BLUES WITH A FEELING

In the Sixties my progrock guitar hero Steve Hackett used to visit the famous London music center The Marquee to watch the blues legends John Mayall and Eric Clapton. As so many adolescents he was highly inspired and determined to copy his heroes, first he bought a harmonica and later a guitar, then he started to practise on the usual blues scales. Of course we know Steve Hackett as one of the archetypical progrock guitarplayers and a decent classical guitarist but how about those blues roots. Well, on this CD I was delighted about Hackett his blues guitar work and harmonica play in the covers Born In Chicago, The Stumble, Blues With A Feeling and So Many Roads. Some own compositions are also worth listening: A Blue Part Of The Town contains a fine duet between Hackett on harmonica and Julian Colbeck delivering modern keyboard sounds, Footloose is in the vein of the late Stevie Ray Vaughan (tight and fluent rhythm with fiery and biting runs) and The 13th Floor (loaded with strong interplay between gutiar and piano). But I am not pleased with Hackett his quite dull vocals, to me it seems that he is too happy with his Brasilian girldfriend Kim Poor to sing about the blues! It would have been a better idea if Hackett had invited a wide range of guest singers, like on his second solo album Please Don't Touch.