STEVE HACKETT

In 2009, Steve Hackett found himself experiencing a new bout of creative resurgence. After a divorce from his wife Kim Poor, Steve was free to go in any direction he saw fit. So what direction did he choose to go with his 2011 album Beyond The Shrouded Horizon? All of them. Beyond The Shrouded Horizon is an incredibly ambitious album that has the sound of a cinematic soundscape that feels less like one full song. For me, this album is a masterstroke of genius.

"Loch Lomond" opens up with an intro that really does a great job setting the mood of this album. It's all about composition. Loch Lomond is fairly safe territory for Steve, as it feels in line with Out of The Tunnel's Mouth, until the bagpipes show up. Either way, it's a solid, safe start, and is backed by an outro in "The Phoenix Flown."

From here, it seamlessly transitions into "Wanderlust" A short, solo classical guitar interlude that eases us into the next song, an acoustic ballad that will immediately sound familiar to those experienced in the genre.

"Till These Eyes" is a soft, acoustic ballad that would not have been out of place in the 70's. The acoustic guitar, along with the symphonic backing will make you think that you're listening to Dust In The Wind. Steve's vocals have usually been serviceable to this point, but here it goes a little beyond that, thanks to the harmonies in the chorus.

"Prairie Angel" is an interlude that takes us into the next stop on this journey, Americana. It's a fantastic opening to my favorite song on the album.

"A Place Called Freedom" is a wonderful piece of Americana that creates a vision of a time before America had been colonized. Songs like this are perfectly suited for Steve's singing style, and he absolutely owns it. There's even a brief callback to Racing In A, another Steve Hackett classic. However, the big callback is to Prairie Angel, creating a perfect compliment.

"Between the Sunset and the Coconut Palms" sees us lost at sea. It's a soft, acoustic tune that once again, compliments Steve's singing, thanks to some harmonizing, and the soft sound of the acoustic guitar. And as we sail, we eventually find ourselves at our next stop, Egypt.

"Waking To Life" sees Steve flex a more ethnic style of music. While Steve is no stranger to using an ethnic beat, this song is a lot stronger than any previous attempt. Nothing here is synthetic, there's a fantastic level of authenticity. Easily the catchiest song on the album.

"Two Faces Of Cairo" compliments the previous song by being a polar opposite of the previous. Rather than being the catchy, more upbeat fun song, Two Faces Of Cairo is an instrumental that gets your heart pounding, right down to the drums. The drums are the star of this song, it feels like a war beat. A fitting title.

"She's Only Looking For Fantasy" is another beautiful acoustic ballad about a woman seeking an escape from reality. There are some guitar solos here from Steve's classical guitar that can only be summed up as pretty. Steve's singing does this song a wonderful service.

"Summer's Breath" picks up as another instrumental interlude on the classical side of things. It's a tune that would not have been out of place with 70's Genesis. It leads us into the next phase of our journey, blues rock.

"Catwalk" sees Steve going for blues rock. While Steve's blues rock can be hit or miss, he hits it here. From Steve's guitar work, to his singing, this is one of those occasions where everything is fire, right down to the guitar solos. It's an enjoyable tune, and a perfect place before our final stop, the epic conclusion.

"Turn This Island Earth" is a 12 minute epic that concludes the album perfectly. We've been all around the world, and there's nowhere else to go but space. This song has all the things you could ever ask for from Steve Hackett, guitar solos, a drum solo, and going from rock to symphonic. This song, much like the album, goes in every possible direction, and yet it's still a very cohesive song. A fitting conclusion to the album.

I can spin this album nonstop, and never get sick of it. Every listen through still feels fresh to this day, and shows Steve has learned so much throughout his career. I can't recommend this one enough.

They can't all be winners. Such is the case for Steve Hackett's Till We Have Faces. The short summary is "it's an album." The long story is, for me personally, this is easily some of Hackett's worst material, yes, lower than Cured. Say what you will about Steve Hackett's misguided attempt to navigate the 80's and its shift towards a more plastic, artificial sound, at least Cured had some good ideas, and Highly Strung almost nailed it. Till We Have Faces at times borders on unlistenable, and it's mostly due to Steve Hackett trying to sing exclusively in high notes. If you can call what's on here singing.

