OUT OF THE TUNNEL'S MOUTH

It felt as though Steve Hackett could do no wrong after the amazing performance of songwriting and instrumental work on Wild Orchids. After three great consecutive rock releases, starting with Darktown, Steve has improved his album writing abilities. Of course that wasn't hard to do considering some of his releases during the '80s. But Steve went above all that and actually wrote and performed material that I consider to be just as good as his his '70s albums which isn't something most progressive rock icons can achieve.

So what's wrong with his new release? Well, not much has really changed and Steve goes through his usual routines. Although this time the song quality is not up to the highlights featured on Darktown and especially Wild Orchids. In a way, the mere fact that Steve decides to hold his ground and not progress even further in his musical journey is questionable to me.

I would have been more than satisfied if this album offered just a single track worthy of a honorable mention. This is unfortunately not the case and my hopes for a future improvement from our favorite guitarist has now started to fade.

**** star songs: Fire On The Moon (6:11) Nomads (4:31) Emerald And Ash (8:59) Tubehead (3:36) Last Train To Istanbul (5:56)

*** star songs: Sleepers (8:50) Ghost In The Glass (2:59) Still Waters (4:35)

Total rating: 3,64