Steve Hackett - Till We Have Faces - why the hate?

[Sunhillow]

I'm not saying "Till We Have Faces" is Hackett's best album, not at all. As a matter of fact, judging by the new 2002-reissue, on which the trackorder is changed I always stop listening once I reach the (awful) 'Myopia'. But up till that it's 33 minutes of what I think is really good music:

1 What's My Name 7:06
2 The Rio Connection 3:21
3 Matilda Smith-Williams Home for the Aged 8:07
4 Let Me Count the Ways 6:06
5 A Doll That's Made in Japan 3:57
6 Duel 4:48

Now why this album receives a 2.22 at Progarchives and 2.81 at RYM is partly understable, because this album lacks coherence and direction, but seeing the individual songs listed above, also rather harsh. Especially when you realize on the above two rating-sites, "Cured" is appreciated more. Hell, even "Feedback 86" got higher ratings on both sites. Dare I check ... yeah, even "GTR" is considered 'better'.

How unfair!



And why this b-side isn't included even on the 2013 reissue is beyond me:

[MONDO PROG DRUM KIT]

Yea, I hated this one. Such a letdown from all the earlier releases. Didn't like cured either.

[Rufus]

Big Steve fan & rate him very highly. I think sometimes he needs a good co-writer to take things up a notch and this album proves why ! I know Nik Magnus co -wrote a couple of tunes but he needs someone more prolific in the song writing department !

[NorthNY Mark]

For me, it is quite simple: the vocals are so screechingly bad that it is almost painful to listen to (I realize that doesn't explain why "Cured" would be rated more highly--it wouldn't be by me). Thankfully his vocals improved tremendously beginning in the '90s.

[gregory]

I kind of like it. Diverse, but not vulgar in whole. I mean no 'guitarisms' on this one.

[bill g]

Never hated it. For Steve though, I think it maybe has too much vocals but that's often my complaint. 'Whats My Name' was always pretty cool, and there are some good chords in the b-side 'Just The Bones'.

[Casey]

I'll have to give this oner a listen tonight. But, for my money, the bottom of the SH barrel is "Feedback 86." "The Fighter" is unlistenable.

[Facelift]

Only 'Cured' 'Feedback 86' and 'Blues With a Feeling have lower ratings on Gnosis than the 7.90 for this one. This seems to be a consensus bad album.

[firth5th]

Big Steve-O fan here, but this one is just not good. The songs are not good. I call it "Till We Have Feces"

[Trane]

Yea, I hated this one. Such a letdown from all the earlier releases. Didn't like cured either.

That was my thought and question... is UWHF more hated that Cured?? not in my book... of course there are many albupms that sound 80's-ish, but that doesn't help either

Actually, UWHF has probably my fave Hackett solo album artwork (outside the first two)

Big Steve fan & rate him very highly. I think sometimes he needs a good co-writer to take things up a notch and this album proves why ! I know Nik Magnus co -wrote a couple of tunes but he needs someone more prolific in the song writing department !

What kills me is that even the best SH albums always have a few duds (and I mean close to dreck), even my fave Spectral Mornings... more than help in songwriting, I wish he'd be more discerning on what he releases on what album... This wide array of songwriting hurts the cohesiveness annd musical direction of his albums

For me, it is quite simple: the vocals are so screechingly bad that it is almost painful to listen to (I realize that doesn't explain why "Cured" would be rated more highly--it wouldn't be by me). Thankfully his vocals improved tremendously beginning in the '90s.

But the vocals always sucked on Hackett solo albums... and when it didn't (PDT, for ex), it's on songs that shouldn't be rekleaqsed on prog albums (IMHO, of copurse)

[NorthNY Mark]

Actually, UWHF has probably my fave Hackett solo album artwork (outside the first two)

I agree--but to me, the atmospheric cover art just makes the sterile, incompetently sung album inside all the more disappointing in comparison

But the vocals always sucked on Hackett solo albums... and when it didn't (PDT, for ex), it's on songs that shouldn't be rekleaqsed on prog albums (IMHO, of copurse)

I guess I just disagree pretty strongly that the vocals on any Hackett album previous to Cured were truly bad in the same sense that his own vocals were on Cured or TWHF. While we all have our different subjective responses to various vocalists--and for me, the most annoying vocals by far on the early albums were those by Steve Walsh--there is a big difference, IMHO, between vocals I simply don't happen to like and vocals that are truly incompetent. I am shocked that a record company would have been willing to release Steve's early vocals on a commercial release (and the same could be said for Anthony Phillips on Wise After the Event). Honestly, if the problem was the cost of hiring Hicks (or any other competent singer), I wish Steve instead had done away with the rhythm section or the keyboardist--off-key, strained vocals make the music simply unlistenable, at least for people like me.

