Spectral Mornings [Remastered] - Steve Hackett

Steve Hackett was the guitarist for genesis during their most fruitful period as a proper progressive rock band, joining in 1971 and leaving in late 1977. The reasons for his leaving were a general dissatisfaction with the direction the band was going in and that on his last studio album with them "Wind & Wuthering". In truth his departure from Genesis had been a long time coming and could be traced back to their last album with Peter Gabriel ...
...first member of the band to release a solo album in 1975 called "The Voyage of The Acolyte", he was enthused by the freedom of expression that he had on that album, and the willingness of the musicians to go along with his ideas. That is no surprise though considering he was outwith the confine of a band and paying people to play, so they have to do what they were told. Anyway upon leaving Genesis he first recorded "Please Don't Touch" ... more

Steve Hackett was the guitarist for genesis during their most fruitful period as a proper progressive rock band, joining in 1971 and leaving in late 1977. The reasons for his leaving were a general dissatisfaction with the direction the band was going in and that on his last studio album with them "Wind & Wuthering". In truth his departure from Genesis had been a long time coming and could be traced back to their last album with Peter Gabriel 1974's The Lamb Lies down on Broadway. Steve was the first member of the band to release a solo album in 1975 called "The Voyage of The Acolyte", he was enthused by the freedom of expression that he had on that album, and the willingness of the musicians to go along with his ideas. That is no surprise though considering he was outwith the confine of a band and paying people to play, so they have to do what they were told. Anyway upon leaving Genesis he first recorded "Please Don't Touch" in 1978, and with the touring line up he assembled went onto record this album "Spectral Moorings" in 1979.

This album is quite an eclectic mixture of songs like most of his solo albums and is definitely rooted in British prog rock, which for an old punk like me is heresy to admit to liking let alone loving, but then does one really care? One writer even commented that "a trip around the world from Brighton pier to Hong Kong Harbor" which is indeed a fairly accurate description.

On the album we have referenced to English literature with "The Virgin and The Gypsy" taking the title from the book by D H Laurence which he deliberately did not read until he finished the lyrics, this is takes influences from classical and more prominently folk music. Steve's brother John's flute work on this track deserves a special mention, as the double tracking of the flute being played randomly works fantastically, with the backing of twelve string guitar and harpsichord. The lyrics themselves are perversely whimsical.

There is more sinister whimsy in The Ballad of the Decomposing Man, a tale of industrial mayhem set to the work of George Formby with nods to skiffle, Latin music and delta blues. The Brighton pier reference is bloody accurate here. The other sinisterly whimsical track here is Tigermoth. this starts off as a strange bit of experimental prog guitar work out, before switching to a tale of fighter pilots leaving this mortal coil in a slightly worrying fashion.

There is more standard progressive rock numbers for those of you that like that sort of thing like "Everyday" which is the closest thing to a pop song on this album featuring some great guitar work, and despite the happy nature of the music, there is a sinister undercurrent in the lyrics, fantastic stuff in my book.

On top of all this great vocal stuff there are also a couple of great instrumental pieces. The first being "The Red Flower of Tachai Blooms Everywhere" recorded using a Cantonese Koto, which fills in the visit to Hong Kong Harbor reference quite sounds like a traditional Cantonese piece. The combination of Koto and string synthesizer is very effective and it is a beautiful piece. This is in stark contrast to "Clocks - The Angel Of Mons" which switches between sinister bass synthesizers and clocks, to blasts of prog rock guitar jiggery pokery, like it is switching from light to dark. John Sherers Drum Solo on this number is sublime, not something that is said often about drum solos which should normally be left out of things altogether. "Lost Time in Cordoba" is a simple piece of just flute and Keyboards accompanied by acoustic guitar, and is again a beautiful piece that sounds like a journey along a great river. Leaving the title track to the last "Spectral Moorings" was originally intended to have a vocal, but his vocalist upon hearing the melody played on guitar suggested that it be kept as an instrumental. Talk about doing yourself out of a job!!!! He was right though the song is almost majestic with synths and wind instruments swirling around each other, topped of with some fantastic guitar playing it is the perfect way to finish off the album.

Though with this re-mastered edition put out by EMI / Virgin on the resurrected charisma label you do of course get more. In this case a series of alternative and live takes of almost every song on the album, which means that for the 6 quid I paid for this album from Amazon I effectively get 2 different versions of the album. That is real value for money if you like prog rock, probably not so if you don't. You also get a 12 page booklet with notes from Steve on the recording of the album and the time, as well as photos.

This is an album of shifting musical styles that manages to remain cohesive, which is difficult to do with such a mixture. It is also one of his best and better than anything that Genesis ever did too……………………..
 

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