Newly remastered versions of Hackett’s first six albums, two live albums and a 12″ Live EP
Released on 27 May 2016 and available here
Review by Paul H Birch
There are many who won’t even have been born the year this vinyl collection reaches it chronological closure in 1982. For me, Hackett’s first solo album had already been a chart hit by the time I heard it during a school holiday, my crash course in all things Genesis by my oldest friend having only just come to pass. Soon I would be joining him to see Hackett on his final outing with them on the Wind & Wuthering tour; thereafter at that same Birmingham Odeon venue we would watch him on three annual solo excursions. When he next toured and only came as close as Wolverhampton it seemed so far away to the young man of my doddering memory, a rift began and gradually I lost touch with much of his work. The friend couldn’t get rid of me however, and in recent years having caught Hackett live again, I’ve revelled in calling to let him know that it has been time well spent.
Hackett’s re-emergence as an elder statesman of British progressive rock and one of its leading guitar exponents is well overdue. That he remains a credible music force within the current music scene demonstrates it’s not all about nostalgia. That stated, this vinyl collection is a fantastic way to stroll down Memory Lane, smell the roses and put things in perspective; see how the records hold up and postulate on the circumstances that caused them to come into being in the first place.
Voyage Of The Acolyte
Trips down Memory Lane don’t come much better than ‘Ace of Wands’ based on the theme tune of the children’s TV series of a few years previous that merged Moorcock, the occult plus cops and robbers adventure around teatime. Here Hackett applies a complicated Gibson Les Paul riff that he plays merrily with ease, interspersed with acoustic guitar, synthesiser melodies and bells all with an air of enjoyable suspense before moving into a far proggier section as it draws to its conclusion, ably assisted by the energetic Phil Collins’s masterful drumming.
For this record he would also have Mike Rutherford playing bass – all three Genesis guys doing what they did best old stick-in-the-muds will groan all these decades later. Tony Banks was a no-show but if it was Peter Gabriel having left the band that allowed Hackett the time and circumstances to flex his creative muscles and make his own record, those fond of the singer’s flute excursions were to discover Hackett’s younger brother John had a remarkable talent for wind instruments himself and ranges far and wide over many of the records in this collection. He is first heard taking the lead melody on the pastorally acoustic ‘Hands of The Priestess – Part 1’ with ‘Part 2’ coming later on Side 1 of the vinyl edition where Robin Miller’s oboe and cor Anglais are added to the accompaniment. Between those milder tunes comes the heavy barrage of ‘A Tower Struck Down’ with brother John adding weird synthesiser lines and Brand X’s Percy Jones layering bass weight alongside Rutherford. The echoes of Genesis’ The Lamb… and the direction Roger Waters was taking Pink Floyd are felt, all as precursors to today’s more extreme noise acts, suitable for sampling for the rebooted Dr Who franchise, and surprisingly far beefier on record than I recall.
Far more fragile is ‘The Hermit’ wherein Hackett takes his first lead vocal. The tale of an old man recalled while he plays steel string acoustic with mellotron and flute adding minor melodies. For Phil Collins ‘Star Of Sirius’ was to be his second lead vocal (‘More Fool Me’ on Selling England… being his debut) making you realise Hackett had made his mind up about who should replace Gabriel even if the rest of the band had yet to. Plucked guitar and synthesiser melodies wind gently until around the 2.30 mark when Collins belts out “He who knows love knows who you are, Worlds you may find lit by a star,” while John (listed as Johnny) Gustafson pumps funky bass into the number – The guy was brilliant and had an extensive musical CV, playing with bands as diverse as Roxy Music and The Ian Gillan Band around this period. Intermingling between mellower sections and more pumped up stuff it’s when Hackett lets rip with one of his signature guitar solo lines rising joyously that it reaches an even higher peak.
‘The Lovers’ finds the Hackett brothers together on another classical duet before for what many consider one of the album’s highlights, ‘Shadow Of The Hierophant ’, featuring Sally Oldfield (before she scored a hit single for her own brother Mike) singing ethereally. A bombastic overture gives way to a medieval folk romance before segueing progressively as Hackett applies his Les Paul. Coming in at just under 12 minutes the mellotron builds to a crescendo as Collins bashes away keenly to the very last beat.
