Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Even without the world having changed beyond recognition in the last year, the way we were travelling, seeing what lay far from our own shores, had arguably become one akin to the permanent buffet, dip and take a slice of what you fancy and then immediately move on to the next dish without truly appreciating what you have tasted, without asking what ingredients made the plate such a delicious treat, without savouring the dedication and industry which made it dance on your tongue with delight.
Whilst travel expands the mind, there is a train of thought that provocatively suggests that dipping in and out of a city on a break, the odd night stay in Paris, Berlin or Prague, before flying home and starting the treadmill once more, is detrimental to the area you have visited, that as with a buffet, you have picked a small sliver from each one without understanding the opportunity for personal growth, for the area’s own impact on society.
The days of the Grand Tour may have been consigned to a historical backdrop in which cinema and literature only reminisce about, but surely an adventure Under A Mediterranean Sky does more for the soul than a tense and almost consumerist 24 hours racing from A to B against the tide of humanity and the inevitable exhaustion that follows. No matter where you seek your sky, arguably it would make the music in your mind flow with greater ease to know it has been given such a work-out, to have appreciated the journey and the view it has been offered.
If music and travel expand the mind, then to be treated to both from the same source is to be immersed in the finest of atmospheres, of relishing beauty within splendour; and there is arguably no finer guide to the sound of the eternal and ethereal than Steve Hackett.
A grand tour round the Mediterranean in the company of a guitar and aural education is to create outstanding beauty, and that is exactly what Steve Hackett has provided in his latest album, and through tracks such as Mdina (The Walled City), Adriatic Blue, The Memory Of Myth, The Dervish and The Djin, Lorato and the thrilling sense of conclusion wrapped up in understandable principal of The Call Of The Sea, the grand tour is alive and well, and it is in the mind, and whilst we have to forgo such experiences for ourselves for a while, it remains a pleasure to be held tightly in the faithful hands of one of Britain’s finest.
Hopefully one day soon we will all find a way feel the air surround us Under A Mediterranean Sky, till then we can but dream with an aural sensation in our ears painting the scenes we wish to see.
Ian D. Hall