Genesis "Fountain Of Salmacis" By Brian Rabey. When Peter Gabriel announced his surprise exit from Genesis in 1975, it was universally felt that the band would dissolve. Instead, they went on to record one of their most enduring albums, A Trick of the Tail, which was followed quickly by Wind & Wuthering -- clearly, the Genesis sound remained intact. When Steve Hackett departed after that album, however, that mystical quality we once knew as the centerpiece of the Genesis sound was lost forever. "People have said that when I left the band there was a change in the group's sound," Hackett told Guitar Shop. "But everybody had their contribution in terms of atmospherics. That's really where, perhaps, my contribution lay most closely with Peter's. I think Peter was a necessary agent for change within the band, as I like to think I was myself. Whether he was the band's nemesis or I was, I really don't know. The important thing was there was a contingent that would fire at the broadside of the good ship Genesis no matter what."

The most important guitar moment that Hackett remembers over his 25-year-plus career came when he was recording his first album for Genesis, Nursery Cryme: "We had just purchased our first Mellotron, which was something I wanted in the band because of that orchestral sweep it afforded our sound, and we were rehearsing the song that was to become 'The Fountain of Salmacis.' I knew it was the right thing for the band--I knew it was a big part of widening the appeal of Genesis. For gear, I was playing a black Les Paul Custom through a 100-watt Hiwatt stack with two 4x12 cabinets. My effects included a Shaftesbury Dual Fuzz and a Schaller volume pedal. We recorded the track at Trident Studios, where Marianne Faithful used to hang around outside, drunk."
	Legend is that Genesis got their first Mellotron from King Crimson, which is entirely true. And once keyboardist Tony Banks got his hands on the instrument, Genesis would never sound the same. With the Mellotron installed and the band beginning rehearsals for the upcoming album at the home of band manager Tony Stratton-Smith, Genesis launched into what seemed like just another typical song.
"I started playing something over some chords-- a guitar solo which had strings on it-- and I suddenly realized that here it was, and this is what I was all about. It was that moment in time-- a real breakthrough! I hadn't really heard anybody play like I was playing at that very moment over these chords--it was very stirring stuff. I was able to be very melodic with the phrases on top of it. We were rehearsing with a few colored light bulbs in the room and suddenly it felt like all the colors came to life for me-- this feeling was almost a mystical experience, a moment that was as important as losing my virginity, so to speak...like I had definitely arrived. I found that moment then and I am always looking for that moment again, but in life one takes what one can get and if a moment like that arrives only once, at least it was there."
Guitar Shop Magazine January 1998