"What's My Name" starts off promising enough. It opens with an exotic percussion section, and sticks around for the song. It sets the rhythm quite well, up until Steve Hackett starts shout singing his way through it. The instrumental is sadly wasted by Steve's singing.

"The Rio Connection" is one of the better songs on this album. Here, Steve gets his funk on, and honestly, I kind of wish he tried more of this on the album. No vocals here, just pure, funky instrumental.

"Matilda Smith-Williams Home For The Aged" has a really long title, and at 8 minutes it's the longest song on the album. Upon first listening, your instinct will probably say "Wait a minute, this sounds like a sequel to Camino Royale." While not a direct sequel, it has the same familiar sound to Camino Royale. Funnily enough, Steve would eventually work parts of this song into Camino Royale, thus giving that song a more complete and finished sound. As for the song on this album, it's fine. It's the closest thing to prog.

"Let Me Count The Ways" sees Steve get his soul on. Steve's never been much for soul, but rather blues rock. Steve's singing is once again, detrimental to this song. As far as the instrumental goes, Steve's guitar work is just as good as ever, but the rest of the instrumental is nowhere near as immaculate.

"A Doll That's Made In Japan" opens up using almost every traditional Japanese instrument Steve can think of before he gets to the 80's. It's a very kitschy, and dated song, right up there with Turning Japanese. I will say, Steve's singing is actually tolerable on this song because he's not shout singing. The song is kind of ruined by the synth lines, because otherwise it's fine.

"Duel" is based on the film Duel. Steve's standard register is present on the vocals for this song, and thank god, because it's the strongest part of this track. The instrumental itself is really synthetic, right down to the midi bass. And that's why I'm not a fan of this song. For a movie about a car chases, all the fun and intensity is sucked out of the song, not even Steve's wicked solo can save it.

"Myopia" is... a song. It exists. I wish it didn't. Every artist has one bad one in them, but this is on a whole new level. Steve's singing is at its worst and most abrasive, the instrumental is just as loud and abrasive. This sounds like a blueprint for what would eventually be Jane's Addiction. Yes, when I listen to this song, I hear Jane's Addiction, not Steve Hackett. The only positive I can say is it's less than three minutes.

"Taking The Easy Way Out" is meant to be a pretty ballad, but it feels more like a song designed to put you to sleep. Steve brings some beautiful synth lines, and classical guitar together, but really doesn't go anywhere with it. I'm one of those people who will usually defend Steve's slower tunes, but this is genuinely dull.

"Gulf" sees Steve going for something understated in the hopes of making a song with a point. It starts off with a classical guitar, and sounds more genuine, but then the synth kicked in and robbed the song of any sort of agency it may have had in trying to send a message. Steve tries to get back to what he does best, guitar solos, and I'll be real, it does work. Up until the end when a more upbeat sounding synth line kicks in. What's the message Steve? What are you trying to convey with this song?

"Stadiums Of The Damned" is an oddball. There are some really odd choices with the synth here, and the lyrics don't really fit the mood. Right down to the drum machine, and the synth, nothing here feels authentic. The worst part is there's barely anything that could qualify as guitar. This just isn't right.

"When You Wish Upon A Star" is an odd choice of song to end on, but it's short. It's skippable.

Till We Have Faces is barely salvageable. With Cured and Highly Strung, I can hear the potential for a commercial sounding Steve Hackett. It's not necessarily a bad proposition, but here's the thing. Steve had a decent sized label when he put those together. This album reads like an artistic meltdown, and I think that's the best summary I can come up with for this album. It's a creative crisis put to songs.