[Chuck AzEee!]

I love this album.

[Rarebird]

I agree--but to me, the atmospheric cover art just makes the sterile, incompetently sung album inside all the more disappointing in comparison





I guess I just disagree pretty strongly that the vocals on any Hackett album previous to Cured were truly bad in the same sense that his own vocals were on Cured or TWHF. While we all have our different subjective responses to various vocalists--and for me, the most annoying vocals by far on the early albums were those by Steve Walsh--there is a big difference, IMHO, between vocals I simply don't happen to like and vocals that are truly incompetent. I am shocked that a record company would have been willing to release Steve's early vocals on a commercial release (and the same could be said for Anthony Phillips on Wise After the Event). Honestly, if the problem was the cost of hiring Hicks (or any other competent singer), I wish Steve instead had done away with the rhythm section or the keyboardist--off-key, strained vocals make the music simply unlistenable, at least for people like me.

I suppose you don't like Kansas as well.

[NorthNY Mark]

I suppose you don't like Kansas as well.

Not especially--I'm not a fan of the "heartland American rawk" aspects of their sound. Although I'm not a fan of Walsh's vocal style, though, my point was mainly that I still recognize him as a talented and professionally capable vocalist, which I can't say about Hackett until at least the Guitar Noir album.

[trurl]

Would you believe I have never even heard this album?? Honestly, I never thought Cured was that bad. Highly Strung was about 50/50 for me, decent bits and awful bits. I need to check Faces out... as someone posted a while back, the very best of Steve's albums still had a lot of dreck. He's a mix cd artist if ever there was one

[yesman1955]

While I'm a big SH fan (I have almost everything he's released since 1976), it seems like when Steve is good, he's REALLY good and when he's bad, he's REALLY bad. His albums are still an autobuy for me.

[zorknapp]

I'm going to be the voice of dissent here, and actually say that I really enjoy this album. It's not Hackett's best, but there are tracks on the album I enjoy, particularly "What's My Name." I don't think there's a bad song in the bunch.

Mike

[timmy]

no hate here either. i actually enjoy all of Steve's albums. refreshing that they aren't carbon copies of Voyage!

[arabicadabra]

Matilda Smith Williams is classic - this is an eclectic mix like the songs on Spectral Mornings between Every Day and the title track. Diversity. I like it.

[Thonk98]

Wow, I never realized there was so much dislike of Till We Have Faces. I've been a huge SH fan for a very long time but, like I've seen people say in this thread, some of it is right for my palate and some is not. When I was younger I did not care for Steve's classical stuff. Now, even though I don't listen to it, I can understand the need for an artist to express themselves in multiple formats of genres. So I'm not so disappointed when the new Steve album doesn't 'rock' enough. Also, Steve has gotten to be 'a lot better' (a lot better being relative) singer over the years. The vocals are adequate on TWHF but I wouldn't go much further. As with almost all SH albums for me there are songs I like very much and then some I might leave off of a 'best of' album. TWHF is no exception. Matilda Smith Williams Home For The Aged is fantastic song. Almost but not quite along the level of Steve's best stuff. I like that he incorporates the melody from Always Somewhere Else (Highly Strung) into MTWHFTA. I also like the song Myopia but can't really say for sure why. The Rio Connection is pretty good song with lots of guitar synth. All in all I think Till We Have Faces is a fairly good album. Not one of Steve's best but far from 'feces' as someone put it in an earlier post.

[wilcox660]

Put up any album you can think of on this forum. Some will love it, others hate it. Some will call it overrated, others underrated. Many will overanalyze it. Every album is equally loved & hated with equal vigor.