Steve Hackett will return to his celebrated era with 1970s-era Genesis, the first time he’s done so in the studio since Watcher Of The Skies: Genesis Revisited was issued in 1996.
Hackett tells Guitarist magazine that the double album of re-recorded tracks will include guest appearances by Steve Wilson of Porcupine Tree and Mikael Åkerfeldt of Opeth. The new project follows Hackett’s Genesis-themed concert, called “Past and Present,” held in May at the Islington Assembly Hall in London.
Since, the guitarist has released the Squackett collaboration with Yes co-founder Chris Squire called A Life Within a Day, which was also several years in the making. That follows 2009’s Out of the Tunnel’s Mouth, which was Hackett’s first prog album in three years, and 2011’s Beyond the Shrouded Horizon.
[SOMETHING ELSE! INTERVIEW: Co-founding Yes bassist Chris Squire goes in depth on working with Genesis alum Steve Hackett as part of Squackett, saying the duo “made good noise.”]
As for the newest installment in Hackett’s Genesis Revisited series, Hackett tells Guitarist that “it’s a re-recording and re-voicing of a lot of Genesis things. It should be out at the end of October.”
Hackett was a member of Genesis from 1971’s Nursery Cryme through 1977’s Wind and Wuthering, a period that stretched from the Peter Gabriel era through to the beginning of drummer Phil Collins’ tenure as frontman. Hackett has since crafted an interesting solo career, moving fluidly from progressive rock to classical then back again, and was also part of the mid-1980s supergroup GTR (known for the No. 14-hit “When the Heart Rules the Mind,” and “The Hunter”) with Yes guitarist Steve Howe.
Even after so long away, Hackett still counts his time in Genesis as among his most productive — and perhaps the band’s best, as well.
“In 1973, I felt I was playing in the best band in the world at that time,” Hackett says. “I’m concentrating on the era that’s before that, and slightly after it, where the music was not afraid to be 20 minutes long at times – where you got a sense of journeying through the musical continuum.”
Here’s a look back at our recent thoughts on Steve Hackett and Genesis. Click through the titles for complete reviews …
SOMETHING ELSE! INTERVIEW: GUITARIST STEVE HACKETT, FORMERLY OF GENESIS: Hackett, who still nurtures a lasting affinity for classical music, has leapt headlong back into prog rock — putting the finishing touches on a collaboration with Yes co-founder Chris Squire, even as he begins work on an album that will reexamine his celebrated tenure as guitarist with Genesis. Hackett went in depth on the new project with Squire, the guitarist’s celebrated tenure with Genesis, and the sweeping impact of J.S. Bach on his playing style.
GIMME FIVE: SONGS WHERE GENESIS, WELL, SUCKED: Here, we sort through the worst of the worst — and that’s all — from the Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins and Ray Wilson eras of this Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band. Certain things within Genesis’ established band narrative went by the wayside, though: We didn’t ding the early albums for their sometimes cloying sense of very-British whimsy, nor their later albums when they settled for by-the-numbers reproductions of Collins’ solo ballad style. We wanted to delve into things far more egregious than those run-of-the-mill annoyances … the times when they didn’t seem to have an invisible touch. Whatever that means.
SQUACKETT – A LIFE WITHIN ONE DAY (2012): A sun-filled, surprisingly light-hearted experience, this collaboration between Yes’ Chris Squire and Steve Hackett of Genesis fame is a journey that’s both at peace with what came before, and yet somehow brand new in the way that it combines the sensibilities of both bands without getting bound up in their pasts.
ONE TRACK MIND: STEVE HACKETT ON “FIRTH OF FIFTH,” “WHEN THE HEART RULES THE MIND,” OTHERS: Hackett, who’s readying a new collaboration with Yes co-founder Chris Squire, talks about how joining Genesis spurred him to a series of memorable inventions on his instrument. And how one of these pioneering moments would one day help create a signature part of Eddie Van Halen’s high-flying solo sound. We also go inside the brief and stormy collaboration with Steve Howe in the mid-1980s called GTR, and Hackett’s genre-busting return to prog rock in 2009.
[amazon_enhanced asin=”B000086EOE” container=”” container_class=”” price=”All” background_color=”FFFFFF” link_color=”000000″ text_color=”0000FF” /] [amazon_enhanced asin=”B005H1SDQU” container=”” container_class=”” price=”All” background_color=”FFFFFF” link_color=”000000″ text_color=”0000FF” /] [amazon_enhanced asin=”B007XH6BPG” container=”” container_class=”” price=”All” background_color=”FFFFFF” link_color=”000000″ text_color=”0000FF” /] [amazon_enhanced asin=”B001EO2UJK” container=”” container_class=”” price=”All” background_color=”FFFFFF” link_color=”000000″ text_color=”0000FF” /] [amazon_enhanced asin=”B003HE2B7G” container=”” container_class=”” price=”All” background_color=”FFFFFF” link_color=”000000″ text_color=”0000FF” /]
- Angell & Crane, “Himalayan Dial-Up” from ‘Angell & Crane’ (2024): Video Premiere - November 22, 2024
- Michael Attias, “Avrils” from ‘Quartet Music Vol. II- Kardamon Fall’ (2024): Streaming premiere - October 11, 2024
- Bryn Roberts, “Aloft” from ‘Aloft’ (2024): Video Premiere - September 20, 2024
Channel 4 had an advert following the 2012 Olympics with the slogan ‘Thanks for the warm-up’, as they had the Paralympics coverage after the BBC had the former.
As Kate Bush’s remake of Running Up That Hill was on the closing ceremony, I’d like to say thanks to Kate for warming-up for Steve’s ‘Genesis Revisited 2’!