SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND & SPECTRAL MORNINGS: LIVE AT HAMMERSMITH

Steve Hackett

Eclectic Prog

4.14 | 40 ratings

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I think I'm going to give a look only to the double CD set, because it's really there where the musical scope of this fantastic live performance is better appreciated.

First a word of warning: "Spectral Mornings", third and possibly best solo studio album by Mr. Hackett, is not played entirely here. Even so, the essential tracks are, and they blend extraordinarily well with materials from his latest, "At The Edge Of Light". After the opening with Steve's live staple Every Day, three compositions from this album show the virtues that have become usual for him: infinite band ductility, amazing guitar craftmanship, and those vocal harmonies so reminiscing of Yes & Steve Howe (listen and compare to Howe's "Love is"). After that, follows the celebration of "Spectral Mornings" where, if I had to choose a cenital point, shines brightly the eponymous track, with a tonal quality closer than ever to the instrumental suite Unquiet Slumbers / In That Quiet Earth, from Genesis' "Wind & Wuthering".

Entering the Genesis set, Mr. Nad Sylvan takes the lead vocal, doing as always a fine job of it, but the band's interplay cease to be as tight & concerned with the originals as in the previous part, making room to some participation of the audience as well, which is good if you are there, but not so much on a recording. Of course, the focal point in the celebration of "Selling England..." is the missing composition D�j� Vu, left aside when the original album was put together. To be fair, this has been played live (and released) before. I'm not meaning that its inclusion here wasn't worthy, on the contrary, I find it very enjoyable.

The ending is also the usual in Steve's concerts: Dance On A Volcano & Los Endos, taken from Genesis' "A Trick Of The Tai", their first studio album with Phil Collins on vocals.

Heart of the Matter | 4/5 | 2020-9-27

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