'Genesis Revisited'
by Steve Hackett
Released in Europe on September 24, 1997
on REEF Recordings - A Snapper Music Label - SRECD 704
Finally - Steve Hackett's 'Genesis Revisited reached Europe. And, what a beautiful album! Steve manages to merge some of best moments from "his" Genesis to the typical 70s and 80s Hackett - and to a lot of other styles as well. Thanks, Steve!
A track by track review will soon follow - until then, check out the following sites - and the liner notes below:
- New! The official Steve Hackett site.
- A Steve Hackett Artist Biography on EMI Classics.
- Steve's wife's - Kim Poor - beautiful site.
- Doug Melbourne's review of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'.
Liner notes to 'Genesis Revisited':
In a New York radio interview in 1973 John Lennon announced that on of the bands he was currently listening to was called Genesis - a feather in the cap of a young struggling five piece desparate to succeed in "the colonies" where we were busy "Selling England" at the time. So why revisit the same peiod of material over two decades later with an alternative, albeit enlarged, cast you may ask?
What makes it so special in the first place?
By way of explanation...
Suffice to say that the Out Patients Dept is headed up by Dr. B. Bruford, Dr. C. Thompson and myself plus many others who would qualify as permanent members of staff but for their continuing services to a genre let's call "permissive" rather than progressive music. The main thing is you don't need the "right" regimental tie or even a tie-dyed tee shrt, you know you're crazy or you wouldn't have read this far... Seriously, we hope these re-approached songs defy logic sufficiently to take you on a journey rarely experienced on the available airwaves!
Perhaps the new-comer or late-comer to the band's work deserves a little light shed on the background of the original perpetrators of these dastardly deeds...
From 1971 the band line up included Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Mike Rutherford, and myself...semingly incompatible musical influences merged into songs that started out at point "a" and occasionally ended at around point "Q"...Some felt that the shorter form later explored was perfection itself but many aficionnados of the band's early work felt disenfranchised and preferred the episodic approach which meant that nobody knew for certain, least of all we wreiters, where a song, once started, would end up - the democratic writing process open to a five-sides team was able to combine influences ranging from science fiction to Greek mythology...
But where was personal experience in all this? Did the British single sex education system have something to do with it? Certainly it was very difficult to communicate our feelings to (or about) girls...we were accused of using a reference library approach! Romance was expressed as an area found, perhaps, between Ancient Greece and Rome itself...underneath Marcus Aurelius?...could one find it in Giotto?... Da Vinci?...Basically anywhere other than in the arms of the girl next door (or even in the next county)!
Still, enough of history.
The biggest problem facing the present crew on this affectionate backwards glance was...would we be accused of messing with people's childhoods? Were they ever children in the first place or could they face the changes that time would bring...? What would it sound like if occasional members of Genesis, King Crimson, YEs, Zappa, Asia, Weather Report, The Zombies, Mike & The Mechanics, GTR, ACe - not to mention the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra - all got together with other salubrious pals to form a massive team just for a few minutes?
The answer, Dear Listener, lies with you.
Your roller coaster is ready Madam and Yes Sir, there will be some unexpected twists and turns.
Meanwhile, for the guy who turned up at a gig with a gaping head wound after a motor cycle accident and then, after the last note was played, went to the hospital and eventually had stitches, to the rest of you who simply kept coming back for more music, thanks for the continued support and for encouraging this revisit to that strange but beautiful planet once called Genesis...
CAPTAIN'S LOG
Stardate: Saturday 6th April 1996
"Vice Admiral Hackett reporting for tour of duty at the
helm of one of the biggest ships in the galaxy...
Mission:
To seek out rare forms of musical life, to throw light on
places more of the mind than the map and enter the realm of
the recurring dream."
Track list, credits, and liner notes:
1) Watcher of the Skies
"I've always felt there was more to this song than I could possibly include in sleeve notes. I remember pushing the band to acquire a Mellotron back in the 70's and, lucily, King Crimson had one to spare at the time - the "Blank Bitch" I think they called it on account of it always breaking down. But when it deigned to sing - it was fantastic! So we've combined the guts of an original MK2 with the Roal Philharmonic thrown in for good measure to recreate an idea based on an instrument once described as a "Musical Frankenstein"! Any instrument that takes four men to life deserves its place in the Hall of Fame and I believe it no resides permanently in the world's first synthesizer museum, recently inaugurated by Bob Moog himself. This song alone was a strnog reason for re-approaching the early material - from Phil's inventive morse code rhythm to Tony's momentous introduction which always sounded best in Italian Palasports - an aircraft hangar type of rumble ideally suited to spacecraft impersonation."
2) Dance on a Volcano
"...it's big, isn't it? And yes, the rhythm WAS in 7/8. Music and martial arts talk to each other - expect the unexpected! Watch out for Chester & Alphonso - wow!"
3) Valley of the Kings
"A dream about the building of the Great Pyramids inspired this "epic-style" soundtrack - not so much writing as total recall."
4) Deja Vu
"A song that Pete originally started and rehearsed with the band around the time of "Selling England". A beautiful and myserterios melody which he kindly let me complete."
5) Firth of Fifth
"One of Tony's finest, in my humble opinion."
6) For Absent Friends
"Originally found on Nursery Cryme, 'Absent Friends' is slowed to an old-time waltz tempo and given that special Blunstone treatment."
7) Your Own Special Way
8) Fountain of Salmacis
"Another personal favourite from the Nursery Cryme album. A mini opera given the wide screen treatment."
9) Waiting Room Only
"The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway album had an atonal jam called 'The Waiting Room' - we tried to recapture its spirit by similarly abandoning form here and creating a whole new piece in the process which we've titled 'Waiting Room Only'. A series of atmospheres, some friendly, some hostile - don't attempt to play this at dinner parties..."
10) I Know What I Like
"A spark of an idea originally rejected by the band which, ironically, turned out to be the first hit single. A weed-killer of a number firmly rooted in Victoriana. One a more sombre note, perhaps the eventual explanation for this entire retro journey was best given by Leo Tolstoy long before our American cousins invented the quaint term 'art rock'. 'The purpose of art is to demonstrate that which in argument would appear incomprehensible.' (Private Eye - where are you when I need you?)"
11) Los Endos
"Always reckoned to be Genesis' answer to Santana. We've given more thought to the Latin pastiche flavour implied in the title, placing the track in a kind of South American/Prog area - moments are reminiscent of carnival atmospheres where amateurs and professionals perform side by side (sometimes with hilarious results!)"
