VOYAGE OF THE ACOLYTE

A great album by ex-Genesis guitarist, THE GUITAR MASTER, Steve Hackett. It was recorded in 1975, while he was still in GENESIS, and has the participation of two other GENESIS members:Phil and Mike.Apart from the GENESIS mates, Hackett works with the help of John Acock,Robin Miller,Sally Oldfield, Nigel Warren-Green, Percy Jones, Johnny Gustafson, and John Hackett(Steve's brother). The opener is ACE OF WANDS, which is probably my fauvorite in this album. It starts with Phil's exellent drumming and steve's amazing guitar, as well as a very cool bass work by Mike.Then,there is a stoft part in which John Hackett does a wonderful flute solo(It's really KICK-ASS!!).The next one is Hands of the Priestess PT.1: A soft acustic song, with an amazing flute work by Steve's brother.A TOWER STRUCK DOWN is a very strange song, and one of my fauvorites on this album.It reminds me of Genesis' Supper's ready- Apocalypse in 9/8 section.It features a lot of coll synthessiser arrangements. HANDS OF THE PRIESTESS PT2 is quite similar to part 1, but the melody is" happier " than the other one.THE HERMIT is the first and only song in which Hackett sings.Hackett's voice is OK and the acustic guitar is very-well played.STAR OF SIRIUS is another of the highlights. PHIL does a wonderful vocal work as well as drumming.The keyboards by John Acock sound amazing in this song.THE LOVERS reminds me of WIND & WUTHERING, the acustic guitar is really "WINDNWUTHERINIZED".The last song is an amazing 11-minute piece, with vocals by Sally Oldfield.Her vocals fit very well on this song. When she finishes singing,there comes an amazing 7-minute instrumental part, featuring the best arrangements on this album.You can here the mellotron a lot in this song.You can also hear the sound of bells which blow your brains of!The guitar is AMAZING, the music gets louder and louder till one point in which your soul is taken away by this song. If you want to get one of HACKETT's amazing albums, this is one of the ones you should really get. Highly recomended to all Hackett's fans, or ANY 70's Genesis era fan. FIVE STARS!!!!!!!!