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.

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 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.

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.