The album is exactly what the title suggests - reworkings of Genesis tracks and classic one's at that. Opening with a storming new version of 'Watcher Of The Skies' we hear John Wetton on vocals, Bill Bruford on drums, Tony Levin on bass, Julian Colbeck on keyboards and of course Steve on guitar. It's a stirring true-to-the-original version that leaves you wishing the original sounded as good as good as this CD (and the Mellotron samples are stunning too!!). Next is a nice cover of 'Your Own Special Way' sung by Paul Carrack with great keyboards, drums and harmony vocals to back it up, plus a scorching electric guitar solo from Steve half way through. 'Dance On A Volcano' is given an extended intro with some atmospheric guitar work, then it's into the real thing; another true-to-the-original version with Steve's vocal effects making the real change from the original format. The keyboards are by Julian Colbeck with Chester Thompson taking on the drum work with Alphonso Johnson on bass and Will Bates on Sax. 'Valley Of The Kings' follows and this is an instrumental track featuring Steve with two keyboard players (Nick Magnus & Jerry Peal) and Hugo Degenhardt on drums. It's not a Genesis track (at least, don't think so?) but an instrumental piece Steve wrote about the building of the great pyramids, and it's a seven minute, hard driving powerhouse of a track that rolls in on the back of a mighty rumbling sub-bass drone and develops into a storming electric guitar showcase for Steve, taking a similar form to the 'The Steppes' track off the 'Defector' album. 'Deja Vu' is next; a song Peter Gabriel started with the band around the time of 'Selling England' and it's a tremendous track that Peter kindly allowed Steve to complete. The song features Paul Carrack on vocals and Steve on acoustic guitar as well as more of the singing guitar style utilised on the 'Selling England' album, and leaves you wondering why this brilliant piece of music was never released by Genesis??? 'Riding The Colossus', is a monumental instrumental track that opens with a Mike & The Mechanics sound with Steve's guitar soaring away magnificently over Colbeck's massed synths, Doug Sinclair's bass and Degenhardt's drums and the track positively glows with intense power. The piece is about a huge wooden roller coaster based at Magic Mountain in California and believe it or not, it has been much recorded since 1962 - I guess I must have missed out on it over the years. Colin Blunstone enters the arena to take over vocals on a beautiful new version of 'For Absent Friends' from the 'Nursery Cryme' LP, featuring what must be either the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra or brilliantly sampled keyboard strings, cellos etc. This is followed by another reworking from the same album in the form of 'The Fountain Of Salmacis', another of those true-to-the-original versions with all the old Mellotron sounds dusted off and given a new (possibly sampled) lease of life to run alongside the 90's digital gear. This is a fresh sounding tracing of the original and it features Chester Thompson's brilliant drum work, Steve's brother John on flute, Julian Colbeck on massed keyboards and Steve takes the guitar & vocal parts. A strange inclusion is a totally new and at times form free piece that started out as a version of 'The Waiting Room' from the 'Lamb' album. Steve explains in the sleeve notes that they tried to recapture the spirit of the original atonal jam, but ended up abandoning all form and creating a new piece in the process, where lots of strange effects, tape loops, bursts of keyboard orchestrations, soaring electric guitars and all sorts of other weird & wonderful things are going on - An interesting track that reveals more with each play. This is followed by the Genesis favourite; 'I Know What I Like' and this song has been given an entirely new look, with a kind of Simon & Garfunkel meets jazz quartet meets Mike Oldfield approach with character voices, vibes and other mysterious background sounds all coming into play. The final track on the CD is without a doubt an all-time Genesis classic; 'Firth Of Fifth' opens with a light orchestral intro before the superb voice of John Wetton signals the band into action to follow a fairly true-to-the-original version (for part one anyway) where the superb Mellotron samples get another airing. Halfway, there's a passage of gorgeous acoustic guitar work, followed by a section of improvisational percussion/guitar/synth patterns with bursts of orchestral colour that all add a new dimension to the classic piece of Genesis memorabilia. The finale then bursts into action with Steve playing some blissful electric guitar over Ben Fenner's rich keyboard orchestrations, signalling the return of Mr. Wetton's vocal expertise to finish the ten minute epic in majestic style. Eleven classic tracks with over 72 minutes of great music in a beautifully packaged CD. A couple of tracks admittedly have been given a new look and need a bit if time to get used to, but that takes nothing away from the sheer quality of performance and production on the other, more "true" renditions - Un-missable if you're a Genesis/Steve Hackett fan! |
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