Produced by John Acock, as he would most in this collection, Voyage of the Acolyte in hindsight is more an album of moods than epics, the best tracks growing more defined when eventually they appeared in a live context. True the intrinsic mixture of acoustic and electric melodies had hardly fallen far from the apple tree, but his exploration of new collaborations bore interesting fruit that he would take several steps further with his next solo release. The album charted, allowing Steve Hackett to affirm an identity outside Genesis, more so it must have given Genesis itself hope that they could continue to have a future without their original lead singer dressed as a flower centre stage. While their fans already had faith, little did they realise where things would lead in but a few short years.
Please Don’t Touch
Remixed by Steve Wilson for last year’s CD collection, Hackett’s second solo album opens with one of my favourite tunes by him; ‘Narnia’ with a stunning vocal performance from Kansas’ Steve Walsh, whose drummer Phil Ehart is also featured. That their management refused Charisma the opportunity to release it as a 45 remains a great folly as it had hit written all over it, just the way Gabriel’s ‘Solsbury Hill’ had. A fetching cascading acoustic guitar melody, phased and ever tumbling into itself joyfully, Walsh euphoric and loud as he sung of the CS Lewis novel characters, with enchanting minor asides, musical harmonies and a lovely window cleaner’s whistle as it fades.
The bitter irony that Hackett’s solo success had ensured continued investment in Genesis as a business entity, only for said members to then request he didn’t do any more records in case it had an adverse effect on their own had to hurt. Songs he brought to the table for Wind & Wuthering were tried but declined, that metaphorical kick in the teeth prompting him to leave during the final mixes for the double live album Seconds Out. Long time fans of the classic line-up will tell you it’s not when Gabriel jumped ship but when Hackett left that musically they began to lose their sense of adventure. That the guitarist likewise gained from playing with such an ensemble cannot be dismissed but he continued to seek fresh challenges with Please Don’t Touch, replacing the Genesis rhythm section of his first album with that band’s new live drummer Chester Thompson plus fellow jazz rock alumni Thomas W. Fowler on bass (Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention, Jean-Luc Ponty, etc.) while the additional guest vocalists included were incredibly left of field: Richie Havens, a troubadour at Woodstock, and Randy Crawford having recently sung disco hits.
With such talents willing to sign on many question why the guitarist chose to sing so many songs himself as time went on. Aside from the financial reasons, because it made them more personal perhaps, though the treated vocals of ‘Carry On Up The Vicarage’ sound more like Pinky & Perky than anything else. Inspired by Agatha Christie as the murderous lyrics on the sleeve notes show, it was somewhat musically obtuse and saw him developing his use of the guitar synthesiser, while certain keyboard effects applied wouldn’t be too far removed from the New Romantic movement. He is joined by Walsh again for ‘Racing In A’ that changes from progressive instrumental to a less convincing take of the classic British film Genevieve crafted as an American AOR driving down the highway saga, though in some respects it did point the way for his later excursions in GTR. ‘The Voice Of Necam’ mixes computer generated voices alongside some eloquent classic nylon guitar that you might prefer to be played solo, fortunately a classical guitar piece per album was now in the offing with ‘Kim’ present here being a dedication to his second wife who produced the artwork for many of the records in this collection.
‘How Can I?’ features the warm resonated vocals of Havens, busking prettily as Beatles-esque folk pop it grows as keyboards layer in sound with profound single bass notes felt. Havens returned the record’s final number ‘Icarus Ascending’ a baroque warm number in the manner of Family the way the vocals and guitars interplay, Hackett wailing away on electric with exceptional support from the other musicians, concluding with a guitar solo that partakes of both jazz and blues until Havens returns woah-whoahing gently away.
With ‘Hoping Love Will Last’ the jazz thrill continues, as a piano led torch song, sang stirringly with beauty and conviction by Crawford. If anyone had soul in their heart it was more apparently Hackett than Collins at this stage of the game. As the song develops Van Der Graaf’s Graham Smith plays violin and Hugh Mally cello while Hackett’s guitar synthesiser moves the piece towards a more orchestral conclusion.
