Steve Hackett - Charisma Years
After the success of 2015 CD Box set 'Premonitions' revisiting the early days of his solo career, Steve Hackett goes back to Memory Lane vintage style, with a vinyl collection of his first six albums on the Charisma label. 'The Charisma Years (1975-1983)' which features 8LPs & 12" EP and is due out on May 27th. It will include newly remastered versions of the albums taken from original master tapes, as well as live material and tracks never before released on vinyl.
Also on 27th May, Hackett releases 3 separate 2CD/DVD (5.1) Deluxe editions of Please Don't Touch, Spectral Mornings and Defector. Please Don't Touch and Spectral Mornings have been newly mixed in 5.1 surround sound by Steven Wilson from the original multi-track tapes; Defector includes a new remaster of the album, a CD of Steve's set at the Reading Festival in 1980 and a DVD featuring a pseudo 5.1 Surround Sound Up-mix derived from the original stereo masters.
"I'm pleased these early albums, rarities and 5.1 mixes are to be released now in this set on vinyl" - Hackett comments - "Vinyl is still a very exciting listening medium."
The Charisma Years boxed set will feature all of Steve's albums from that period plus a wealth of bonus material which includes:
- A double LP of a newly mixed concert recorded on the 1979 Spectral Mornings tour at Oxford's New Theatre
- A full LP and 12-inch EP of Steve's appearance at the Reading Festival in August 1981
- 'I Know What I Like', a special 12-inch live EP with Steve's band performing the Genesis classic at Oxford's New Theatre plus several tracks recorded live at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1979.
Three of the most significant albums from the Charisma years will also be released separately as deluxe 2CD/DVD editions. Please Don't Touch, Spectral Mornings and Defector all bring back some cherished moments from Hackett's past...
"On 'Please Don't Touch' I'd finally embarked on a permanent solo career - Steve recalls. - The strength of the ideas combined with the extraordinary people who had carried them out was a revelation to me. I wanted to be invisible on this record and just to be the catalyst. Each track functioned like an excerpt from a sampler album. Different teams met different styles and that pan-genre approach has stayed with me up to the present day… It's no coincidence that Steven Wilson offered to remix this stuff in 5.1 surround sound. He'd originally been inspired by 'Please Don't Touch' when he was barely a teenager."
He then goes on sharing his memories about 'Spectral Mornings': "Suddenly there was a great touring band, wondrous players and singers all. I no longer stood alone. Substantial parts of 'Spectral Mornings' had been road-tested. Audiences were hungry for it in a way I couldn't have imagined. Once more the combination of the classically trained and the self-taught together kindled a kind of blue flame around those songs."
Finally, he remembers the 'Defector' days... "After the opening snake charmer-like flute notes of 'The Steppes', drums boomed out from the next door church we used as an echo chamber, sounding more pagan than C of E in spirit. I was still in love with this killer band that had versatility tattooed all over... Whilst 'Spectral Mornings' was a hard act to follow, 'Defector' pipped it in the charts by going Top Ten!"
...and if you prefer the digital medium, remember that on the same date 3 deluxe CD sets of Please Don't Touch, Spectral Mornings & Defector are released and signed copies of all those can also be pre-ordered from Hackettsongs.
