Also see: Genesis ~ NEARfest '02
From: David Kuznick <>
Re: Steve Hackett "The Tokyo Tapes" (1998)
Very nice collection of tracks; and it's nice that they're not straight
"covers"; lots of playing around with arrangements. Shame if this really
was a one-off.
From: "drj_saro" <>
Re: Steve Hackett "The Tokyo Tapes"
- disc one: Watcher of the Skies (genesis); Riding The Colossus; Firth Of Fifth (genesis);
Battlelines (wetton); Camino Royale; The Court Of The Crimson King (king crimson);
Horizons (genesis); Walking Away From Rainbows; Heat Of The Moment (asia / wetton)
-disc two: In That Quiet Earth (genesis); Vampyre With A Healthy Appetite; I Talk To The
Wind (king crimson); Shadow Of The Hierophant (hackett - from "Voyage of the
Acolyte"!); Los Endos (genesis); Acoustic Medley; The Steppes (hackett); I Know What
I Like (genesis); Firewall - STUDIO; The Dealer - STUDIO; *
"unmarked" songs are Hackett's
Steve Hackett, lead guitar , harmonica, vocals; John Wetton, guitar, bass, vocals (from
King Crimson, Asia); Chester Thompson, drums (from Frank Zappa, Genesis); Ian McDonald,
flute, sax, keys, guitar, vocals (from King Crimson, Foreigner); Julian Colbeck , keys,
vocals (from Steve Hackett Band)
i won't say much about this one (I'm sure that there are some Hackett-fans who can give
this the detail it deserves), but i will say that after being disappointed with Hackett's
"Genesis Revisited" (I found it dull, lifeless, and uninspired) THIS came as a
very pleasant surprise!
From: Peter Abusamra <>
I bought Steve Hackett's latest "Darktown" last week and just wanted to
comment that after all the hype I had read that I'm a little disappointed. I
guess I was hoping for something more powerful-more electric and a real drummer
and bassist. Any thoughts?
From: Gary Davis <>
I have to offer an alternate opinion here. For me, Darktown is a very powerful
album. I would rank it as one of Hackett's best ever. I think it's one of the
best things done by a member of Genesis in years. And it's definitely on my top
5 list for 1999.
From: Jeremy Robinson <>
Subject: Happy Hackett
Just listening to Genesis playing live on 'The Way We Walk', with Stuermer
having a go at 'Frith of Frith'. Nice try, Daryl, but not a patch on Steve
Hackett. Am I alone in thinking
Genesis suffered greatly when they lost such a distinctive guitarist in Hackett? Time to put on the original...
From: "Tony Kennedy" <>
Subject: RE: Happy Hackett
You aren't alone. I just dug out Hackett's 'Voyage of the Acolyte' from my LP
collection. It has to be one of my favorite albums.
From: Mariano Bugar? <>
Subject: Re: Happy Hackett
Hi, I'm Mariano from Buenos Aires, Argentina and this is my first posting on
this list. You're definitely not
alone. I just bought 'Spectral mornings' some three days ago and was blown away
by Hackett?s talent once again. Before that I had only listened to him on
Genesis' and GTR CDs (the live one, a MUST).
From: "Damien Costanza" <>
Subject: Re: Happy Hackett
as a genesis fan for 25 years, i must agree. the 2 causes of the downfall of
genesis are the loss of hackett and the decision to change their writing style
to loose jamming which became a song in the studio vs. each member coming into
the studio with stuff written already, which occurred just prior to abacab. i
always felt that daryl was a fine guitarist, but his background was, is and
always will be rooted in jazz, whereas steve's influences are more classical.
the real downfall occurred in the studio where mike rutherford, one of the most
tasteful if not most technically proficient prog bassists, suddenly decided that
he could give genesis all the lead guitar it needed. this was a horrible mistake
and was compounded live when daryl, a far better guitarist than mike, was
relegated to playing bass on half of genesis' set. mike was always a nice
acoustic 12 string player, although, again, ant was always a bit better, but for
the band to believe that mike could contribute significantly on lead was a
drastic error. although steve's contributions on "wind" were not
numerous, i daresy that when most of us think of that album we think of steve's
work on unquiet sleepers or blood on the rooftops or eleventh earl as being one
of the reasons why we love that friggin album more than anything else done post
pete. i just find it heart wrenching that now we have steve being the guy who
would love to get the old band together and steve being the one who is willing
to gather capable musicians together to tour playing the old material, while
mike and tony are willing to call it quits.
