Steve Hackett - A Brief History Chapter Six

A Brief History - Chapter Six

by Alan Hewitt

Gaining Momentum

Almost two years were to follow before Steve's next outing and again it was an almost back to basics approach with another acoustic album in the form of 'Momentum' a further demonstration of Steve's prodigious talent with nylon guitar and his determination to

"Just simply go out and play in front of people without any fuss, without the props, without the conglomerate, without the big budget and all that ... so I started doing acoustic shows and again there were different pressures because what's simple on paper is actually very complex when you have to go out and play it yourself.."

The tour of the UK & Europe was extensive and well accepted and the album also gained respectable chart positions in the charts and received warm reviews.

Steve had also been at work on a new rock album, in fact it was almost ready at the time of the tour - a heavily guested project with such as Chris Thompson, Brian May, Bonnie Tyler and Ian and Pete from Marillion. However, due to various contractual problems, the project has yet to see the light of day although a few tantalising snippets have been aired on various projects since then.

"I'm plundering ideas from that album which I'm using on some things now ... at the time it wasn't possible to release that, it wasn't contractually possible to release it ... although with the production we are capable of now it doesn't feel contemporary enough ..."

Photo by Ted Sayers

The following two years were to be spent on setting up a studio of his own and working on other charitable activities among which was the 'Rock Against Repatriation' single, produced to highlight the plight of the Vietnamese Boat People who were being forcibly returned to Vietnam from Hong Kong against their will ...

"a lot of artists were involved in making a version of 'Sailing'... we were looking for an emblem for the cause and it seemed perfect ... we even had a sale of rock memorabilia".

The period from 1988 until mid 1992 was a quiet one from the fans' point of view but Steve was far from idle and in 1992 Virgin released 'The Unauthorised Biography', a compilation album which contained a selection of his finest moments from the Charisma era along with two new recordings ...

"It was a respite ... we sat down and decided that we should include tracks which I hadn't perhaps received as much attention as others. So instead of doing an album of stage favourites, we decided to include stuff like the Randy Crawford track Hoping Love Will Last, Richie Havens on Icarus Ascending and Phil on Star of Sirius".

The live album 'Time Lapse' followed, drawing together two different concerts and two different bands with almost ten years separating them. The first was a performance recorded in New York's Savoy Theatre in 1981 and the latter a 1990 TV special and constituted a neat representation of the way in which Steve's live sound and style had changed in that time (in addition to its success proving Charisma wrong in their reluctance to release a live set!).

Live shows became very much a part of Steve's life again when he undertook a tour of the USA to promote Time Lapse and to experiment with material from his next studio album 'Guitar Noir' which was released in May 1993, his twelth studio album to date.

Ever one to keep them guessing, Steve's next project was 'Blues With A Feeling', released in September 1994. With this album Steve has come full circle and pays tribute to the type of music that formed his earliest influences and inspiration. He explained his reasons in a recent interview...

"The great thing about the blues is that it's nice for playing. You don't have to worry too much about the song. You start blasting away. If you're working on a new song you've got to invent a whole new language, a new style. With the blues you're not required to re-invent the wheel."

Photo by Bill Brink

... to be continued.

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