LP1 - Voyage of the Acolyte
1 Ace Of Wands
2. Hands Of The Priestess - Pt. I
3. A Tower Struck Down
4. Hands Of The Priestess - Pt. II
5. The Hermit
6. Star Of Sirius
7. The Lovers
8. Shadow Of The Hierophant
LP2 - Please Don't Touch
1. Narnia
2. Carry On Up The Vicarage
3. Racing In A
4. Kim
5. How Can I?
6. Hoping Love Will Last
7. Land Of A Thousand Autumns
8. Please Don't Touch
9. The Voice Of Necam
10. Icarus Ascending
LP3 - Spectral Mornings
1. Every Day
2. The Virgin And The Gypsy
3. The Red Flower Of
4. Tachai Blooms Everywhere
5. Clocks - The Angel Of Mons
6. The Ballad Of
7. The Decomposing Man
8. Lost Time In Cordoba
9. Tigermoth
10. Spectral Mornings
LP4 - Defector
1. The Steppes
2. Time To Get Out
3. Slogans
4. Leaving
5. Two Vamps As Guests
6. Jacuzzi
7. Hammer In The Sand
8. The Toast
9. The Show
10. Sentimental Institution
LP5 - Cured
1. Hope I Don't Wake
2. Picture Postcard
3. Can't Let Go
4. The Air Conditioned Nightmare
5. Funny Feeling
6. A Cradle Of Swans
7. Overnight Sleeper
8. Turn Back Time
LP6 - Highly Strung
1. Camino Royale
2. Cell 151
3. Always Somewhere Else
4. Walking Through Walls
5. Give It Away
6. Weightless
7. Group Therapy
8. India Rubber Man
9. Hackett To Pieces
LP7 (2LP set) - Live At Oxford (1979)
1. Please Don't Touch
2. Tigermoth
3. Every Day
4. Narnia
5. The Red Flower Of Tachai
6. Blooms Everywhere
7. Ace Of Wands
8. Carry On Up The Vicarage
9. Acoustic Medley:
10. Etude In A Minor / Blood On
11. The Rooftops / Horizons / Kim
12. The Optigan
13. Spectral Mornings
14. Star Of Sirius
15. Shadow Of The Hierophant
16. Clocks
17. Racing In A
LP8 - Live At Reading (1981)
1. The Air Conditioned Nightmare
2. Every Day
3. Ace Of Wands
4. Funny Feeling
5. The Steppes
6. Overnight Sleeper
7. Slogans
8. A Tower Struck Down
9. Spectral Mornings
10. The Show
11. Clocks - The Angel Of Mons
12" EP - Live 1979
1. I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)
2. Ace Of Wands
3. Sentimental Institution
4. The Red Flower Of Tachai Blooms Everywhere
DISC ONE
1. Narnia
2. Carry On Up The Vicarage
3. Racing In A
4. Kim
5. How Can I?
6. Hoping Love Will Last
7. Land Of A Thousand Autumns
8. Please Don't Touch
9. The Voice Of Necam
10. Icarus Ascending
11. Narnia (John Perry Vocal Version)
12. Seven Of Cups
13. Narnia (Alternative Version)
DISC TWO - new stereo mix by Steven Wilson
1. Narnia
2. Carry On Up The Vicarage
3. Racing In A
4. Kim
5. How Can I?
6. Hoping Love Will Last
7. Land Of A Thousand Autumns
8. Please Don't Touch
9. The Voice Of Necam
10. Icarus Ascending
DISC THREE - new 5.1 surround sound mix by Steven Wilson
1. Narnia
2. Carry On Up The Vicarage
3. Racing In A
4. Kim
5. How Can I?
6. Hoping Love Will Last
7. Land Of A Thousand Autumns
8. Please Don't Touch
9. The Voice Of Necam
10. Icarus Ascending
DISC ONE
1. Every Day
2. The Virgin And The Gypsy
3. The Red Flower Of Tachai Blooms Everywhere
4. Clocks - The Angel Of Mons
5. The Ballad Of The Decomposing Man
6. Lost Time In Cordoba
7. Tigermoth
8. Spectral Mornings
9. Every Day - Single Version
10. Clocks - The Angel Of Mons - Single Version
11. The Caretaker
DISC TWO - new stereo mix by Steven Wilson
1. Every Day
2. The Virgin And The Gypsy
3. The Red Flower Of Tachai Blooms Everywhere
4. Clocks - The Angel Of Mons
5. The Ballad Of The Decomposing Man
6. Lost Time In Cordoba
7. Tigermoth
8. Spectral Mornings
DISC THREE - new 5.1 surround sound mix by Steven Wilson
1. Every Day
2. The Virgin And The Gypsy
3. The Red Flower Of Tachai Blooms Everywhere
4. Clocks - The Angel Of Mons
5. The Ballad Of The Decomposing Man
6. Lost Time In Cordoba
7. Tigermoth
8. Spectral Mornings
DISC ONE
1. The Steppes
2. Time To Get Out
3. Slogans
4. Leaving
5. Two Vamps As Guests
6. Jacuzzi
7. Hammer In The Sand
8. The Toast
9. The Show
10. Sentimental Institution
11. Hercules Unchained (B-side of single - released in June 1980)
12. Sentimental Institution (recorded at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane 11th November 1979)
DISC TWO - recorded live at the Reading Festival, 28th August 1981
1. The Air Conditioned Nightmare
2. Every Day
3. Ace Of Wands
4. Funny Feeling
5. The Steppes
6. Overnight Sleeper
7. Slogans
8. A Tower Struck Down
9. Spectral Mornings
10. The Show
11. Clocks - The Angel Of Mons
DISC THREE - new pseudo 5.1 surround sound up-mix from the original stereo master tapes
1. The Steppes
2. Time To Get Out
3. Slogans
4. Leaving
5. Two Vamps As Guests
6. Jacuzzi
7. Hammer In The Sand
8. The Toast
9. The Show
10. Sentimental Institution
