VotA is the album for people who don't like Steve Hackett albums.
VotA is the album for people who don't like Steve Hackett albums.
I think his vocals have improved a lot over the years. He has seemed to learn to sing within a certain range and with material that kind of fits the way his voice sounds.Originally Posted by WytchCrypt
I actually prefer when Steve does the vocals on his solo albums...possibly why Please Don't Touch is by far my least fave of his 1st 4
I bought a tape of this at a truck stop at the age of 15...in the spring of 2001 haha
As a teenager I loved "Ace of Wands". As an adult I'm not quite so fond of it, although it has an oddly DIY feel that you don't always associate with members of Genesis. It definitely seems the vision outpaced the technical know-how on that one--except for the guitar, which is fine as it always is. Now the only songs I really listen to are "Star of Sirius" and the two "Hands of the Priestess" instrumentals. Great, gorgeous, pastoral music. Imagine if "Star of Sirius" replaced "Robbery Assault and Battery" on Trick of the Tail? The debate would be over. Trick of the Tail would be unanimously selected as the best album of all time by all the citizens of Europe and the Americas.
The first four albums seem to hang together sound-wise even if the only albums with a lot of continuity in personell were Spectral Mornings and Defector. They are my platonic ideal for 2nd rate symphonic rock--lush and humble and pastoral and not too obsessed with dragons and goblins. The albums after the first four can get kind of spotty, but much of my favorite Hackett material is from his post-2000 renaissance. This would be a good mixtape to make:
1. Circus of Becoming (from To Watch the Storms)
2. Mechanical Bride (from To Watch the Storms)
3. Golden Age of Steam (from Darktown)
4. A Place Called Freedom (from Beyond the Shrouded Horizon)
5. Rise Again (from Darktown)
6. Looking for Fantasy (from Beyond the Shrouded Horizon)
7. This World (from To Watch the Storms)
8. Dark Night in Toytown (from Wild Orchids)
9. Wind, Sand and Stars (from To Watch the Storms)
10. Til These Eyes (from Beyond the Shrouded Horizon)
11. Man Overboard (from Darktown)
12. Jane Austen's Door (from Darktown)
13. The Moon Under Water (from To Watch the Storms)
14. Serpentine Song (from To Watch the Storms)
15. If Only You Knew (from To Watch the Storms)
16. In Memoriam (from Darktown)
This listing exposes that my preferred costume for Hackett these days is that of melancholia. But that's ok. He wears it better than most.
Still my favorite of the Genesis member solo studio efforts. Saw some of Steve's solo shows in 80 and 81, which were stellar. Probably should make an effort to see him live. He has carried the torch that the other member of Genesis have abandoned.
So true, he's the coolest guy in Genesis.
I'm only deeply familiar with VoTA & Spectral Mornings. (Still digesting 2 & 4)
It's an age (before my time, ironically) that I wish had never ended.
Rutherford & Collins did a great job on VoTA; Hackett's influence in Genesis really kept the other guys in line, lol.
Good point, Wytchie.Ya, and I thank Banks for being so arrogant or we wouldn't have Hackett's fantastic canon of solo work
I still remember the first time i heard the album in 1976. I was entranced. I still very much enjoy it.
Good Evening Eric, I think that Mike and Tony felt that Steve's strongest points was in his playing. It's why many of Genesis songs were more keyboard led. I am of the Hackett fan that believes his weakest albums came with "Feedback '86" and "Blues With A Feeling".
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Be a loyal plastic robot for a world that doesn't care... Frank Zappa
As far as I'm concerned, Hackett lost the plot with "Blues with a Feeling." No, Steve, just because you're in love with your harmonica, you CAN'T do that kind of music convincingly. And is "Big Dallas Sky" supposed to be blues because of the title and the fact that you talk through it?
Since then, I feel like he's been doing at least one or two "pseudo-blues" numbers per album, and they're always turgid and plodding (e.g. "Still Waters"… meh). He still has moments of brilliance and beauty quite often but nothing that matches his first four albums, or even the two after that ("Cured" and "Highly Strung" are underrated in my opinion).
