VOYAGE OF THE ACOLYTE

Knowing genesis before i knew steve hackett ,deffinitely didn't prepare me for this album. Although i knew he was a good guitar player that sometimes was not fully noticed ,i didn't imagine he was such a wonderful songwriter and a progressive one too. I guess he was the main guy pushing the music to prog territories in genesis.

The album openes with a bang ,'ace of wands' is one of the most progressive 5 minutes song i have come to hear ,it changes about every 30 seconds from the main theme to a second theme and back ,then evolves some more having one of the most coolest breaks in history of breaks. Spectacular bass and some good drumming. One of the greatest tracks by hackett. But the album is not all crazy like the opener ,but presents a mellow side too with good acoustic guitars incorporating some flutes and keys ,creating some beautiful moods. Another thing i like about this album is how it demonstrates hackett's songwriting ability and not focusing only on his guitar playing ,that is noticed on 'a tower struck down' which is a prog song focusing on the keys, also great. The music on the album is eclectic symphonic with very good ideas, some are well done and some are less, like the closing track which clocking at above 11 minutes ,is nice but drags too long for minutes when nothing really changes.

This was a very promising debut by hackett ,and followed it a couple of more progressive albums. 4 stars