Dare a rocker hell bent on beating people over the head with reckless rhythms allow a selection of songs to be built on more slender threads? Does the nylon guitar have a place in rock at all? These were the questions facing me when writing the ‘Noir’ album. All the more risky approaching this material live, but I must say this 4-piece, on reflection, more than coped with my usual extreme requirements. From the tireless drumming of Hugo Degenhardt and the virtuoso bass playing of Doug Sinclair to the one man orchestra of Julian Colbeck, when this band cooked, it swiftly made sense of trying to combine disparate influences into a kind of ‘world fusion’ music for junkies suffering cold turkey. It’s not often that music bridges the generation gap but even my Grandmother was at this show and gave it her seal of approval so who was I to argue?
	Yes, these are edited highlights, for those who are wondering why it has been judiciously pruned, but single CD’s have their time constraints and I wanted to show what was most representative of this band at its best. Severe musical mood swings have always been my stock in trade as it were - from the outright juvenile to the very grown up and most of the rough edges have been left unsmoothed for your very own appallment or delectation and the undoubted enlovleyment of the memory of course. But ... “You wore pink,” “No, I wore blue”... how does that darned song go? Steve Hackett 2001

Medley Once Hugo had the bit between his teeth we all kept up this frightening pace. Not so much a trip as a rock down memory lane. Vampyre With A Healthy Appetite A track I’ll never get tired of playing live - sympathy for the undead I suppose!

Sierra Quemada A favourite guitar instrumental with the Andes faintly in mind. Take These Pearls Longer than the album and to my mind a better feel than the Noir version. Percussion department is largely responsible. In the Heart Of The City Rap meets rep in this wordy cityscape - dying to chill out into the spacey solo at the end. I felt the guitar synth said at least as much as the lyric but in a slightly more paramedically inclined way. Walking Away From Rainbows A melody that I sometimes get to trade with sax players these days but here it is again in full guitar form. There Are Many Sides To The Night A lady of the night painted against the backdrop of city life - down but not completely out... Kim Great to be joined once again here by brother John on magic flute. Dark as The Grave A posthumous book by Malcolm Lowry was the inspiration for this world weary tune, largely built on atmospherics. There were complaints about the lack of recognisable milestones from the band during rehearsals for this one which made it almost totally different every night in concert. We hope you like surrealist jazz. ..! Always Somewhere Else This live version of the Highly Strung tune is preceded by a fearsome improvisational blitzkrieg from Doug and Hugo. Lost In Your Eyes A basic rocker with blues harp just to let you know that I haven’t forgotten Mr. Paul Butterfield, the acknowledged master of the ‘poor man’s trumpet’. Spectral Mornings/Firth of Firth/Clocks medley Some old favourites from before the war! Clapham will never see the like again...

Cinema Paradiso An adaptation of one of Ennio Morricone's most beautiful guitar tunes. If you haven't seen the film yet then delay ye not, missus! In That Quiet Earth Nothing quiet about this old fave - it’s always been a bugger to play but still has certain je ne sais quoi... (pretentious - moi? Ah, la nostalgie ... Je t’aime absolument les gauloise)...

Steve Hackett  Guitar and vocals  Julian Colbeck  Keyboards  Doug Sinclair  Bass and vocals  Hugo Degenhardt  Drums and vocals  John Hackett  Flute on ‘Kim’

Concert Mix by  Andrew Murdock  Produced by  Steve Hackett  Mastered by  Benedict Fenner