While most progressive rock musicians cannot even find Aotearoa on a map, Steve Hackett has played here twice in recent years, and while there has been plenty of Genesis in his set there were also plenty of classics from his solo material. To be honest, I would love to see him play a concert which only contains material from his own albums, such is the consistent quality over the years. Whereas his last release, 2021's 'Surrender of Silence', was based around his touring band this one has Steve much more to the fore and while Roger King (keyboards, arrangements) is still heavily involved, singer Nad Sylvan only features on one song, Rob Townsend on two, with Jonas Reingold and Craig Blundell on four each. Steve provides most of the vocals here, along with electric, acoustic & 12-string guitars, mandolin, harmonica, percussion and bass.

This is a concept album, a rite-of-passage story with a young character called Travla at its heart, but arguably this is autobiographical, and one gets the impression that Hackett used this to get some things off his chest. Sadly, musically this rarely lives up to the heady heights he has often climbed, and it feels somewhat boring, but then we get songs like "Enter The Ring" with its harmonies and rock stylings which makes one think we have been thrown back in time to the classic first three albums (can it really be that 2025 marks 50 years since the release of 'Spectral Mornings'?). To my mind it is the Genesis albums which have Hackett playing which are the most complete (none of this Gabriel/Collins malarkey for me), and I have always relished seeing him play live, and even though this is not exactly essential Steve is showing no signs whatsoever of slowing down. This may not be classic Hackett, but there are times when he shreds and shows no sign whatsoever of his years in the business, and the touches of brilliance are still there. It may not be his best album ever, but is a damn fine listen all the same.

Well, this is probably the best album that Steve Hackett has released in the last fifteen years. Not that there's anything wrong with the others that were released in that time. By no means are those releases sub par in any way. I've got most of them. It's just that The Circus And The Nightwhale tops them all for me. I've got the transparent red vinyl issue of the album and its been manufactured perfectly, with no pops or crackles. The liner notes and inner lyrics booklet command repeated reading because its all just really very interesting. I've listened to the album more than a couple of times now (back to back some of those times) and will do so many more times. It has just drawn me in. What SH has done here is put together a very coherent concept album, composed of 13 tracks of various lengths. But the genius here is that each track can also quite easily stand on its own two feet, independent of all the others. It's a masterful achievement. I'll be seeing SH live, with his band later in the year in Milan, almost right at the end of his tour and I sincerely hope he plays the entire thing! As far as I'm concerned, this is an essential addition to any prog collection so I just have to award it 5 stars.

The 80's were a bad time for prog. During the 80's as every prog rock act either chose, or were forced to go commercial, many wouldn't survive with their careers, or band members intact. Kansas lost the violin and tried to go hair metal minus the hair, King Crimson made an attempt to get with the new wave to mixed results, Pink Floyd was now the David Gilmour show, Genesis went pop-rock with prog elements and became the Beatles of the 80s, and then there was Steve Hackett. Steve Hackett needs no introduction, so I'll cut it short. He is one of prog rock's mighty pillars, having played with Genesis throughout the 70's, and making a name for himself as a solo artist in the genre. But as the 80's rolled around, Steve decided he wanted to get with the times. Cured wound up being so 80's, you could mistake it for being generically 80's and not know that was a Steve Hackett record. If I were to sum up Highly Strung, it would be Steve's Abacab.

A bit of context here, I am a staunch Abacab defender. I may not have grown up with Genesis in the 70's, as I was born in 1986, but even still, I can appreciate all eras of Genesis. My favorite Genesis albums are from the 70's, when Steve Hackett was with the band. So when I see comments like "Steve never sold out," or "we don't talk about 80's Hackett," I will. Highly Strung is by no means a terrible album. It's just that in the time I spent listening to it, I couldn't help but feel there's a great idea here, but something is missing. What could possibly be missing that could elevate this? Let's find out.

The first song off the album is Camino Royale, the only song off this album that has stuck around in Steve's setlist. I can see why he likes to keep this one around. Steve has found a way to make the 80's work in his favor on this one, and I'll admit, that hook gets stuck in your head. So what's missing here? Well, honestly a stronger guitar solo is missing. If Steve had just added a few more minutes during the instrumental break, this would have been fantastic. During the live shows, and when this song appears on Revisited, it seems Steve has gone back and extended the break with a guitar solo, as well as a sax, giving the song more of a finished feel. Honestly, I feel like this should have been a single. It could have charted, but we're not off to a bad start though.

