SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND & SPECTRAL MORNINGS: LIVE AT HAMMERSMITH

How many live recordings of 'Firth of Fifth' (on CD and/or blu-ray) do you need, really? And of 'Clocks', 'Every Day' and 'Los Endos', to name just three numbers that have become Steve Hackett live regulars? Just like you, I had my doubts about this release, but if you compare it to the many Hackett live albums that came before it, there's one significant difference: in Craig Blundell, Steve found a young and energetic drummer who adds a lot of pizzazz to every song he appears in. I'd even go so far as to say Blundell almost totally TRANSFORMS those tunes, so that you hear them anew. Perhaps SELLING ENGLAND never sounded so good on stage. The sense of newness is reinforced by the contributions of saxophonist Rob Townsend, who plays a far more prominent role than in earlier concerts, sometimes adding delightful new improvisations, sometimes playing a melody that was originally taken up by Tony Banks's keyboards, and sometimes just clowning around. (By the end of the show, Townsend's clowning actually started to grate, at least when I was watching the blu-ray.) I also have nothing but respect for Nad Sylvan, who performs the old Genesis vocals with great subtlety, even accomplishing the near-impossible by equalling Peter Gabriel in the ultra-theatrical 'The Battle of Epping Forest'. (It's probably better to keep schtum about Hackett's own lead vocal on one or two pieces from SPECTRAL MORNINGS.) Add some glorious singing by Amanda Lehmann, a lot of sophisticated playing on bass and twelve-string by Jonas Reingold, AND a superb lightshow, and you've got a release that should delight any Steve Hackett acolyte.