Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
The invisible but highly audible Sirens that line up and down Birmingham’s glittering Broad Street area could have bayed and bleated all night long as they watched the neon lights fade and dim to obscurity, nothing could have torn the rapt attention of the audience inside the Symphony Hall away from Steve Hackett and the band as they recreated for the final night in the U.K., the songs that entranced a generation and beyond.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 91/2 /10
There are very few performers that will attempt to capture the magic, the very special experience of a gig twice in the same venue in the same year. Then again, it may have been thought impossible to recapture the very essence of a classic in the first place. However when the venue is the prestigious Philharmonic Hall and the artist is the phenomenal guitarist Steve Hackett, it really shouldn’t come as any surprise at all that the musician and his finely crafted band should once more come to Liverpool and give the legion of fans in the city yet another night to remember.
Alan Hewitt leans back on the chair in FACT and smiles, a man wistful with memories of gigs and stories which culminated in his book on Steve Hackett, the Genesis guitarist who has carved out perhaps the most productive solo career of all those that made Genesis one of the finest Progressive Rock bands to hail from the U.K. being enjoyed rightly by the multitude. Sketches of Hackett is a book of immense value and warmth and just chatting to him, time seems to lose its meaning as the 20 minute time limit we set ourselves becomes muddled and extended until we have broached the subject of almost every Steve Hackett solo album and his contribution to the richness of the second and third period of the Genesis era.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
When Selling England By The Pound was released in 1973, it confirmed what many already knew, that Genesis was to be heralded as one of the great Progressive Rock bands of all time. Following on from Foxtrot and especially side two which showed the intricate, fantastical and multi-layered nature of the group’s writing and musical talent. Selling England By The Pound was a trip into the English pastoral, the off-beat look at life in the country, swathed in lyrical expansion and would in time become the second of five classic albums on the trot, to be followed by the seminal Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, Foxtrot and Wind and Wuthering.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
It is near on nigh impossible to recreate a classic. To recreate a masterpiece and make it epic takes musical genius and a talent that coupled with a deep burning desire to give some of the great tracks of Progressive Rock a re-imagination could only be found in the hands and minds of some of the very few that practice the art.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The latest release by Hertfordshire band Shadowlight, the superb sounding Twilight Canvas, carries on in the same excellent form that James Hodkinson and Mark Wilson showed in the exceptional E.P. Winter.
Where the band have improved, if that is indeed possible with Shadowlight, is the addition of extra personnel in the form of Ed Williamson-Brown and Paul Collins on bass and drums respectively, the album oozes a quality that rarely gets heard on a debut album but then the foundations of the band were sown long ago with the musical partnership of James and Mark. It is perhaps a shame for any new fan coming into the band on the back of the E.P. or this new album that there isn’t a catalogue to explore. However the sounds they create on this debut signals the start of something very extraordinary.
Like all the members of the Progressive Rock giants Genesis, Phil Collins had launched his solo career with a certain amount of music acumen and good will bestowed upon them by the group’s followers. By the time Phil released his second solo offering, Hello, I Must Be Going, he was already becoming one of the leading men in 1980’s pop/rock.
Phil’s debut album, the 1981 release of Face Value, had made sure that Phil’s popularity as the Genesis vocalist, a position he took over when Peter Gabriel left the band after the tour for The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway album, would see him reach number one at the first attempt. For his follow up album, it would be a case of more of the same with demands from the label, the fans and seemingly from the artist himself.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Since Genesis last took to the stage for their 2007 tour, the most productive two members of the stalwarts and guiding lights of Progressive Rock are the two that had left the band in the days before they become the corporate behemoth of the 1980’s and 1990’s.
Peter Gabriel has been busy giving his fans new looks of his back catalogue and inspired readings of other people’s works. Steve Hackett on the other hand has produced more solo work than any other member of one of the U.K.’s favourite Prog acts; he also seems to find time to keep the work of Genesis between 1970 and 1977 very much alive on his keenly anticipated touring schedule.
Genesis, especially the classic line up of Tony Banks, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford and Steve Hackett would become one of the U.K.’s favourite Progressive Rock bands on the strength of the 1972 album Foxtrot.
This eccentric band packed to the rafters with burgeoning talent had already broken parts of Europe with Trespass and the charming Nursery Cryme but as had up to that point failed to break the U.K top 20 album chart. Their first album From Genesis to Revelation had failed to convince the British public that their music was worth listening to, Trespass saw them make inroads and Nursery Cryme make friends, it was however the pastoral feel combined with an abundance of British eccentricity that would convince music listeners that these five performers had something worthwhile to say.
Originally published by L.S. Media. September 26th 2009.
The new album by Steve Hackett has been eagerly awaited by fans for a while now and for once the anticipation of a new offering by an artist has been well worth the wait.
Out of the Tunnel’s Mouth is Steve’s 22nd solo album since leaving Genesis after the Seconds Out live album and there is no sign of Steve slowing down with his incredible work rate.