Up next is Cell 151, which became a minor hit in the UK. Great! Steve got some minor commercial success with this song. As I listened to the instrumental, and took a deep listen to Hackett's singing, I couldn't help but feel like this could have been a Genesis song. This song needs a stronger singer than Hackett, and honestly, I could see Phil singing this one if Steve had chosen to stick around. The song ends with a jam session, much like how Abacab ends with a jam session. Though I feel like this jam session is a bit weaker, the song in its entirety is not at all bad, it's not even mid. It's a solid song overall.

We have an instrumental break in Always Somewhere Else. One of the things I immediately took note of listening to this is that I almost thought I could hear a bit of Rush's Tom Sawyer in it. It's not one of Hackett's stronger instrumentals, but it fits the 80's sound aesthetic to a T. It's fine, and that's all it needs to be.

Next is Walking Through Walls. A song that is so 80's, it feels like Steve shouldn't be playing it. It's an upbeat dance tune where Steve counts to 4, and in the re-issue, even has a dance mix of this song. Yet I can't help but love it. This instantly dated song is so cheesy, that Hackett just owns it. It's way out of his style, in the same way Who Dunnit was for Genesis, but unlike that song, Walking Through Walls is catchy as hell for all the right reasons.

Sadly, I can't say the same for Give It Away. Give It Away, though a good song, could easily be mistaken for any song in the 80's. It's another one of those generic as hell 80's tunes you forgot existed. If I had to think of somebody to have on this song, it would be 38 Special. This sounds like a 38 Special song, right down to the chorus. Maybe if the guitar did more work than the synth, I'd have a different opinion on this one. And that's an issue I have with this album, is the synth is at times doing a little too much work. Hackett's a guitar guy, he should be trying to take his brand of style into the 80's, rather than the 80's dictating his sound entirely.

Weightless is a nice, summer breeze prog song... we can call it... yacht prog? The song doesn't have a whole lot going for it, but it's a nice tune for relaxing considering the hard hitting songs we got early on. But again, this doesn't feel like a Steve Hackett song. The synth, once again, is the backbone of this track. It almost feels like it was left on the cutting room floor of Cured. You'll also notice I haven't commented too much about Steve's singing on this album, and that's because I find it serviceable. Not great, nothing to write home about, but also not terrible. It's not like he's going to be worse on the next album. Right?

We have another instrumental in Group Therapy, the proggiest song on the whole album. And surprise, it's an instrumental. But, this one is actually fairly strong. It's the closest it comes to figuring out a way for Steve's style of prog to fit into the 80's compared to the rest of the album which feels like Steve trying to go commercial. It's fine.

Then we have India Rubber Man which I can only describe as a weird choice of song. It's a soft, melodramatic tune. Hackett's stretching his singing, trying to make something of it. To some it's a nice, touching heartfelt song, to others it's basically just album filler. I would say it did nothing for me, but I'm going to revisit this later.

And we come to an end with Hackett To Pieces, a pseudo-bookending callback to Camino Royale. It's fine. But after everything I just went through, I had to go back and process this album's lyrics. I spent a good amount of time analyzing everything, and I could not believe the conclusion I reached.

Steve Hackett just sounds absolutely miserable. I've seen what happens when artists get into creative funks, and Steve is definitely going through one with this album. The most blatant example in this is Give It Away, where Steve mentions "when you lose your self expression, it's time to change direction." Things made a lot of sense when I actually did research on this album and found that The "Famous" Charisma Label was butting heads with Steve Hackett and trying to take control of the album. The end result is a record that is completely disjointed, and also the creative meltdown of a musician who's just been told they can't do what they want. Me personally, I think it's the only 80's Hackett album worth revisiting. While it's a massive step up from Cured, primarily because Steve isn't working against a drum machine, it suffers from Hackett himself being highly strung. Maybe if Charisma didn't get in the way, this could have worked out for them. Unfortunately, they didn't want to let him cook, and this is the result.

