SPECTRAL MORNINGS

In 1977 the journey of Steve Hackett with Genesis came to an end, when the British guitarist announced his departure.The reason reputedly was the lack of his freedom within the band with many of his compositions either being rejected or underestimated.In 1978 he released his second personal album ''Please Don't Touch'' on Charisma, a rather confusing effort despite the great line-up of this work with many different musical elements in an Art/Classic Rock affair still worth checking out.The next year Hackett returned with a third album on Charisma, ''Spectral Mornings'', with a more down-to-earth line-up, including his brother John Hackett on flutes/keys, Nick Magnus on keys, Dik Cadbury from Decameron on bass, Pete Hicks on vocals and John Shearer on drums.

''Spectral Mornings'' sees a return to the days and styles of ''Voyage of the Acolyte'' and most of its part sounds how GENESIS should be sounding around the time but never did.Basically this is a Symphonic Prog effort mixed with nice British Folk melodies with Hackett's guitar shining through and a pretty flexible and demanding style eventually offering great and memorable tracks.The opening and closing pieces are absolute masterpieces of late-70's Symphonic Prog with fantastic guitar melodies and solos and impressive synthesizers, very much in a Proto Neo-Prog vein, which recalls acts such as IQ or JADIS.The rest of the album is either consumed in beautiful acoustic crescendos with a strong British flavor or dark Prog instrumentals with a slight KING CRIMSON touch.The first ones create lovely soundscapes, based on the delicate flute work of John Hacett and Hicks' excellent vocal color.The later sound more experimental, mixing orchestral textures with dissonant guitars and even acoustic passages in a very conveincing approach.

Overall Hackett's third solo effort is more than simply solid.It is one of the best late-70's Progressive Rock albums with an evident GENESIS nostalgia but also with eyes open to the future.This is true music art and a highly recommended product.