Steve Hackett at the Edge of Light Review

Steve Hackett: At The Border Of Light

Inside Out

CD / 2LP / DL

Available now

A belatedly call on the new Steve Hackett (as he continues to be billed 'ex-Genesis guitarist' but information technology was over xl years ago – yawn) album which sees his more recent work coming into sharp focus.

Despite the label, Steve Hackett has never been appreciative or precious almost forming an attachment to any particular musical genre. In fact he delights in confounding anyone who tries to pigeonhole him regardless of the 'ex-Genesis' billing.  Having said that, since 2013 his live work has revolved around a very successful succession of tours based on his Genesis history. In the absence of anyone else willing to assume the mantle, he's been the keeper of the flame and while people take lapped upwards the offerings and he's responded to the demand by varying the diet with orchestras and sets that celebrate album anniversaries, his solo piece of work has seemed to play second fiddle. And that's despite him issuing three albums in the period with 2017's The Dark Siren and 2015's Wolflight and now the new set At The Border Of Lite.

While the previous two albums have seen Hackett toying with world problems both lyrically and especially musically, utilising a whole host of earth musicians and obscure/interesting instruments and working on arrangements that don't follow a linear direction, At The Edge Of Calorie-free sees his visions, hinted at or not quite fully formed on Wolflight and Night Siren, most fully realised.  From a personal viewpoint having been a fan and Hacketeer for some forty summers this very year, information technology's his nearly satisfying release in a long while.

Why's that? Well, not to suggest he's going backwards at all, but information technology seems like he's hitting the sweetness spots of yore combined with the best features of his more recent work. Meaning, you may find yourselves harking back as far every bit  1978'southward Please Don't Touch and the deployment of different vocalists and styles whilst admiring the vast and dramatic arrangements that accept characterised his contemporary work.

The tone is ready immediately every bit Fallen Walls And Pedestals hits with cathedral walls of sound, a monstrous beat and a sharp Hackett lead line cutting through, yet merely provides a modest hint at the wildly ethnic atmosphere and groove that appears later Shadow And Flame. Much has been made of the Descent / Disharmonize / Peace trilogy that closes the album simply the existent delights appear elsewhere as again, the non linear nature of the tracks sees the arrangements and moods shifting mid vocal. Some standard vivid and breezy Hackett that opens Under The Heart Of The Sun soon evolves into a mid song ocean of repose before the primary theme returns and Steve fizzes out some striking pb lines.

Hungry Years is one of those nigh throwaway yet invariably catchy songs he does at present and again and harks dorsum to the sort of more accessible vocal based music from the Cured era. All very pleasant and not too much of a challenge maybe, then he launches into a superbly crafted  solo that shifts the goalposts. Both pieces  show his knack for coming upward with a melody that proves  impossible to resist.

It's a feature of the remarkable xi minutes of Those Golden Wings which is congenital  on a chorus that defines exquisiteness – Hackett at his nigh musically eloquent. It relies on a certain lush quality and a brief moment that musically harks back to Please Don't Impact'due south Agatha Christie/Carry On Up The Vicarage Englishness, earlier a hint of the difficult rock riff of the obscure b-side Hercules Unchained, oh, and a choir which reappears afterward at the climax of the album. Secret Railroad suggests information technology'southward going to be ane of those Hackett departures into the blues that he's so fond of,  but a gospel tinged song challenges his rolling audio-visual dejection that eases into a guitar masterclass and some other melodic hookline around the contemporary theme of "keep on moving till the shadows are gone, cross that water to the country beyond."

And with that, his latest solo venture is set to requite way to some other Genesis based tour that likewise celebrates another landmark in forty years since his classic Spectral Mornings album. Looking backwards is great just At The Border Of Light is a strong reminder of the power of now.

You can lookout man the video for Under The Eye Of The Sun from the album hither:

Steve and his band are on tour now and reach the Great britain in November where he'll play the full Genesis Selling England By The Pound album plus a revisit to 1979's Spectral Mornings and hopefully some of his new work.

He's said,"I'm thrilled to be performing the whole of my favourite Genesis album, SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND, which caught the attention of John Lennon in 1973. I felt that I was now playing guitar in the earth'southward all-time ring, and everything was opening up for us…

Also I look forwards to playing all the favourite songs from SPECTRAL MORNINGS, mark its anniversary, plus new album tasters, likewise as additional Genesis gems in a terrific one thousand slam!"

The November 2019 UK Tour dates are equally follows:

Sat 02  Aylesbury Waterside
Sun 03  Folkestone Leas Cliff Hall
Tue 05  Sheffield Metropolis Hall
Wed 06  Cambridge Corn Exchange
Fri 08  Leicester De Montfort Hall
Sabbatum 09  Cardiff St. David's Hall
Mon xi  Liverpool Philharmonic
Tue 12  Brighton Dome
Wednesday xiii  Portsmouth Guildhall
Fri fifteen  Salisbury City Hall
Sat sixteen   Reading Hexagon
Mon 18  Birmingham Symphony Hall
Tue 19   York Barbican
Wed twenty  Bath Forum
Fri 22   Halifax Victoria Theatre
Sabbatum 23  Gateshead The Sage
Mon 25  Edinburgh Usher Hall
Tue 26  Manchester Bridgewater Hall
Wed 27   Southend Cliffs Pavilion
Fri 29   London Hammersmith Eventim Apollo

Steve Hackett online, Facebook & Twitter

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All words by Mike Ainscoe. Yous can notice more than of Mike's writing on Louder Than War at his author'southwardarchive. He tin can be found on Facebook and is currently revamping his website…

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Source: https://louderthanwar.com/steve-hackett-edge-light-album-review/

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