‘Land Of A Thousand Autumns’ is an adventure in sound with some extended synth-guitar phrases and ‘Please Don’t Touch’ – a track Genesis turned down – a melodious cut-up of acoustic and wailing electric before a contrast between this and keyboards ensues as serious prog before stopping suddenly. Hackett’s first two records demonstrate admirably that like many a guitarist, when partnered with a good singer he could shine. The problem with this record being its very diversity makes it a less cohesive work as a whole, despite some of my favourite songs by the artist appearing on it.
Spectral Mornings
Having put a band together to tour his first two albums, Hackett retained them for his next recording. John Hackett was again present, notably on ‘Lost Time In Cordoba’, and they were joined by Nick Magnus from The Enid, John Shearer on drums, Dik Cadbury on bass and vocals and Peter Hicks on vocals.
Hackett himself takes lead vocals on ‘The Ballad Of The Decomposing Man’ channelling George Formby, John Lennon and the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band to various degrees, with steel drums playing away and a brief but rather cool harmonica solo thrown in. Bloody oddball to say the least and not a song you’d necessarily play through choice but quite brilliant in its own way. There are in fact a lot of vocal harmonies throughout the album, but strong solo vocals from hereon became a problem, but it’s problematic maintaining precocious singers in bands that are predominantly musical.
In the studio ‘Every Day’ initially sound rather English in tone, despite its harmony vocals veering between Bee Gees to Byrds approximations until a bar of prog rockiness and an all too brief squeak of electric virtuosity. Guitar and keyboards soon develop themes however and Hackett’s melody line then extends into a solo with multiple overdubs as the six strings whizz and decay. Vocal harmonies are again present on the mainly acoustic ‘The Virgin And The Gypsy’ whereas ‘The Red Flower Of Tachai Blooms Everywhere’ is slow eerie ambiance with Hackett playing a Japanese koto.
Confusion in the vocal department aside, Spectral Mornings demonstrates how well the band as gelling, and features three tracks that remain fantastic to this day. From the tapping of pickups to that bass pedal intro, with little percussive asides before it goes into that frenetic guitar riff ‘Clocks – The Angel Of Mons’ is progressive and metallically aggressive surging towards its eventual conclusion. On ‘Tigermoth’ Shearer’s double time bass drumming plays alongside a screaming guitar riff that attacks then allows temporary respite as a flute glides in before the menace returns. Waves of keyboards and ping-ponging effects akin to Tangerine Dream flow out during this wonderful musical madness, there are alarms, the sound of gun shots, oriental picking and then a very gentle English voice singing about his father serving the Kaiser and fighter pilots. Totally engaging and just as exhausting. ‘Spectral Mornings’ itself begins all so innocently, mellotron on vocal setting then Hackett casually strumming in a few chords before laying down a guitar melody that breathes calmly, extends expression, wails with a controlled searching desire while keyboards wash in and out and Shearer’s cymbals keep time with a slight but ever-shifting shifting pattern. There is an overall ambience to the work but with Hackett’s biting guitar steering it safely home. With Spectral Mornings Steve Hackett was his own man, references to his previous band became superfluous.
Defector
Defector took up the gauntlet thrown by Spectral Morning and kept up the momentum. Side one opened with ‘The Steppes’, electric guitar and flute played in unison to produce Asiatic textures as drums cut to a slow march and a bass synthesiser struck assuredly. Proceeding as a processional dance, half-way through Hackett lets out a cluster of expressive notes here, does so again a little later adding more notes; you expect a solo but it’s too obvious and he’s not one for showing off for the sake of it, the song ending with treated harmonics. We do get a bluesy solo over some prog-tinged riffage on ‘Time To Get Out’ that’s aside from the jolly intrigue of its beginning and end is quite a mainstream song and in hindsight you wonder how much the success of Supertramp was having on a whole variety of progressive rock artists at the time.
