Review Summary: One of the best works from Hackett. The turning point in his solo career.
“Spectral Mornings” is the third solo studio album of Steve Hackett and was released in 1979. The line up on the album is Steve Hackett, John Hackett, Peter Hicks, Nick Magnus, Dick Cadbury and John Shearer.
Steve Hackett is widely recognized as one of the most innovative and influential guitarists in the history of prog rock music. He achieved global stardom by joining the classic line up of Genesis between 1971 to 1977. Frustrated with the creative limitations within the strictly democratic dynamics of the group, Hackett released his first solo album, “Voyage Of The Acolyte”, in 1975, while still a member of Genesis. He would eventually leave the band permanently in 1977. Subsequently, he developed a vast and versatile solo career spanning more than five decades. He is responsible for the release of many solo works and many collaborative efforts with many other musicians linked with the prog universe.
With “Spectral Mornings” Steve continues to move bravely from his past from Genesis and on with his music. We can even say that “Spectral Mornings” represents the last step from that trajectory and his first real beginning of his real solo career, without any shackles. “Spectral Mornings” was also the first album to feature Hackett with his first true touring band, which brought a bit more consistency and balance to his solo musical career. To his credit, Steve learned from some of the mistakes of “Please Don’t Touch”, and delivered a much-improved mix of songs and instrumentals on “Spectral Mornings”, despite the undeniable quality of “Please Don’t Touch”. He exploits his strengths with progressive instrumentals, pastoral pop songs and a true healthy dose of English humor. “Spectral Mornings” rely heavily on emotions and experimentations with eastern, southern and latin cultures. The album is diverse and sounds complete. It blends rock tracks, quiet songs, and some more calm ethereal tunes. The final balance of the album is really great.
Every Day” is one of the best tracks on the album and one of the best ever composed by Steve. It has good lyrics and fine guitars with a great solo on the second part of the song. This is the only track on the album that reminds me of the sound of the good old times of Genesis. “The Virgin And The Gypsy” is a beautiful ballad with a nice flute played by his brother John. It has a simple structure, it’s very calm and melodic and where Steve plays very beautifully the acoustic sections of it. This is a track that flows gracefully from the start to its end. “The Red Flower Of Tachai Blooms Everywhere” is another very beautiful track, an instrumental, where Steve plays Koto, a traditional Japanese string instrument with a very typical sound. It’s an unusual Steve’s song with a complete oriental sound that transports us to the traditional Japanese atmosphere. “Clocks - The Angel Of Mons” is another highlight on the album. Like “Every Day”, it’s also one of the best tracks on the album and one of the best tracks ever composed by him. It’s another instrumental this time dominated by a powerful guitar work with a drum solo in the end. This is a track that needs no introduction. It’s a very well known instrumental that appears on many of his live recordings. “The Ballad Of The Decomposing Man” (Featuring “The Office Party”)” is a different track from the previous ones. It’s a funny song, but is less interesting than the rest of the album. It seems to me somehow misplaced from the rest of the album. Songs like this don’t add anything positive to the cohesion and the balance of the album. “Lost Time In Cordoba” is a very nice acoustic piece composed for guitar, flute and other woodwind instruments. This is an excellent classical piece with some beautiful moments and is perfectly in line with Steve’s style. “Tigermoth” is a dark and strange track. It’s a very sad song that speaks about war and the death of the soldiers in it, an anti-war demonstration. Sincerely, I think this is a very good song with some nice interesting parts, especially with some nice and lovely guitar moments. The title track “Spectral Mornings” is another instrumental. It’s one of the highlights on the album with “Every Day” and “Clocks – The Angel Of Mons”. Here, we are in the presence of about six minutes of the magnificent guitar work of Steve, which made him one of the favourite guitarists in progressive and classical music. It’s a perfect way to close this magnificent album.
Conclusion: “Spectral Mornings” is a great Hackett’s work. It’s true that it isn’t as good as his debut solo studio album “Voyage Of The Acolyte”, but it’s almost as good as it is, and definitely better than “Please Don’t Touch”, their sophomore work. “Spectral Mornings” is much more mature compared with its two predecessors, and it’s also the work where Steve found his own sound as a solo artist, where he emerges with a different style from his contributions for Genesis. Despite “The Ballad Of The Decomposing Man” being a little bit out of the general context of the whole work, it’s well done. So, I can say that, it isn’t enough to spoil the overall quality of the entire album. So, “Spectral Mornings” remains a great album, one of the best from Steve that became a true landmark for his future long and amazing career.
Music was my first love.
John Miles (Rebel)