here is the solution, bring steve back. mike, play the bass. if mike won't
agree, grab john wetton. that way, if phil pulls an ego trip, we can toss
him...let john sing vocals and get chester, bruford, simon phillips or bozzio in
on drums. fancy that...
From: scohen0811@aol.com Subject: Re:
Happy Hackett
Ditto. Next to Hackett's album "Guitar Noir", Spectral Mornings is
probably my favorite Hackett work.
From: Jeremy Robinson <>
I see a lot of people agree that Steve Hackett was one of the really important
elements of the Genesis sound. There's simply no real feel or emotion to
Stuermer's playing, whereas Hackett is all soul. I mean, 'Firth of Frith' is
just sublime - the way he builds that solo up, and that so distinctive sustained
guitar sound. It was a mistake, as Damien Costanza said, for Rutherford to take
up the lead guitar after Hackett left; crucially, that decision meant two
things: (1) it allowed Banks to totally dominate the Genesis sound (I think
Banks worked best when he had something strong to kick against - viz., Gabriel's
vocals, or Hackett's guitar; when Banks is left to dictate, you get 'Me and
Sarah Jane', or songs about bloody squonks, dodos, fairies and other faux fey
stuff, junk you wouldn't wish on anybody), and (2) it meant lacklustre
songwriting input in terms of electric guitar (I see Rutherford's attempt at
lead guitar as very sub-standard Hackett). I
still reckon that Hackett's solo work equals the very best of Genesis ('Spectral
Mornings'), but the solo work of the others (apart from Gabriel) does not.
From: David Eric Shur <>
Jeremy put some valid points across about Rutherford, and solo albums. One point
I'd wish to make is that Rutherford was able to really play. Listen to
Smallcreep's Day. His writing and guitar work shines. -David Eric
From: "Stephen Ellis" <>
Really have to agree. Trick of the Tail and Winds & Wurthuring are almost as
good as the first 5 Genesis releases w/Gabriel. And
while ....and Then There Were Three is better than anything that follows, it
truly misses the strong Hackett guitar work. In fact it was the last Genesis
release I liked and is the last I will replace on CD.
From: "Stephen Ellis" <>
I have not heard Hackett's new release but I truly hated his remake of early
Genesis songs. Just the purest in me I guess but I will always prefer the
orignal early Genesis over anyones covers. TFK's
"Cinema Show" however is darn good.
From: Denis Torres <>
Aloha I put Smallcreep 's day, at the same level as Voyage of the Acolyte by
STEVE HACKETT and The geese & the ghosts by ANTHONY PHILLIPS .
From: "Surjorimba Suroto" <>
Stephen Ellis wrote: >I have not heard Hackett's new release but I truly
hated his remake of early >Genesis songs. Just the purest in me I guess but I
will always prefer the >orignal early Genesis over anyones covers. > >TFK's
"Cinema Show" however is darn good.
Well on the contrary, I always felt that Genesis Revisited is a very very
good album. Not many artist finally succeed in interpreting old songs into a
completely different atmosphere. Of course it has to be good. I have to admit
that I don't like Watcher of the Skies (sounds like a normal standard cover
version). But I do love other songs like Firth of Fifth, Fountain of Salmacis
and Los Endos. Those 3 tracks are the gems in this album. Mostly because of its
new arrangements. The quality of the
sound production is superb. Especially on Los Endos, I can't imagine how Hackett
made it. Percussion sections sound live (no dubs) and if that's true, then I
can't imagine how big the studio is. IMO
if I have to compare all Genesis covers albums (Magna Carta's Suppers Ready, The
Fox Lies Down, etc) then I'll choose this Hackett's album as the best ever made.