‘Slogans’ wasn’t for the easy listener though; its shrill guitar and keyboards racing out scales and pointing the way for prog metal with double-hand tapping and hammer-ons, getting darker deeper as the song progressed – Think Neil Young covering ‘Telstar’ with lyrics more akin to Peter Hammill’s ‘The Jargon King’. If the former made you excited to see Hackett live the next is more reflective, as the down side of touring leaving to catch planes in the early hours in miserable weather is expressed over a minimal keyboard accompaniment during ‘Leaving’. This album’s classical piece comes in the form of the charming ‘Two Vamps As Guests’ that is followed by the bright and breezy ‘Jacuzzi’ where there’s some wonderful keyboard playing that shouldn’t get overlooked between the opening flute melody and the later surprisingly anxious sounding guitar lines. More peaceful is the warm searching movement of ‘Hammer In The Sand’. ‘The Toast’ is a song about getting tipsy and we’ll later get another oddball tune with the old time radio/vaudeville pastiche ‘Sentimental Institution’ but not before ‘The Show’ intimates more about the reality of a working band with a slight lyrical cynicism that is contrasted by the music itself being proud funky bass as the band come on like the Climax Blues Band playing prog with a little Peter Frampton thrown in at one point.
Defector is overall a progression on Spectral Morning and a more coherent album, despite less stand-out tracks. But as some of the lyrics expressed, what looked good externally might not have been the case when balancing the books. After this, Hackett resigned most of his band.
Cured
As solo albums went, Cured was a significant departure. Hackett retained only Magnus on keyboard and programming effects, with brother John appearing only on select tracks. It was more song orientated with less obtuse lyric. Definitely the most pop orientated album to feature in his catalogue, as if working out Mike Oldfield’s hit single formula with one eye cast across the Atlantic being vaguely reminiscent of both Andrew Gold and Stephen Bishop.
The Kansas-style harmonies on ‘Hope I Don’t Wake’ promise much, and while failing to further excite comes across as a decent American West Coast funk pop song. ‘Picture Postcard’ moves us out to the warmth of the Caribbean but its laidback off beats might not be to everyone’s tastes. There’s a bright guitar heard on ‘Funny Feeling’ where the feel good vibes sound like The Doobie Brothers playing a rhumba and reliability can be found with the classical guitar sounds of ‘A Cradle Of Swans’.
The overall pop tune that is ‘Can’t Let Go’ features enough guitar melody lines to remind you who he is and the ‘The Air Conditioned Nightmare’ ensures you do as his guitar whines and wails like some 70s stadium rock star, Magnus’s keyboards adding a menacing sense of purpose, while John Hackett applies some really cool bass pedal work. ‘Overnight Sleeper’ maintains the prog factor, the chugging motion of a train felt while a counter melody gives the impression you’re walking through some Moroccan bazaar, but there are asides too from pop rock section to acoustic and flute before the main theme returns with an altogether more aggressive feel.
Cured concludes with the rather maudlin keyboard dominated slow dance of ‘Turn Back Time’ a regret too far perhaps. Whether experiment, financial necessity caused by changing times, personal reasons or otherwise, those dwindling diehards still hooked on progressive rock weren’t enthused by the record at the time, and maybe Hackett himself had changed his mind about this direction by the time he’d finished it. Hearing it with hindsight it is quite pleasant but there’s not enough here to have garnered a new mainstream audience, even if the record company had promoted it at the time.
Highly Strung
Highly Strung’s front cover bears a light blue background with differing strokes of paint washed over the main character so is not dissimilar to Voyage of The Acolyte’s. Consciously and via this visual subtext, the guitarist seemed to be regaining lost ground. Magnus remained on keyboards, John Hackett missing in action but Nigel Warren-Green on cello, plus the return of a rhythm section in the coupling of Chris Lawrence on a contrabass and future Marillion drummer Ian Moseley.
The previous pop music qualities are felt but lean toward the New Romantic side of things and yet the album itself is Hackett’s rockiest in this collection and defined by Moseley’s straighter drumming. This combination is keenly felt on the first track ‘Camino Royale’ with its crazy lead intro slowing down to become a tune Chris Rea or even Brian Protheroe might sing before there’s metal screeching, hard riffing aplenty and a solo over an extended prog piece. He continues to work out his screeching metal fixation within the Ultravox pop rock of minor hit ‘Cell 151’. There’s a crime noir feel to ‘Always Somewhere Else’ then Moseley kicks off and we’re cruising away until a key change where the flavour changes and Hackett’s guitar flows free of all constraints.
