DEFECTOR

"Defector" is the fourth solo studio album of Steve Hackett and was released in 1980. This release doesn't stray so far musically from the early Genesis, containing a healthy dose of the traditional progressive rock music. This is also the last solo album of Steve Hackett's first musical era as a solo artist, with this style of music. He would go by a different musical direction after this album. This is also, in general, considered his last great musical work, for quite a while.

"Defector" represents also the second Steve Hackett's solo project with the same line up, the line up of his previous solo album "Spectral Mornings". So, the line up of the album is Steve Hackett (vocals, guitar, Optigan and Roland GR 500), John Hackett (concert and alto flute), Peter Hicks (vocals), Nick Magnus (keyboards), Dick Cadbury (vocals and bass) and John Shearer (drums and percussion).

"Defector" has ten tracks. The first track "The Steppes" is with any doubt an excellent opener and the highlight of the album. It's also, in my humble opinion, one of the best musical compositions ever written by Steve Hackett. This is a song with a simple musical structure, repetitive, but with great harmony between keyboards and an excellent typical Steve Hackett's guitar work. Like "Please Don't Touch" from the same album and "Clocks - The Angel Of Mons" from "Spectral Mornings", it's a song that needs no introduction because appears on many of his live recordings. The second track "Time To Get Out" is the opposite of the previous song and represents one of the weakest points on the album. It's a pleasant song to hear but it doesn't represent for me an attractive song. This is a melodic song with a very simple musical structure but to much poppy for my taste and to this album. The third track "Slogans" is, fortunately, the return of the album to the great songs. It's another song with great combination and harmony between keyboards and guitars. This represents also the magnificent technical virtuosity of Steve Hackett on guitar work. It's another of his legendary songs, also often performed live in his concerts. The fourth track "Leaving" represents another great musical moment on the album. Its musical structure is very classical and personal, and it reminds me strongly the good old times of Genesis. It's a very calm and mellow track exploring mainly keyboards, guitars and vocals. The fifth track "Two Vamps As Guests" is another song that reminds me once more Steve Hackett in Genesis. It's a very short acoustic ballad totally performed by Steve Hackett on acoustic guitar and where we can clearly hear the beautiful classical guitar style of him. It represents another great musical moment on the album. The sixth track "Jacuzzi" is another highlight of the album. It's another instrumental song that once more combines beautifully keyboard and guitar works and where once more Steve Hackett plays wonderfully. This is really another great song which also became as one of his favourite songs performed live. The seventh track "Hammer In The Sand" is a short and nice piano tune harmoniously combined with keyboards. It's a very calm, slow, melancholic and beautiful song with nice melody and wonderfully performed. This is another high point of the album. The eighth track "The Toast" is a very melodic song, very warm and with a very simple musical structure and a happy mood. It's another song with nice harmonies, very sentimental and that we can simply resume as simple and beautiful. The ninth track "The Show" is only a simple, nice and enjoyable song to hear. It's also, in my opinion, one of the Achilles' heels of the album and one of the motifs why I can't consider "Defector" as a masterpiece. It's too much pop and is dangerously too much close to Genesis' territory after Steve Hackett left them. The tenth and last track "Sentimental Institution" is a jazz style song with some sense of humour but it's for me the weakest song on the album. I don't really like this song and sincerely I think that it's completely out of the place on this great album. It isn't definitely one of the best songs on the album and represents also the worse way to end the album.

Conclusion: It's true that "Defector" isn't as good as "Spectral Mornings" and especially "Voyage Of The Acolyte", but is, without any doubt, as good or maybe even better than his second solo work "Please Don't Touch". "Voyage Of The Acolyte" is considered by many of us a kind of a Genesis' lost album, and in a certain way I agree with that point of view. Still, "Defector" can also be considered a kind of Genesis lost album too. "Defector" is, probably, the most melodic and sentimental album from Steve Hackett's solo musical career and it has, in my opinion, many of the traces of Genesis' music. I think we can consider "Defector" the turning point on Steve Hackett's music as a soloist, because from that moment, he is definitely leaving behind Genesis and its last traces in his music. "Defector" is truly an excellent album. Still, it's an album with some weaknesses that starts brilliantly with "The Steppes" but unfortunately ends not so brilliantly with "Sentimental Institution". However, it's a consistent, cohesive, catchy, mature and refined album, full of many great musical moments and where some of them represent some of his best musical moments ever.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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