This is because "To WatchThe Storms" is an album full of different shades and which merits repeatedlistening to be fully appreciated.  Nonetheless I concede that, afterhaving listened to it a few times, this is a noteworthy album well-fittingin Hackett’s consistent discography.

Before analysing the CD itwould not go amiss to premise that notwithstanding the fact that the laststudio album "Darktown" was released four years ago, it could hardly besaid that Steve was silent following that CD.  He returned to thestage with an electric band after seven long years (excepting the fourJapanese concerts that gave life to the double CD "The Tokyo Tapes"), choosingItaly for his debut (July 2000).  He searched his archives and publisheda splendid 4CD boxed-set "Live Archive 70’s, 80’s, 90’s" in the year 2001. He organised a chamber trio together with his brother John and Roger Kingwho performed in countries such as Japan and Hungary and, above all, herein Italy with three separate tours last year (April, July and November). He released the double live CD and DVD "Somewhere in South America" andshould have released "Hungarian Horizons" (a concert by the acoustic triorecorded in Budapest in January 2002) this April had it not been for thisunexpected new studio album.

What is most important isthat Steve Hackett has found a new band.  Such experience has beenmissing since 1980, when Steve had to free his band at the time at theend of the Italian tour (and yes, Italy recurs very frequently in Steve’shistory and career).  From then on Steve made use of various musicians,mostly keyboard players (Nick Magnus stayed on for a while and was subsequentlyreplaced by Julian Colbeck, Aron Friedman and recently by Roger King). Some of these musicians were very prestigious, such as the ones used for"Genesis Revisited".

The albums that Steve recordedwith a band ("Spectral Mornings" and "Defector", 1979 and 1980) are regardedas his best works.  Although "Darktown" had many excellent bits, itsuffered from being written, and even recorded, over a number of yearsrendering it somewhat of a fragmented product.

From this point of view,"To Watch The Storm" is a return to the origins.  Being able to counton a band that accompanied him on his electric tour, Steve recorded thisCD during the past six months together with Roger King, drummer Gary O’Toole,bass player Terry Gregory and saxophone and flute player Rob Townsend.

Having said that, we willnow analyse the album.  This is a review of the standard edition. A special limited edition with four extra tracks ("Pollution B", "FireIsland", "Marijuana, Assassin Of Youth" and "If Only You Knew"), a 42-pagebooklet (!) and extra notes by Steve and pictures by Kim Poor will alsobe released in a digibook format.

The album opener, "StruttonGround", is a melancholic track: Steve’s sad voice sings over an acousticguitar.  The backing vocals are also Steve’s.  The backgroundis very delicate and is made up of noises, soft sounds and other strangethings, all the result of the mysterious and fascinating optigan. A great beginning that confirms that Steve has a good voice when he usesit well, that is with the help of background vocals and without forcingit with useless and counterproductive high tonalities.

"Circus Of Becoming" startswith increasing harmonies coming from a church organ.  After merelyhalf a minute we hear the electric guitar played at a ridiculous rhythm,possibly performed with the optigan.  Some lead guitar and voice canalso be heard.  The track is full of Hackett’s usual strangeness. The organ returns with some powerful drumming and an authoritative guitarriff in the GTR style after the refrain.  After the return to theprevious part, the guitar solo returns.  This time it is longer andslightly different towards the end.  It then fades away in atmosphericsounds.

"The Devil Is An Englishman"is another curious track, particularly in view of the extremely low voiceused by Steve: the rhythm is sustained by the predominant bass and guitar. Atmospheric sounds and noises can also be heard.  Very modern drumming,in 4/4, and female vocals come in with the second verse.  There isthen an explosion of guitars kept at low volume: Steve’s typical guitarstrokes create repeated and obsessive sounds.  A harmonica can alsobe heard amidst the other sounds.

"Frozen Statues" was co-writtenwith Roger King and in fact sets off with a nice piano introduction. Steve’s convincing voice comes in after a minute.  This is an atmosphericjazzy track.  A trumpet is also heard in the background, probablyplayed by Roger King after having sampled the sound of a real trumpet inthe days of "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" (this news was given to me by BillyBudis).  It is very intense and I would love to listen to it witha real trumpet.  After around three minutes the tracks changes atmosphereand merges into the following track, "Mechanical Bride", already knownto us.  The first part of this track is different to the live version­ it then returns to the well known rhythmic riffs played in synchronicitywith the drums, bass, guitar, sax and voice.  The instrumental intermezzois excellent: two minutes into the track there is a jazzy part in whichSteve plays a number of noisy solos, which cannot be said to be indispensable,over some bizarre drumming.  The central part of this track is magnificentwith great virtuosity and timing by all the musicians.  At the endof this part, before returning to the well known bit, there is an addedbit that recalls the march of a cartoon.  The drumming is very evident. At the end of the track we can hear the phrase used by Steve in varioustours at the end of "Please Don’t Touch".  Whereas the live versioncame to an abrupt end, this version simply fades out.

