GUITARIST, singer, songwriter and former member of the iconic progressive rock giants Genesis, Steve Hackett, has seen a big resurgence in his career in recent years. With his last album Wolflight rubbing shoulders with the likes of Madonna and other more modern artists, as it reached number 24 in the UK album, coming on the back of his top 40 Genesis: Revisited 11 album, Hackett finds himself in the midst of yet another career high point.
With the imminent release of a huge 14 disc retrospective box set, focusing on his recordings with the legendary Charisma label between 1975-1983 (Premonitions) and currently halfway through a successful European tour, the surge of popularity looks set to continue.
“The box set has been in the pipeline for about two or three years, when we started discussing it with Mark Powell at EMI. Then they got brought out by Universal, and I expected us to have to go back the beginning and start again. Luckily the new label liked the idea so we carried on. The set contains all my studio albums with Charisma, plus three full live shows, along with a load of unreleased material and some old BBC recordings. Steve Wilson has done some excellent 5.1 remixes on some of the tracks. The truth is I haven’t even seen the finished article yet, people in the industry are coming up to saying it's a really nice set, and I have to say is it?” laughs Hackett.
Even the artwork on the box set is a nod back to heyday of the progressive 70s, being designed by artist Roger Dean (famous for many Yes album covers amongst many other bands)
“We spent a lot of time with Roger, discussing the artwork among many other subjects, including the reflective qualities of insects. Roger wanted to create an image that looked like a combination of an animal and a craft, very bright and colourful; he was very keen to get it right. He has done a great job, and I am very proud of the whole set.”
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AT GONZO:
 | Spectral Mornings DVD - £5.99 |
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