PLEASE DON'T TOUCH!

A very diverse and great album. Steve Hackett explores many different styles on his second solo work, an album that has the spirit of released creativity one would expect after leaving a musical situation that he had been feeling restricted in. The first song, "Narnia" is a perfectly constructed proggressive pop song with a great 12-string part, superb vocals from Steve Walsh, and a soaring melody set to lyrics that tell the story originally written by C.S. Lewis in a way I would have never thought musically possible. There is pure magic in this song. The next song, "Carry On Up the Vicerage", a tribute to Agatha Christie's novels is at once funny, scary, and exultantly triumphant. Gotta love that super loud organ. The song that follows is easily my favorite track on the album, and it's called "Racing In A", a very efffective expression of the need to get away from the stresses of everyday life in a trip to the country, with very sprited dual lead work from Steve Hackett, more perfectly written melodies and counter points, unorthodox construction, and more great vocals from Steve Walsh. The enthusiasm conveyed in this performance makes this one of my favorite Steve Hackett songs ever. "Kim" is after this, and it is a very beautiful acoustic guitar and flute tribute to his love, although I don't think it or many other of his songs of this nature are really all that similar to "Horizon's", as some people say. Maybe the same style, but definitely different notes altogether. Anyway, Richie Havens' strong voice graces the next track, a very intriguing diversion with a very crisp acoustic guitar sound and wonderful lines like "mother nature never gives in/she wants you to sing" that get stuck in my head so easily. On "Hoping Love Will Last" we see that Steve can even write a very convincing r&b ballad, with an unbelievebly emotive performance from the powerful voice of Randy Crawford. It's unique not only to hear a song like this on a prog album, but also to hear one enahnced so well by Steve Hackett's signature volume swells. The part where the breathtaking backwards chords are broken by Crawford's right-on cry of "How can I go on alone..." is stunning. A great song. The rest of the album follows much of the formula Hackett would use for his subsequent albums, and as typical for him, is all very entertaining and worth listening to. Even though I pick Spectral Mornings as my favorite of Steve's solo outings, I can perfectly understand why one would pick this one.