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Encouraged by the renewed clamour of interest in classic rock material Steve Hackett, the inspirational musician and writer, is releasing a 2-CD set of concert recordings made with such highly regarded contemporaries as John Wetton, Ian McDonald and Chester Thompson.
"One of our fans observed", says Hackett, that "great music is timeless and not affected by changes of style, haircuts or even revolutions. We wondered what it would be like if occasional members of bands like Frank Zappa's, Genesis, King Crimson, Asia, and Weather Report all got together for one night!". That one night became a Japanese adventure when Hackett, hailed as one of the most original and prolific composers of his own generation, assembled this diverse and musically gifted band. It's fair to say that a Rock Family Tree of this line-up would cover a whole forest! Messrs. Hackett, Wetton, McDonald, Thompson & Colbeck have a whale of a time storming through a selection of 20th Century classics from their collective back catalogues. "Watcher of the Skies", "The Court of the Crimson King", "Los Endos", "In The Heat of the Moment" and "Firth of Fifth" are all given the Tokyo treatment. |
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Hackett remarks ...
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John Wetton had served a long and distinguished apprenticeship in so many British bands, quickly transforming them. Eventually he got his chance to front an early Crimson line up and just about killed the audience with the power of every bass note, turning it into a lead instrument and quite literally stealing the thunder from a generation of bass players. Then there was that enormous voice which had such soul and heart! Nobody sounds like John, his vocal and bass sound are equally individual. He recorded 'Larks' Tongues In Aspic', 'Starless and Bible Black' and 'Red' with the legendary King Crimson line-up of himself, Robert Fripp and Bill Bruford before moving on to form UK with Bruford, Eddie Jobson and Allan Holdsworth and then the all-conquering Asia whose first record was the biggest selling pop album in the world in 1982.
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Ian McDonald similarly spent time with
King Crimson - and was largely responsible for writing and producing their debut album 'In The Court of the Crimson King'. A young Hackett was stunned at Ian's versatility and vision with every instrument he breathed on, not to mention what an incredible songwriter had emerged as early as '69. Ian was equally at home with the darker material as with the pastoral. He was a classical musician, a jazz musician, a rocker - all the contradictions resolved into one powerful package of influences - transforming and reconciling the differences ... a complete original! In 1976 he moved to New York where he still lives today and formed the band Foreigner who defined the emerging sound of American FM Rock, co-producing and arranging their first three hit albums.
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When Chester Thompson was playing with Weather Report (over 20 years ago) little did he suspect he would be trading his coveted place with that much loved jazz - based experimental outfit for the shores of England and the Genesis crowd, hailing from a totally different background. You just couldn't get two more diametrically opposed approaches & cultures - the slow, considered European versus the spontaneous cool American. Yet Chester came, saw and conquered - always affirming that a simple religious faith merely made him a willing instrument in the hands of a greater power.
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Julian Colbeck shares Steve's passion for Bach and is no mean improviser himself; incredibly articulate - a writer of the occasional best selling book - and at times the one man orchestra, others simply the meanest ivory-tinkler alive. A veteran of projects with Jon Anderson, Bill Bruford and Steve Howe and the Yes offshoot ABWH, Julian has proved a great friend and foil to Hackett in the "Many Sides"/Sicilian period where the two man team showed that "music without props" could still be uniquely visual by internalising that vision.
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THE TOKYO TAPES was released on April 27th.
You can
hear some of it now!
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