The latest from guitarist extraordinaire Steve Hackett (and something like his 30th album), this one is a concept album with a story based on Steve's own life experiences, and is something special, his best album in many years. At 74, and a career spanning more than 55 years, Hackett seems to be stronger than ever, with his Genesis Revisited tours and regular releases of live and new solo albums. This album mixes together songs of many different styles, ranging from classical guitar stylings to dark and ominous heavy prog metal riffs, as well as lighter more melodic pop and rock, with international stylistic flourishes, strong harmony vocals, and yes, even some Genesis-reminiscent passages. Steve has his powerhouse backing band (same as his touring band) as well as some guest artists to bring these songs to life, and the result is a tour de force album of delights, 13 tracks comprising a compact 45 minutes, telling his story in one of the prog highlights of the year. Best tracks: Enter the Ring, Wherever You Are, Ghost Moon and Living Love, Get Me Out, Into the Nightwhale. Rating: 4 stars

The latest solo album from former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett (and his thirtieth overall) is alright. It's no Voyage of the Acolyte, but it isn't bad. It's your typical, slightly-bland classic prog fare. A lot of the music here is mid-tempo with some relatively heavy guitar lines. There's a lot of flowery, impressive guitar soloing, but it rarely amounts to much. This album's folkiest moments are its best, like "Enter the Ring", though that track's Yes-like vocal harmonies come off as weirdly thin and overprocessed. (In fact, I'm really not nuts about the record's production overall.) The ending to this album is pretty overwrought and cheesy in a way that reminds me of '90s and '00s prog acts like Spock's Beard and Moon Safari.

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2024/04/01/odds-ends-april-1-2024/

Although he's been out of Genesis for well over 47 years, STEVE HACKETT more than any other member of that band has retained the spirit of the progressive rock 70s and has done more as a solo artist to celebrate the prog years of Genesis than that band has ever done for itself. Add to that HACKETT has been quite prolific in his output since his debut "Voyage Of The Acolyte" all the way back in 1975 and despite nearly 50 years of releasing well over 30 albums, it seems there's no sign of him slowing down. And here in 2024 we find ourselves with another installment of the STEVE HACKETT universe with THE CIRCUS AND THE NIGHTWHALE.

After spending the last decade more or less revisiting his symphonic prog roots, THE CIRCUS AND THE NIGHTWHALE takes on a different stylistic approach which is more varied and more theatrical with touches of hard rock, flamenco and jazz mixed in with the usual symphonic prog and classically tinged guitar magic that HACKETT has been cranking out for almost five decades. As a legend in the world of prog, HACKETT now has the luxury to record at his own leisure and finds an army of supporting musicians to assist him on this one including Roger King (keyboards, programming and orchestral arrangements), Rob Townsend (sax), Jonas Reingold (bass), Nad Sylvan (vocals), Craig Blundell (drums) and Amanda Lehmann on vocals. Nick D'Virgilio and Hugo Degenhardt return as the percussionists with Benedict Fenner on keyboards.

The album title gives a hint of what to expect with this one. It truly is an eclectic work that doesn't really fit into any particular categorization. The CIRCUS really has come to town and the NIGHTWHALE is ready to deliver a great show, STEVE HACKETT style. Supposedly a concept album of some sort (well aren't ALL prog albums these days?!!!), i honestly am not sure what the theme really is and it doesn't really matter too much since it's the music that counts. STEVE delivers a wide array of sounds and styles throughout this run of 13 tracks with his outstanding guitar and mandolin playing heard all throughout. At 74, HACKETT may not be breaking any new ground on this one but he certainly holds his own and crafts catchy compositions that showcase some nice production and diversity.