‘Walking Through Walls’ is funky in a Talking Heads manner but also holds the blueprint for Dire Straits ‘Money For Nothing’ with Hackett’s angular sustained notes playing out over a walking blues solo. ‘Give It Away’ feels like an old Cat Stevens’ tune updated by Mike Oldfield before the Elizabethan prog section takes us down more familiar territory, the obtuse lyrics of ‘India Rubber Man’ doing likewise, with ‘Weightless’ completing Highly Strung proggy pop tunes with its slow balmy piano, Hackett’s voice a little strained at first before settling into a Stephen Bishop croon.
‘Hackett To Piece’ is a stirring work, of multiple dance sections proggified and it aches for a manic solo. There are sections throughout this record where you wander how someone didn’t carry Hackett off to Hollywood to write music for TV and film. Probably because they wouldn’t be able to pin him down to one style as ‘Group Therapy’ admirably demonstrates; his harmony effected guitar getting funky with some wacky soloing in a jazz rock fusion manner, Magnus playing Jan Hammer to his Jeff Beck with added warmth until around three-quarters through the pace increases and it becomes some lost Genesis gem, delighting the ears with each musical change.
Highly Strung won back some of the musical ground lost by Cured, but prog rock was out of favour as the great unwashed got partnered off, moved their record collection to the loft, and only saw bands at arenas on a special night out. A solid band, a strong singer, that’s what Steve Hackett needed, but more so for music to come full circle.
Live At Oxford, 1979
For those not present at the times the live recordings in this collection are an excellent alternative to hear Hackett live than the slicker reliable technology productions released today. Live at Oxford is a double album featuring the line-up he took out on tour after the release of Please Don’t Touch, the title track of which spins out first on Side 1 of 4 with Close Encounters Of The Third Kind effects emitted bouncing around (feeling very modern at the time) between a mellotron’s purr and crowd applause, before the drum roll leads us into Hackett’s guitar heavy on the tremolo arm and that noise you hear is him scraping the guitar’s neck, there’s a light incessant thrust throughout, his sound becoming sweeter toned as it draws towards conclusion and a cacophony of applause from the crowd.
For the most part the songs performed are looser, but often better for it having been lived with and expressed with more feeling. ‘Every Day’ benefits not least with an extended impressive solo, the high vocal notes of ‘Narnia’ are a little strained and the song itself gains a rather 60s feel whereas there’s a rather punkish edge to ‘Carry On Up The Vicarage’ and ‘The Red Flower Of Tachai’ attains a more natural aural ambiance free of studio overdubs. The acoustic medley of ‘Etude In A Minor’, ‘Blood On The Rooftops’, ‘Horizon’, ‘Kim’ are pleasant, and including Genesis numbers would have been a delight for fans, on electric guitar Hackett shines during ‘Ace Of Wands’ and a version of ‘Spectral Mornings’ that could go on forever. ‘Star Of Sirius’ lacks the oomph factor of the original but ‘Clocks’ would be a highlight of live performance with Shearer leaping in mid-air and seemingly suspended there as he played percussion arranged above his head during his drum solo. Here it sounds great.
For those coming new there is the added expectancy of having to go to their record player, lift and turn over each record to hear the songs in this live environment for the first time. For this listener it proves my memory has not been clouded by nostalgia and the band was collectively as good as I remember.
Live At Reading, 1981
‘The Air Conditioned Nightmare’ starts this open air gig in a grand manner, the contrasting light and heavy moods felt as all of the band are given room to demonstrate their abilities, with some heavy duty Weather Report/Return To Forever type jazz fusion given a brief workout.
‘Every Day’ is a track that’s grown on me playing its various permutations through this collection, each one adding a little something and here the vocal harmonies are at their strongest, Magnus and Hackett’s playing particularly good with a rockier live sound going down well with the Reading crowd of the time. That stated the guitar’s a little loud on ‘Ace Of Wands’ but the keyboards flourish as they do later on ‘Overnight Sleeper’.
‘Spectral Mornings’ doesn’t quite ignite the way previous versions have, ‘The Steppes’ is steady with a precise bass throughout and ‘Funny Feeling’ popish, though let down vocally ‘The Show’ becomes upbeat, jazz funk groove. Genuine highlights are a boisterous ‘Slogans’ followed by ‘A Tower Struck Down’ with its brash stop/start figure pulsing through. By the end of the gig one gets the impression Hackett’s not only got the faithful in the palm of his hands but the usual rabble of earnest rockers who frequented Reading back then, alcohol helping put everyone in a good mood. Thus following Moseley’s drum roll the crowd count : “1, 2, 3, 4” and the signature riff to ‘Clocks’ surges out from Hackett’s guitar, and by the time the band draw to an end the crowd are roaring out “Hackett” as loud as anyone called out “Angus”.
