Has Mr. Hackett settled into a 'routine'

[LEG-art]

First of all I am a huge Steve Hackett fan since the late Genesis. Luckily I got to see him play in Genesis, and many times during his solo career. He does not disappoint.

But has anyone sensed a `sameness' to his latest solo albums as well as his live shows? I still love them, but wish he would take a few more unexpected paths/changes.

To me, his past few solo albums has an almost too over-produced, and too many guest sameness to them. Any track to fit on any album.

My wish would be for him to simplify things, and make the Steve Hackett band play. Simplify the tunes, bring in more power. I like Nad, but would love to hear Simon Collins join as a band-mate. More raw, less orchestral.

In fact, if he still plans to tour with the Genesis stuff, I would love to see Steve mix up the Genesis/Hackett- material perhaps with a rarities tour. Harold the Barrel, All in a Mouse's Night, Ballad of the Decomposing Man, Racing in A, Group Therapy, etc. In fact it would be amazing to see Simon on vocals, as well as drums, creating that Chester/Phil vibes during the late 70's. Simon's short guest appearance during Supper's Ready a few years ago was magical! Perhaps even the current lineup, playing an album like Defector it it's entirety? I know classic Genesis live is his cash-cow, but...

Having said this, even if he does a similar tour next year, I'm there, but I would like to see something different. Of course this is my opinion, and I could be wrong. What do you progheads and Hackett fans think? Cheers.

[battema]

Very little of his work in the past decade has left me terribly engaged, and while I did catch one of the later-ish Genesis Revisited tours I've skipped many (all?) of his dates through my area since.

But I think he's simply found his "groove." And clearly, based on sales and tours, I think his audience on the whole is very happy. He's earned the right to do whatever he damned well pleases, and even if I'm not likely to be a regular face as his shows, I wish him absolutely nothing but the best of success going forward

[dpt3]

I think his past decade of albums have been pretty solid, but nothing I would call particularly "great". I definitely wouldn't mind it if he'd find a way to shake things up a bit, but if he coasts through the rest of his career on the kind of stuff he's been doing lately, I wouldn't exactly complain either.

[Dave (in MA)]

He could branch out into other prog material beyond Genesis.

I was thinking while listening to Anthony Phillips' Harvest of the Heart compilation recently (shortly after watching Hackett's Albert Hall DVD) about how great it would be for someone to perform AP's material live. Imagine Hackett's band doing Henry, Sisters of Remindum, Nightmare or Scottish Suite.

[mozo-pg]

I remember seeing Steve in a very small club around 1993 - he only played small sections of Genesis material and I was in heaven. Fast forward, I missed the tour before last but saw Steve on the current tour 3 rows from the stage. I keep thinking, this is a living legend in front of me. I'm so grateful he's still playing a very high level for music I grew up with. I would he would have skipped Supper's Ready (just heard it way too many times) for more Wind and Wuthering material but that's a minor quibble. If it's a routine, I can live with it! I get the same sense of awe when seeing Crimson playing their oldies.

[JJ88]

^The first 'new' one of his I got was Wild Orchids in 2006, and I have to say then that his profile did seem pretty low for an ex-member of such a popular group. That's changed a lot over recent years, definitely helped by the Genesis Revisited touring, and that's very welcome. Certainly in the UK the size of the venues has increased.

[miamiscot]

Not a big fan of his solo work after those first four fabulous records!!!

[Chichen Itza]

There is nothing "samey" about his live shows

He's done an outstanding job of varying the Genesis songs, as well as the solo material, while working in some of his latest material

He's setting quite a high standard IMO

[Gruno]

Having said this, even if he does a similar tour next year, I'm there, but I would like to see something different.

And there you have it. Even if he does the same show, you are going. That's still money in his pocket. Easy money.

[Sean]

I've got mixed feelings about it. There was a time when I wanted him to play more Genesis tunes in his set, say ten years ago or longer.

Now I feel like he's "been there and done that" and needs to focus more on his solo works again.

That said, I don't find his newer stuff nearly as compelling as the music he did in the 70s and 80s.

Can't say he isn't prolific though and I applaud him for always working on a new album.

