The guy just amazes me with the quality of his work over the years. Looking forward to seeing him in about a month.Originally Posted by Progatron
Just got off the phone with Steve after an hour-long interview about this album, which I've had a review copy of for a few weeks now. I think it's excellent, one of his best latter-day albums in fact. Should please most fans of his work!
Did anyone else notice that photo of him with his Gibson Les Paul gold top near the bottom of the page? I honestly thought he had sold that when he got divorced from his previous wife. I remember seeing it listed on eBay for $125K. Maybe it didn't sell? Awesome. Glad to see he still has it. It has such a history it would be a shame to see it stuck in a case in some collector's collection not being played!
Edit to add photo
"Why is it when these great Prog guys get together, they always want to make a Journey album?"
- fiberman, 7/5/2015
Me too, although I even more wish the album would be largely instrumental, in the 'Ace of Wands' vein, with maybe 3 or 4 vocal tracks. Very cool he's performing 'One For The Vine' and 'Anyway' live-personal favorites.
Anything you can divulge?He's very proud of this one, and being that I am the first person he has spoken to who has heard the album (outside of his 'circle', obviously) he was quite keen to hear my thoughts. Thoroughly enjoyable interview, and I snuck in a few questions for my own curiosity.
Well since I probably won't be including this in the article, we were talking about the track Inside And Out which he will be playing on this tour celebrating 40 years of Wind And Wuthering, and while on the subject, I mentioned the track Match Of The Day (which I've always liked). I told him I'd never heard his opinion on it, but I know the other guys don't like it. He said that it was a good bit of fun, although not as successful as I Know What I Like. Also, apparently Mike was hoping Match Of The Day would be a hit single! Which of course, it was not.
I also asked him about Seven Stones. He said it could have been produced better. It sounded very different when they were rehearsing it, and the mellotron had a heavy reverb on it which gave it more of an expansive sound. He also said if he was to do a third Genesis Revisited album, it's one of the ones he feels deserves the 'restoration treatment'.
A couple of tidbits for ya!
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
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...I would be first in line to buy it!
I'll see Maestro Hackett - one of my favourite guitarists - live at the end of March in Teatro Galleria, Legnano (Milan, Italy); first time I saw him at his 2010 tour, at Nišvil Jazz Festival in Serbia, and this will be for second time
Pre orders are up on Hackett's site now with track listing too. How about some nice coloured vinyl?
Just pre-ordered the colored vinyl (there will be only 500 issued WW).......$52.95 US delivered to the door. Ouch.......but then I saw the LP Box Set! Chrysalis LP's + an EP........$195.00 delivered......Damn....need to deliver a few more papers before I have that kind of cash....
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Where is the review going to appear?He's very proud of this one, and being that I am the first person he has spoken to who has heard the album (outside of his 'circle', obviously) he was quite keen to hear my thoughts. Thoroughly enjoyable interview, and I snuck in a few questions for my own curiosity.
http://www.classicrocksociety.co.uk/...ory/magazines/
...won't be until the March issue. The January issue is coming out any day now though, with my Glass Hammer feature on Valkyrie (interviews with Fred, Steve, and Susie), and the November issue from last year (Todd Rundgren cover) has my interview with Neal Morse about The Similitude Of A Dream. Good times lately!
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 3 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
Yummy. Can't wait to see him again in 3 weeks.
"Henry Cow always wanted to push itself, so sometimes we would write music that we couldn't actually play – I found that very encouraging." - Lindsay Cooper, 1998
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Thank you for posting.
Sounds like music Steve's been making over the previous 2-3 studio albums.
I've got a bike you can ride it if you like
Quite a few different formats this time around, I see... including the limited-to-500-copies "Northern Lights" vinyl LP, where no two are the same! I'll go with the CD/Blu-ray mediabook, that's more my style.
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 3 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
Listened to the title track last night three times. If the rest of the album is as good as the title track this is going to be a gem of an album. A blend of his late 70's / early 80's solo style with his more recent albums. I'm all in on this one.
Really like Hackett's direction these past 5 years. Just putting out high quality prog with his signature sound.
For me he is the most relevant 70's classic prog musician around today.
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Last edited by trespass; 02-04-2017 at 11:52 AM.
I think I am out. I just hate the production style of these recent Hackett albums. That said I liked the way wind instruments were used in this song.
Last edited by Kcrimso; 02-04-2017 at 10:21 AM.
My progressive music site: https://pienemmatpurot.com/ Reviews in English: https://pienemmatpurot.com/in-english/
I'm not sure which track you mean, there is no title track to this album...
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 3 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
The beginning does sound familar...reminds me of 'Valley Of The Kings'. Having said that I like the sax (I think?) solo and the instrumental ending, a quality I felt was really missing on the (IMHO lacklustre) previous album Wolflight.
There seem to be two different colored vinyl editions--the "Northern Lights" vinyl is sold through Hackett's website, but the one I preordered through Burning Shed was billed as "Lilac Vinyl."Quite a few different formats this time around, I see... including the limited-to-500-copies "Northern Lights" vinyl LP, where no two are the same! I'll go with the CD/Blu-ray mediabook, that's more my style.
Hurtleturtled Out of Heaven - an electronic music composition, on CD and vinyl
https://michaelpdawson.bandcamp.com
http://www.waysidemusic.com/Music-Pr...MCD-spc-7.aspx
Your exactly right...referring to "In the Skeleton Gallery" which isn't the title of the album. What can I say, I was checking it out on my phone using Spotify. It was late and was too lazy to blow up the album cover.
Regardless, a very promising preview of what may be on "The Night Siren" (hope I got it right this time....)
Ahh, gotcha. Yes, a good track for sure, and not even near the best on the album! So I think you're in for a treat.
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 3 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
Can't get more of a Hackett fan than me----love him---having said that---not blown away by new song. Sounds like a continuation of what he's been doing and I was hoping for a new direction. But of course the rest of the album may be amazing.
YES exactly! I thought it was VOTK at first & was like WTF??? Other than that I loved the rest of it.
The song is pretty good though the earlier parts are somewhat predictable. I would guess that from here on out, we're probably not going to see Steve Hackett venture too far from this particular formula. This is his sound. He obviously likes it, and it's been doing well for him. To his credit, he does manage to mix things up a bit with each new release and take some of the songs in different directions. Personally, I could do without the "massed vocal" thing, the slightly Middle Eastern-sounding orchestrations, and those musical box sounds that you hear near the end of this new track that appear more and more frequently on his later releases. There's this "creepy" effect he clearly enjoys conjuring up, but after doing similar things over and over again, the impact is lost a bit. Still, I always seem to come around after hearing each successive release a few times, so I'll withhold any more judgement. I did like the sax solo - and sax is an instrument I usually don't care much for. The guitar at the end is great as usual. Of course, I'm looking forward to the rest. Who'd have thought we'd still be getting solid new material from SH after all these years?
I have just about everything Steve has done, and I am a huge fan. First major disappointment is that for some reason his tour is skipping Albany NY (The Egg) this time around, and he has been to this market on most (if not all) of his recent tours. I like the instrumental section of the song that's been posted, but the overall sound is getting very samey over the course of the last 10 years of recording.
I do enjoy the instrumental parts, and Rob Townshends contribution. I would like more instrumental music from Steve I think. This one gets interesting in the middle to the end, I am enjoying it.
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