With a wider range of albums to choose from it’s worth hearing how this new live line-up reproduce Hackett’s repertoire. More rock orientated, or because of the environment they are playing in the sound is more basic, what you lose in delicacy you gain in getting to the core of the songs.
I Know What I Like – Live At The Theatre Royal
This 12” EP from 1979 covers ‘Ace Of Wands’, ‘Sentimental Institution’ and a version of ‘The Red Flower Of Tachai Blooms Everywhere’ that features both John Hackett and Dik Cadbury on flute, but it’s the Genesis hit ‘I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)’ that people will want to hear. Strutting like a stallion at the outset this is not the same party piece it became by the time of Seconds Out, but an altogether more abrasive rendition. When Cadbury sings the hookline chorus where Collins had introduced a tambourine solo Hackett comes on like a guitar punk mowing that lawn all by himself, its extended rock ’n’ roll guitar boogie fun demonstrating another side to the mild man fans presumed him to be. But, more a curio for the times than a must listen.
Ex-Genesis guitarist is a tag too easy to give Steve Hackett. He was an integral part of their developing sound and structure. His early solo excursions were not just more of the same, but musical adventures, some raucously wild and experimental stuff in retrospect. This collected body of his early work draws a curving arch through those changes. On the whole they stand up well. Purchasers will find themselves pouring over the boxed collection itself, faithfully reproduced gatefold covers opening out with credits and lyrics to digest and decipher, but too expensive to roll joints on these days!
7.5 out of 10
Track lists:
Voyage of the Acolyte (1975)
- Ace Of Wands
- Hands Of The Priestess – Pt I
- A Tower Struck Down
- Hands Of The Priestess – Pt. II
- The Hermit
- Star Of Sirius
- The Lovers
- Shadow Of The Hierophant
Please Don’t Touch (1978)
- Narnia
- Carry On Up The Vicarage
- Racing In A
- Kim
- How Can I?
- Hoping Love Will Last
- Land Of A Thousand Autumns
- Please Don’t Touch
- The Voice Of Necam
- Icarus Ascending
Spectral Mornings (1979)
- Every Day
- The Virgin And The Gypsy
- The Red Flower Of Tachai Blooms Everywhere
- Clocks – The Angel Of Mons
- The Ballad Of The Decomposing Man
- Lost Time In Cordoba
- Tigermoth
- Spectral Mornings
Defector (1980)
- The Steppes
- Time To Get Out
- Slogans
- Leaving
- Two Vamps As Guests
- Jacuzzi
- Hammer In The Sand
- The Toast
- The Show
- Sentimental Institution
Cured (1981)
- Hope I Don’t Wake
- Picture Postcard
- Can’t Let Go
- The Air Conditioned Nightmare
- Funny Feeling
- A Cradle Of Swans
- Overnight Sleeper
- Turn Back Time
Highly Strung (1982)
- Camino Royale
- Cell 151
- Always Somewhere Else
- Walking Through Walls
- Give It Away
- Weightless
- Group Therapy
- India Rubber Man
- Hackett To Piece
Live At Oxford (1979) – Double Album
- Please Don’t Touch
- Tigermoth
- Every Day
- Narnia
- The Red Flower Of Tachai
- Blooms Everywhere
- Ace Of Wands
- Carry On Up The Vicarage
- Acoustic Medley: Etude In A Minor/Blood On The Rooftops/Horizon/Kim
- The Optigan
- Spectral Mornings
- Star Of Sirius
- Shadow Of The Hierophant
- Clocks
- Racing In A
Live At Reading (1981)
- The Air Conditioned Nightmare
- Every Day
- Ace Of Wands
- Funny Feeling
- The Steppes
- Overnight Sleeper
- Slogans
- A Tower Struck Down
- Spectral Mornings
- The Show
- Clocks – The Angel Of Mons
Live 1979 – 12” EP
- I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)
- Ace Of Wands
- Sentimental Institution
- The Red Flower Of Tachai Blooms Everywhere
