WILD ORCHIDS

This album from ex Genesis guitar player pretty much follows the pattern of his latter work: every track seems to have a different style from the previous one. Far from showing versatility, it shows an almost total lack of unity or cohesion. Sure, there are several very good tracks (strangely, most of them on the CD´s second half) and a bunch of not so good ones. The problem lays in what we should expect from mr Hackett. He has done some very good albums in the past and I think Please Don´t Touch, Spectral Mornings and Highly Strung for exemple as some real good overall works that shows him at his top both as songwriter and performer. But most of all, they are full records, with a strong sense of direction - even if like now, he already was able to handle different styles of music.

Don´t get me wrong. The guy hasn´t lost his muse and he can write some fine prog songs like Set Your Compass, The fundamentals of Brain Wash and Howl, but we hardly hear his trademark guitar solos that used to set my heart on fire like the old times. Most of the time Wild Orchids shows glimpses of his genius, but nothing is really overwhelming. I liked the record in general, but I don´t feel like listening to it again after it is finished and a few tracks, like the dixieland Why sounds plainly self indulgent. Of the others I should point out the beautiful orchestrated instrumental She Moves In Memories and the bluesy take he does on the Bob Dylan penned Man In The Long Black Coat.

Overall I feel this record to be more pleasant than to the previous To Watch The Storms, but still a far cry from his most inspired works. Everything here is well performed and produced, but be sure to get his 70´s CDs before tackling this one.

Rating: 3 stars.