[bill g]

Yeah the same simple plodding drum beat and heavy riffs seem to characterize a lot of it these days. The albums are pretty good but not great in my opinion. 'To Watch The Storms' was the last one I might call great. I think he should complex it up-do stuff like 'Ace of Wands' and 'Hands of the Priestess' again, and have Nad or someone do the vocals, rather than him tackling all the vocals. The songs are too simple now I feel. He does have some nice songs. 'Set Your Compass' from 'Wild Orchids' for example, and 'She Said Maybe' from the 2nd disc of 'Beyond The Blue Horizon' is another good one.

Live is another story. I think he's fantastic live, doing what he does. Having him throw in Ant's 'Sisters of Remindum' to a set is a brilliant idea however!

[SteveSly]

I have really enjoyed pretty much everything from “Darktown” forward for the most part. For his live shows, at this point, I would actually rather here more solo stuff and less Genesis, but he has been able to tour so successfully with the emphasis on Genesis material, that I don’t see that going away anytime soon.

[Paulrus]

Yeah the same simple plodding drum beat and heavy riffs seem to characterize a lot of it these days. The albums are pretty good but not great in my opinion. 'To Watch The Storms' was the last one I might call great. I think he should complex it up-do stuff like 'Ace of Wands' and 'Hands of the Priestess' again, and have Nad or someone do the vocals, rather than him tackling all the vocals. The songs are too simple now I feel. He does have some nice songs. 'Set Your Compass' from 'Wild Orchids' for example, and 'She Said Maybe' from the 2nd disc of 'Beyond The Blue Horizon' is another good one.

Live is another story. I think he's fantastic live, doing what he does. Having him throw in Ant's 'Sisters of Remindum' to a set is a brilliant idea however!

IMO what made his early stuff work was that they were potent cocktails of rhythms, melodies and textures (gee, sort of like Genesis.) Now it's all the same 2 or 3 rhythms, no melodies, and a handful of guitar and keyboard textures.

Sure it's great that he can crank out albums from his living room with just Roger King, but it would do him wonders to follow up Squackett with another collaboration that forces him out of his comfort zone.

[gojikranz]

I do appreciate that he has tried to vary the genesis stuff a lot on the recent tours even if we west coasters missed the heavy wind and wuthering show I was hoping for last time. and who woulda ever expected when the heart rules the mind to return. and while maybe it is kinda samey it is incredible that he continues to make new albums and feature them to some capacity in his live shows so compared to many I think steve does a good job given all that has come before.

[Sputnik]

Not a big fan of his solo work after those first four fabulous records!!!

I'm with you. I have Guitar Noir and the Time Lapse live album he did around then. But I've tried most of his stuff after that, and it's left me wanting. Even Guitar Noir is spotty at best. I truly wish him all the best, but he lost me ages ago.

Bill

[bill g]

With the complexity of the Genesis material they do so very well live, I'd kinda hoped his solo albums would have a bit of that sound, but I guess his writing contribution wasn't that large on those tracks.

[Scott Bails]

My wish would be for him to simplify things, and make the Steve Hackett band play. Simplify the tunes, bring in more power. I like Nad, but would love to hear Simon Collins join as a band-mate. More raw, less orchestral.

I love this idea.

I'm okay with Nad, too, but would have preferred Ray Wilson. But Simon Phillips would do a great job, too.

But I think he's simply found his "groove." And clearly, based on sales and tours, I think his audience on the whole is very happy.

Agreed.

With the complexity of the Genesis material they do so very well live, I'd kinda hoped his solo albums would have a bit of that sound, but I guess his writing contribution wasn't that large on those tracks.

I always wonder about this when bands celebrate older material. I get that they often don't want to "look back," but I would think that Roger King would push him a little towards that old 12-string, pastoral sound.

[bill g]

I always wonder about this when bands celebrate older material. I get that they often don't want to "look back," but I would think that Roger King would push him a little towards that old 12-string, pastoral sound.

Yeah, although the 12-string pastoral sound was pretty much Ant, Mike and Tony. (The 12-string section at the end of 'Lovers Leap' for example was written solely by Tony) However Steve created those lovely verses of 'Entangled'. 'Set Your Compass' does have a bit of that sound, but not to the degree of 'Star of Sirius'. Would love him to do stuff like that.