Distant and soft atmosphericsounds introduce "Wind, Sand And Stars".  This track is inspired bythe novel with the same title written by Antoine de Saint-Exupery (theauthor of "The Little Prince") and is played with a nylon guitar in a somewhatSpanish style.  After a couple of minutes of virtuosities, an ordinarybut wild melody sets in.  A classical piano and magnificent violinsin the background create a solemn and dreamy atmosphere that would be goodfor a soundtrack and that reminds me of some parts of "Defector".

Classical acoustic guitarintroduces "Brand New" and then makes way for the vocals.  All theinstruments come in after the first verse. Voices in falsetto, in the Yes-style,deserve particular mention.  Steve proved to be a master in vocalharmonies ever since his first solo album.  Electric guitar is usedsporadically since the track is predominantly acoustic.  The drums,bass and keyboards greatly enhance the refrain.  The track becomessimilar to some of Yes’ stuff two minutes into the track.  A minutelater the guitar becomes more melodic and is followed by an electric pianothat creates a disturbing atmosphere.  The acoustic guitar then returnsin all its splendour.  This track is so varied that it simply cannotbore you.  We are informed by the sleevenotes that Ian McDonald contributeshis sax here.  Since I could not decipher his playing I asked BillyBudis who informed me that Ian played in the central bit and the soundwas so hard that it could sound like an electric guitar!

Once again, a sad melodyplayed on acoustic guitar introduces "This World".  This is a loveballad made up of a soft rhythm and Steve’s vocals.  Steve’s backingvocals in the refrain portray the sadness of the end of a relationshipvery well.  The fretless bass and slow drumming add to the atmosphere. We also find a guitar solo in this track.

The nylon guitar, later coupledwith the bass guitar, is also used in the first part of "Rebecca" (anothertrack inspired by a novel, Daphne De Maurier’s "Rebecca", an author fromCornwall) and reminds me of something that is not entirely new.  Steve’svocals give the track a sad atmosphere.  However, the atmosphere changeswith a mechanical voice and a solo guitar playing over hard and industrialrhythms.  This is followed by fast acoustic guitar playing and variousnoises in the instrumental bits.  A calmer atmosphere and melody returnat the end of the track.

"The Silk Road" creates somewhatof an ethnic atmosphere.  It is characterised by strange electricguitar playing and percussion.  Other sounds come in later. Unfortunately the voice is filtered to the extent that it renders it incomprehensible. The pleasant koto followed by a classical and electric guitar follow apercussive phase sustained by a solo guitar.  The percussive baseis enriched by new sounds, probably electronic, that recall the experimentationin "Till We Have Faces".  A pleasant sax soprano intervention by Townsendis also worthy of note.

The next track, "Come Away"starts after a recorded applause.  Steve proudly points out in thesleevenotes that the track starts off to the rhythm of the mazurka, whichis unusual in England (more common to dances in Italy’s Romagna...). Apart from good vocals, this is a curious track with comic flute playingby Townsend as well as harpsichord and accordion for a track full of instrumentationeven if hardly among the best tunes of the album.

"The Moon Under Water" isan atmospheric track for nylon guitar that evokes the renaissance. This track, that lasts just over two minutes, was performed in Italy bySteve.  I remember perfectly well that it was the opening track inTodi.  I can now finally give it a name.

The album comes to a grandfinale with "Serpentine Song" dedicated to Steve’s father.  We learnfrom the sleeve notes that, ever since the 60’s, Mr. Peter Hackett wouldsell his paintings every Sunday at the fairs in Bayswater Road.  Thetrack starts off with keyboards over which Steve plays some great harmonieswith the electric guitar.  As in the live version, there are threevocalists (Steve, Gary and Terry).  The refrain includes some elegantjazzy drumming and flute.  The melody is marvellous and, as we havealready said, is similar to "I Talk To The Wind".  John Hackett playsa flute solo in the central part; this is his only contribution to thealbum.  Steve plays a nylon guitar with which he endeavours into asolo that was performed with an electric guitar during the tour. The atmosphere changes in the following refrain thanks to the percussionand the electric guitar.  An accordion can also be heard later. The electric guitar then gives room to another flute solo which is thensubstituted by a soprano sax solo which leads to its ending.  A greattrack, certainly one of the best written by Steve during his long and gloriouscareer.

It is probably still earlyto express myself.  I can however safely say that Steve Hackett isfully inspired on this album and this goes to show that his creativityremains intact.  Some spoke about a return to the roots and thereare certainly a few signs: the return of some great vocal harmonies whichcharacterised the first four or five albums; the use of the optigan, and,most of all, the return of a real band.  We also find the conspicuouspresence of comic tracks which was always one of Steve’s prerogatives eversince "Please Don’t Touch" (do you remember "Carry On Up The Vicarage"). But whereas in the early records the malincholic aspect of the music wasstressed with particulars that emphasized the romantic aspect (Nick Magnusprobably had a key role in this), in this album we have a mixture styles,rhythms and sounds that, once again, make Steve Hackett, a master of experimentation.

Mario Giammetti
Translation courtesy ofStephen Tonna Lowell