PLEASE DON'T TOUCH!

Hackett's second solo album, and his first since leaving Genesis. This time, he did not have his Genesis buddies Mike and Phil to play and sing for him. In their places are a bunch of special guests including Steve Walsh, Phil Ehart, Chester Thompson, Richie Havens, and Randy Crawford. With so many different musicians with different personalities, "Please Don't Touch!" is a very varied and changing album. It is lighter than his previous outing, "Voyage". There are far less instrumentals here as Hackett puts more emphasis on the guest vocalists. It adds up to be a solid album. It is not in Hackett's upper echalon of releases, but that is what happens when one has such a plethora of great albums.

Like previously mentioned, it is a very varied album. Personally, I like the instrumentals, which include the title track, it's intro, "Kim", and "The Voice of Necam". "Land of a Thousand Autumns" does a great job of creating an eerie atmosphere and then explodes immediately as it goes into "Please Dont Touch", a psychedelic short with tons of different guitars and virtuoso flute playing of Steve's brother John. The song's time signature changes rapidly.It revolves around a 5/8 meter in the middle section but enters and exits in 4/4. "Kim" is just Steve and John and is very beautiful. Of the vocal songs, "How Can I?" and "Icarus Ascending" are my favorites.

This is a very good album and shines in many places. 3.5 stars.