THE TOKYO TAPES

In the last few years, Steve Hacket has, some would say, rested on his laurels, and concentrated on crowd pleasing gigs of mostly old material; this album is a worthy document of one of these crowd pleasers.

Surrounding himself with the great and the good of mid 1970's progressive rock, Hackett concentrates on giving the crowd exactly what they want to hear from such a lineup with mixed results; to be honest, it is the King Crimson covers which adapt best to this situation, with soaring versions of 'Court' and 'I talk to the wind' , although 'Watcher of the skies' and 'Horizons' fare well, too. This is not to say the musicianship is at anytime less than excellent - Ian MacDonald rates a special mention here for his evocative flute work, as do the ever reliable vocal talents of John Wetton.

Overall, this album is akin to listening to a very good tribute band, but none the less for that - face it, nobody is playing this music anymore (personally, as far as 'heat of the moment' is concerned, that can only be a good thing), so if Hackett wants to supply the obvious demand, then all power to him.

This is a high quality album by a who's who of 1970s prog-rock - not an essential purchase by any means, but an extremely worthy one.