The album features plenty of slow burners such as the tender ballad "Ghost Moon And Living Love" as well as more upbeat rockers such as "Get Me Out." The mandolin-rich "Circo Inferno" with its Arabian musical scales takes you for a journey east bound only with some hard rock outbursts and a sizzling sax solo. "Breakout" jumps into an unexpected heavy metal style with blistering guitar workouts and delectable lead guitars which demonstrates that HACKETT has lost none of his guitar playing mojo over the years. "All At Sea" offers yet another surprise with an ambient synthesized abstractness with a few guitar tricks thrown in and basically serves as an intro for "Into The Nightwhale" which remains dreamy and laid back never really shaking the ambient backing.

THE CIRCUS AND THE NIGHTWHALE demonstrates quite clearly that STEVE HACKETT is still alive and going strong and its filled with some really enjoyable music but like the majority of his output he simply fails to take the extra steps necessary to offer something truly compelling that will beckon return visits. In fact he seems on simply recycling various experiments that he's been cranking out his entire career. For true fans this album won't disappoint at all but if you're seeking something comparable to his debut or "Spectral Mornings" then you won't find that consistency here. HACKETT suffers from the age old problem of quantity over quality and most of his albums reflect that. While he never delivers an unlistenable product, very few of them deliver something revolutionary or applicable to the modern day. A decent album but not an outstanding one either.

Steve Hackett is surely the most active member of Genesis and arguably the one who has stayed truest to his progressive rock roots, as his seemingly endless creativity drives him into releasing newer albums every other year, a creative force that might have been sparked by the intense Genesis-related touring and revisiting that Mr Hackett has become notorious for in recent years. As we have appreciated the busy release schedule for him in the 2020s, his most recent release titled 'The Circus and the Nightwhale' sees him diving head first into prog rock waters (which for many is what he does best).

And Hackett needs no introduction at all, as every prog fan would position him somewhere high up in the prog rock guitarists pantheon - and on his latest studio album (released as usual on Inside Out Music), it seems that he goes on celebrating the sounds and the style he is well-known for, at this point expanding his majestic catalogue with yet another pretty good album. 'The Circus and the Nightwhale' is a tight collection of seemingly thematically related songs that have been pierced by these shorter one- or two-minute instrumental vignettes on several occasions across the album. However, above all, as Steve Hackett had stated himself, with this album he had the intention of creating a "theater for the ears" and this is probably a very good way of describing his 2024 release. The album is quite cinematic, intricate and melancholic, as the music usually is when one considers the former Genesis guitarist. Occasionally the vocals might not be the most appealing, especially when it comes to Mr Hackett's singing, which has been the subject of discussion for decades, but the album works nicely and flows gently, as it works perfectly as another addition to the Hackett discography, not really introducing anything new or unheard of, just celebrating a specific genre of music.

All in all, 'The Circus and the Nightwhale' is a fine release, perhaps nothing too special, just a very well-crafted album by a prog rock veteran who displays all of his technical and vocal abilities to very positive results. Hackett fans will be enjoying this one for sure, and I think it might also appeal to rock fans in general, too.

I recently returned to this album while listening to Steve Hackett's studio discography in sequence. I wasn't particularly looking forward to this one, as it was the album that made me turn my back on his career for more than two decades, until ""Beyond the Shrouded Horizon" made me look again at his career and realize what I had been missing.

I had reservations about some aspects of "Defector", but "Cured" pushed me over the edge with its strained vocals and absolutely horrible album cover. The first three songs are painful, out of character, and far too commercial as regards his previous work. It's only on the instrumental, or mostly instrumental, pieces like "The Air Conditioned Nightmare", that Hackett shines. But even here he would have been better served ditching the drum machines and hiring a real drummer.

In retrospect I can see that many of his future vocal tendencies, particularly using multiple voices to create interesting harmonies, are evident, and had he stuck with his natural range when singing solo perhaps these songs would be less forced. Clearly this was a challenging extension of his abilities, and it would be years before he found his real voice in song, and developed into an expressive singer and song-writer. However, on this album, as he sings "I don't want to be here" on "Picture Postcard", I can't but help feel the same.

For those perusing his discography, I would jump from "Defector" to "Guitar Noir", jump again to "Darktown", then make one more big leap to "To Watch The Storms", at which point the modern, confident, experienced Steve Hackett begins a string of exceptional studio albums.