[Tom]

Yeah the same simple plodding drum beat and heavy riffs seem to characterize a lot of it these days.

Hackett has never been good about drums. We need Steven Wilson remixes or something.

[flowerking]

I'd have to say the opposite. Hackett keeps reinventing himself and the live shows seem to follow along with these changes. Studio albums continue to differ quite a bit. Just look at the dark nature of Darktown, the diversity of To Watch The Storms and Wild Orchids, and Wolflight is an amazing blend of styles not song-by-song but within songs. I haven't gotten too into his last one yet but its more exotic sounding. Now talking about his live shows, I've seen him four times since 2002 and aside from the two pure Genesis revisited shows which shared many of the same songs, they were all quite different. For To Watch the Storms, it was mostly newer material with just a few old songs thrown in and almost no Genesis. Very hard edged and often non-melodic. The Wolflight show had plenty of rarer old Hackett songs, plenty of new songs plus some really prime Genesis songs like Can Utility and Get em Out by Friday. I thought that show was maybe the best of the times I've seen him.

[eporter66]

I'm a huge Hackett fan. I've seen him many times live, and would never miss a show that comes through my area.

As for his most recent studio output, it has not connected. I love a lot of his solo output, but everything recent sounds the same. The production takes some of the life out, I wish he would use Nad or someone on lead vocals.

He deserves all the success he's had.

[Koreabruce]

This is a fascinating listen: the podcast Nakedly Examined Music (NEM) talks with Steve Hackett about songwriting, arranging, and track count. SH says he's used well over 300 tracks on some songs:

https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/20...-steve-hackett

To me, therein lies the problem if you're not one so enamoured of the samey lush orchestral production he's been prone to over the last 10-15 years. More power to him for realizing whatever particular audio visions he has, but at this juncture I think it would be interesting - and a breath of fresh air - if he would do something more stripped-down. Limiting the number of tracks and overdubs going in to such a project would force a kind of discipline that I think would yield satisfying results.

[JJ88]

^There is no question that the production style is one of the reasons why his recent albums sound so alike. 2003's To Watch The Storms had a somewhat drier sound and is better for it, IMHO.

[Steve983]

Yep, the formula is:

Get Roger King to create fake drums and bass on his laptop.
Get some instrumentalists with strange ethnic instruments to play some parts.
Crank up the guitar to sound frankly not that good.
Add computer assisted vocals on to 10 new songs that sound like Kashmir.
Go on tour with yet another version of Genesis Revisited.

and repeat.

[Trane]

Not a big fan of his solo work after those first four fabulous records!!!

That's about it for me (though I also own Camino Royale)... even Defector is not that good... If it didn't have The Steppes, it would've been his first bad album (something that didn't last long afterwards with Dured)

I remember seeing Steve in a very small club around 1993 - he only played small sections of Genesis material and I was in heaven. Fast forward, I missed the tour before last but saw Steve on the current tour 3 rows from the stage. I keep thinking, this is a living legend in front of me. I'm so grateful he's still playing a very high level for music I grew up with.

I was quite happy to see Hackett some six times (last timùe must be 12 years ago), and I won't budge anymmore to see more... unless he plays across the street from my house.

I've got mixed feelings about it. There was a time when I wanted him to play more Genesis tunes in his set, say ten years ago or longer.

Now I feel like he's "been there and done that" and needs to focus more on his solo works again.

That said, I don't find his newer stuff nearly as compelling as the music he did in the 70s and 80s.

Yup, the Genesis re-appropriation thing (the revisited part), it's enough, IMHO The only one I appreciated was the Live Tokyo with Ian McD.

And I'm not even a fan of what he did in the 80's at all.

I have really enjoyed pretty much everything from “Darktown” forward for the most part. For his live shows, at this point, I would actually rather here more solo stuff and less Genesis, but he has been able to tour so successfully with the emphasis on Genesis material, that I don’t see that going away anytime soon.

Well, TBH, since Darktown, I've heard most of his albums (library borrowings), and brought none home... they're too diverse (right, left, up, down and centre) for me, and contain too few for me to like to actually want to pay much attention