"Arf." -- Frank Zappa, "Beauty Knows No Pain" (live version)
I have Steve's entire catalogue, and Blues With A Feeling is easily my least-played.
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Same for me---don't know why he did that album---I mean Hacketts style is so amazing and other people do blues better---if u like blues.
Nice album, quintessential English pastoralism (with a little edge).
Hell, they ain't even old-timey ! - Homer Stokes
That's one I don't have, nor any interest in. And yes, I could do without the likes of 'Still Waters', 'Catfish Eyes' etc. as well. They are simply too lumbering and ponderous to work as blues- the best electric blues has a much lighter touch IMHO.
Lucky enough to see him and his touring band at a small club in the early 90's. After the proper show ended, a roadie brought out a chair and setup a mic. Steve came out and for the encore played about 20 minutes of unaccompanied classical guitar...one of my greatest concert experiences ever
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You are probably right, so as someone else posted, we owe Banks And Rutherford a big thank you for all the great solo material we got from Steve. I agree with you on those two choices. I am not a fan of most of his 80's material, add "Cured", "Highly Strung", and "Till We Have Faces" to that list.
It's a beautiful album, but I kind of agree with this.
I don't think so, Voyage Of The Acolyte clearly shows to me Hackett's character: a more inward looking feel, introspective and spirituous, intense and dreamy. His musical identity was already clearly stamped in this first solo effort (btw beautiful of course), but it was quite a bit further developed on his later releases. I see that his strongly ecletic tastes wouldn't match all those of his fans (including me), what we can see throughout his entire career, but imo even more on his 80's and 90's stuff. I still struggle with pure jazz or pure blues music in general, but for me Blues With A Feeling (1994 the year of its release) sounded at least a decent release. About Feedback '86, isn't it that it's just a compilation album??
But some of his tastes kept unchanged since his first solo works up to his last release, Wolflight, as we can hear in Heart Song - a lovely and dreamy melody with his always superbly intense guitar playing; Earthshine - the maturity of his classical guitar playing can be thoroughly and deeply felt in this little gem; and Dust And Dreams so perfectly epitomizes his always intense attraction for the indian/middle orient folk music, an awesome piece of music btw.
VOTA is not one of my favourite albums, which are A Midsummer Night's Dream, Metamorpheus, Spectral Mornings, Momentum, Defector and Beyond The Shrouded Horizon (Limited Edition.) What most excites me is that sometimes his music actually acts as sort of a 'spiritual exercise' to me, if it really exists, one example is 'Red Flower Of Tachai Blooms Everywhere': it is a perfect example of an "insight"
Last edited by Rick Robson; 10-11-2015 at 07:08 PM.
"Beethoven can write music, thank God, but he can do nothing else on earth. ". Ludwig van Beethoven
An excellent post Rick. Wolf light is a great album perhaps his best since Darktown.
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Be a loyal plastic robot for a world that doesn't care... Frank Zappa
Thanks Chuck.
I second you about Wolflight, just listened to it again, and I forgot to mention also 'Corycian Fire' as an interesting indian/middle orient folk influenced track. It seems Steve Hackett had once upon a time a very special affair when travelling through those lands
"Beethoven can write music, thank God, but he can do nothing else on earth. ". Ludwig van Beethoven
Yes...that is a great track. The dumbek in it really gets the vibe going.Thanks Chuck.
I second you about Wolflight, just listened to it again, and I forgot to mention also 'Corycian Fire' as an interesting indian/middle orient folk influenced track. It seems Steve Hackett had once upon a time a very special affair when travelling through those lands
Looking forward to the tour, get to see him this November.
I think there is some great material on PDT---I think there are too many singers --with the exception of Crawford and Havens who are both sublime---which makes for a disjointed feel---but not a fan of Kansas singer but was surprised Hackett could do a gorgeous song like Hoping love will last---when you do an album with so many singers there has to be some continuity --hard to put an american AOR proggy singer with a soul jazz singer like Crawford and a folk singer like Havens---sort of a mess IMO. A good example of using 8 different type singers on a CD and yet it works---is Billy Childs Reinventing Laura Nyro album---very cool.
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