VOYAGE OF THE ACOLYTE

In the midst of uncertainty about the future of Genesis due to the resignation of Peter Gabriel after the conceptual "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway", Steve Hackett decides to release his first solo album, "Voyage of the Acolyte". Freed from the limits and conventions that being part of a band often demands, but at the same time counting on the participation of his bandmates Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford, Hackett relies on the mysterious secrets hidden by the characters of the Tarot cards, to give the album a significant halo of mysticism and depth.

From the nervous "Aces of Wands" and its voluble moods, where Hackett's aseptic guitars yield and recover spaces in constant synchrony with the synthesizers and Collins' anxious drums, "Voyage of Acolyte" combines moments of diaphanous appearance as in the two "Hands of the Priestess" and its celestial acoustic arpeggios and fragile flutes, or the aching "The Hermit", with the forcefulness of the genesian and robust "A Tower Struck Down" and the gentle bipolarity of "Star of Sirius", sung by Collins and immersed in relaxed landscapes tinged with lively moments, a hint of the immediate future of post Gabriel Genesis ("A Trick of the Tail" and "Wind of Wuthering" for instance).

However, the track that unites all the traversed paths into one is "Shadow of the Hierophant". Discarded by Genesis during the recording process of "Foxtrot", the piece combines beautiful arpeggios, the soprano voice of Sally Oldfield, sister of the tubular musician, with an instrumentation that grows in intensity led by the keyboards until the end. One of the best of the album and probably also of Hackett's solo discography.

"Voyage of the Acolyte" is not only the debut album of Hackett, one of the most representative and influential guitarists of the genre, but the beginning of his extensive solo career.

Excellent.

4/4.5 stars