What does it sound like?:
A huge box set covering Hackett’s work between 1975 and 1983. This comprises his first six Charisma albums augmented by a treasure trove of 67 previously unreleased recordings, split between old and new material, live tracks and remixes.
Overall there are ten cds plus a further four dvds carrying 5.1 mixes, two of which (Please Don’t Touch and Spectral Mornings) are done by the fair hand of Steven Wilson.
The six cds cover the studio albums from that era, with extra bonus material thrown in for good measure, plus no less than four live albums from the same period – two of these are completely unreleased before, while the other two also contain a good deal of previously unheard material. Completing the ten cds on offer are two new stereo remixes by Steven Wilson, again of Please Don’t Touch and Spectral Mornings.
The whole set is beautifully packaged and comes with a substantial and very informative booklet.
What does it all *mean*?
This box set has all the Hackett you’ll ever need from that period. Sure, it looks pricey on first glance, but then when you see the wealth of the material included and bear in mind that there are ten cds and four dvds the realisation dawns that it is actually very good value indeed.
Goes well with…
Other prog/rock from that late seventies/early eighties era. Hackett has enjoyed something of a well deserved resurgence lately with his Genesis Revisited shows and his latest studio album, so what better time to reacquaint yourself with the work of his early solo career.
Release Date:
Might suit people who like…
Fans Of Genesis, Hackett and fine guitar playing in general. One for the Christmas list!
I have almost all his solo albums including the first 6 plus a box of live recordings which I never play, so won’t be shelling out for this. Looking at the track list, there’s a hell of a lot of repetition. Plus albums 5 Cured and 6 (forgot) aren’t very good at all, and even 4 Defector is a poor overly riffy and repetitious retread of the excellent Spectral Mornings. Having said all that, Please Don’t Touch is wonderful and almost worth £70 by itself. I don’t really know who would buy this, but I never do….
Please Don’t Touch and Spectral Mornings will both be reissued as seperate deluxe expanded editions in 2016 with the Steven Wilson 5.1 mixes included.
Superdeluxeeditions says that Please Don’t Touch, Spectral Mornings and Defector will be available on the 27th May 2016. The multi-tracks for Defector could not be found; it describes the 5.1 disk as ‘pseudo’ surround.
What I don’t understand is the decision to split albums over discs. That’s a no-no, shirley?
It does seem rather an odd idea, presumably done to keep the number of cds in the box down.