Article from UK's Classic Rock Magazine, including an interview with the man himself...

The name Steve Hackett may have retreated from commercial language in recent years, but it's not a fate unique to this multi-talented musician. Nor does it seem fair. But, as we are all aware, life is often harsh - especially in the oh-so fickle music business. So, if Steve Hackett has retired from the consciousness of modern day journalists and high-powered record company executives, he most certainly has not left the tongues of progressive (note the small p) music fans. Like many of his popular ilk and era, Hackett continues to plough his own unique and popular furrow. Chided as foolhardy in an era of ignorance, his voyage has been almost one of self-satisfaction, while at the same time offering inspiration to fans recently referred to in one magazine as "the silent army".

Steve Hackett will have undoubtedly astonished some of his fans in his solo career. Those who followed his progress since he left Genesis following 1977's Wind & Wuthering (an album seen by many as their final prog statement) and before the release of his second solo album Please Don't Touch, the man has done much to surprise those who haven't kept tabs on him since he released his third album, Spectral Mornings, in 1979.

For the uninitiated, by the time Hackett's fourth album, Defector had achieved Gold status in 1980, Cured had hit the UK top 20 the following year and '82's Highly Strung (featuring Marillion's current drummer Ian Mosely) had achieved the unlikely feat of spawning a hit single in Cell 151, Steve had already begun to diversify his many musical talents.

"I can't work on one thing anymore", the quietly thoughtful guitarist says over a cup of tea at Crown Studios at Twickenham, the centre of Hackett operations. "I work on several things at once", he continues. "It's usually two things, that's the way it comes out. I mean, for me to start and finish an album can take six weeks, but that's when life is very regular."

1983's Bay of Kings was Hackett's first non-Rock move, in which he chose to use the guitar as "a small orchestra". He followed this with a melding of Rock and Latino flavours on Til We Have Faces('84) then began a period of more non-Rock solo works (though he did dabble with Steve Howe in the ill-fated GTR at the time). 1988's Momentum played another acoustic hand, Guitar Noir ('93) saw Hackett at his most experimental, while with 1994's Blues with a feeling, he moved away from two of his loves (Rock & Classical) to a titular third. But perhaps one of Hackett's most memorable achievements was his A Midsummer Night's Dream with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, which saw the guitarist gracing the UK Classical charts in 1997. Acceptance from the bow-tie brigade was no mean feat, especially for an artist who happily recalls being scolded by his former headmaster for "Doing a Keith Richards" with Route 66. "He was absolutely fuming" smiles Hackett at the memory. "He just said, "Turn off that racket immediately!"."

But we are not here to talk of such schoolboy ribaldry. And it's interesting to note that Hackett has come to terms with his years away from megastardom. He talks amiably of the Spice Girls catering for today's audience, whilst his old Genesis sparring partner, Tony Banks, seems bitter about the hand fate has dealt him of late. (MD note - yes I'll transcribe it, but not today.) However, if Hackett's recent musical path has been away from the Rock world, then this year has seen him firmly back in his old stomping ground in more ways than one. As Genesis attempted to move away from their Phil Collins era pop with new singer Ray Wilson, Hackett can be found joining up with a host of 70's luminaries to take an affectionate, if not always entirely successful look at his own work with the band. The obviously titled Genesis Revisited saw Hackett join up with past members of Asia, The Zombies, King Crimson, and Mike and the Mechanics.

"I was touring in Italy", begins the guitarist by way of explanation. "It was an acoustic tour with (keyboardist) Julian Colbeck. I was at my hotel and a friend phoned me and said would I mind signing these albums for a chap who'd come all the way down from Sicily. So I went down, and signed all these Hackett albums, and then this chap reached round his girlfriend and almost sheepishly asked if I'd sign all the Genesis albums, too. And it made me think that maybe my fans felt that I'd rather the whole (Genesis) thing hadn't happened." "I suddenly realised that maybe it was time to go back and claim my birthright, so to speak. I spoke to Julian about it on the flight back and he said "Why not do it live?" But in the back of my mind I thought that a studio album would be nice. And I could get to apply the production and other techniques that I had acquired over the years." A deal struck in Japan - where else? - saw the Revisited project up and running (it emerged on Reef records over here), but logistically, a tour was not going to happen with the Revisited" line-up. So... "Well, I'd been talking to John Wetton about putting a band together", says Hackett, who has also been working on the forthcoming UK album alongside Wetton and Eddie Jobson. "and we also talked about getting involved with Ian MacDonald (the King Crimson/Foreigner flute/guitar/keyboardist). So I mentioned the chance of doing this Japanese thing and did they fancy doing it."

