features super Melotron passages which sticks in your head for days. My copy is the re-mastered version with two bonus tracks, a killer live version of "Ace Of Hands" and an extended version of "Shadow of the Hierophant" which tends to get on your nerves after it surpasses the original version timewise. All in all, I'd guess this would be the best solo album symphonicaly by any member of Genesis and garners a 4.5 star rating from me. A must have for Genesis fans and symph fans in general.