Not only did they fancy doing it, but this Japanese thing turned out to be the hugely impressive Tokyo Tapes - a live double CD set from Hackett, Wetton and MacDonald, with more than a little help from ex-Weather Report and Genesis live drummer Chester Thompson, and Julian Colbeck. "What would it sound like if occasional members of Genesis, King Crimson, Asia, Yes, Zappa and Weather Report all got together to form a unique team for just one night?" is the almost innocent proclamation on the sleeve of the Tokyo Tapes. Well, with that line up and a set containing the likes of The Court of the Crimson King, Watcher of the Skies, Firth of Fifth, Los Endos, Battlelines, and I know what I like, it is nothing more than a Prog Rock fan's wet dream. "All the Genesis and other songs worked very well" offers Hackett. "with all respect to Pete and Phil, I think John sounded so perfect singing Watcher of the Skies. That's just my point of view, but Genesis has become so many things since I left. A successful Pop group, and I don't think I'm denigrating any of them by saying that, but what was lost along the way was a tremendous amount of detail and atmosphere." Some Genesis fans might balk at such a suggestion (MD -no, really?) Others, who have heard the Tokyo Tapes will undoubtedly nod in agreement. If one thinks of all the Prog product that has hit the shelves of late, this is one set truly worthy of your attention, not least in the fact that it throws off the genres sometimes po-faced approach, managing to sound like everyone was having a good time. "It was fun", Steve agrees. "And it was also rather fascinating." Any chance of fascinating the UK with it at some point in the not too distant future? "There is a chance at some point" he smiles. "I guested with John Wetton at a gig recently and we did a version of Hendrix's "All along the Watchtower"(MD note - it's a Dylan song actually) It was a cracking version and it went on a while, seriously energetic! But I think John feels a bit uncomfortable singing for someone else's band and feels that the stuff he should be doing was his solo stuff. But, yes, there is a chance of it."

Another unexpected event was this year's reunion of what many perceive as the classic Genesis line up, featuring of course, Hackett, Gabriel, Rutherford, Banks and Collins. Ironically, in the wake of Hackett's own re-discovery of his old music, that's exactly what transpired. Sadly, for Genesis fans simply aching for the reunion of their dreams, it wasn't a lasting meeting. The sole purpose of the meeting was to put some final touches to the recently released boxed set. The brief reunion caused quite a stir. Press snippets and web sites have been buzzing with rumours about what actually went down. The reports state that the band got it together in the studio again. The rumours are that the band recorded together and may even tour again. Spill the beans for us please Mr. Hackett... "We didn't actually meet up to record", he states. "My involvement came out of a phone conversation with Peter Gabriel. We were co-writing a song for the Revisited album and he said, "dunno if you know, but the chaps are doing this boxed set, and I'm re-recording my vocals" And I was like "Hang on, what boxed set? What's happening? It would have been nice if they'd asked me." He said "Hopefully we're all mature enough by now that we can just get on with the stuff" I wanted to hear it and fix up anything that needed to be fixed because if I remember rightly, when we were doing the Lamb, I had damaged my hand. So I ended up redoing a bit of the solo for Dancing with the Moonlit Knight, and a bit on a thing called Fly on a Windshield. That was what I fixed up. Probably about five minutes on a four CD box set" What about the story of re-recording an old Genesis song? "We re-recorded a thing called "The Carpet Crawl" Or "The Carpet Crawlers". I've never really remembered what that was about. It sounds like a dance, doesn't it?" he smiles. "But that was done individually. It's a shockingly corporate affair. I did my guitar parts at home and all the others did their own parts separately, too." Was this not supposed to have featured on Archive? "Well, that's how it was put to me, and I suspect some others too" Steve continues, the grin still holding fast, "But it hasn't been used for that. It seems to have been surreptitiously put aside to be used at a later date." So, its safe to say that Six Of The Best at Milton Keynes in 1982 was the last time the members of this Genesis line-up were in the same room? Apparently not... "After that there was a thing we did for VH-1, and there was this thing at Heathrow for the launch too" he concedes. "And we also had dinner a couple of weeks back. I actually met guys who were in the band that I had never met before. There was this guy called Chris Stuart, who started out as the drummer and now he's a farmer and plays flamenco guitar. So there's about ten of us all playing air guitar around the dinner table."

"It was quite strange being in a room full of guys that you hadn't really talked to for 20 years. Not collectively anyway, and right at the end Tony Banks stood up and raised his glass. I thought he was going to toast us, but he said, "Well, we managed to sack the lot of you!" "That's Tony, true to form", he laughs, clearly amused, "And somebody quipped that he would end up in a band of one. But, there was a lot of talent in the room."
And with a laddish twinkle in his eye, Hackett grins and fires his parting shot: "And the blokes weren't bad either!"