Spectral Mornings Parkinson's charity CD
Now available on CD from the Hackettsongs webstore
The project was the brainchild of ROB REED (of Magenta & Kompendium) who explains; "I've always loved the piece Spectral Mornings by Steve Hackett, (the classic instrumental from his 1979 album of the same name). It had a great guitar melody and thought it would be amazing to re-record with the addition of some lyrics. I contacted David Longdon from Big Big Train who I wanted to sing it. David wrote the lyrics and we did a demo, which sounded fantastic. I also had the idea of it being a duet, so we asked Christina Booth from my band Magenta to sing it. We then had to play the demo to Steve Hackett to make sure he liked it, which thankfully he did. He kindly agreed to play guitar on the track, which was wonderful. I really think we have been respectful to the original piece and hopefully brought something new to it as well".
Rob adds; "We were also lucky to have one of the best rhythm sections to play on the song, namely Nick Beggs on bass (of Steven Wilson's band) and Nick D'Virgilio on drums (from Big Big Train). As it was a one off project we really wanted the proceeds form the sales to go to a charity. Myself, Christina and Steve Hackett have all lost close family members to Parkinson's disease, so we decided to donate all the proceeds from the sale to Parkinson's Society UK, who are funding research into a cure for this terrible affliction."
Magenta mastermind Rob Reed has launched a video to accompany Steve Hackett's charity release of Spectral Mornings.
It was recorded to support Parkinson's Society UK, featuring Reed and bandmate Christina Booth alongside Big Big Train's David Longdon and Nick D'Virgilio plus Nick Beggs of Steven Wilson's band.
Reed decided to cover Hackett's 1979 solo album title track because he'd always admired the piece. He recently said: "I thought it would be amazing to re-record with the addition of lyrics.
"David wrote them and we did a demo, which sounded fantastic. I had the idea of a duet, so we asked Christina. Steve kindly agreed to play guitar on the track, which was wonderful.
"I really think we have been respectful to the original piece and hopefully brought something new to it as well."
Premiere: View Spectral Mornings EP video charity single promo
as Steve teams up with Magenta, Big Big Train and Steven Wilson band members for Parkinson's diseaseWell, I have to be honest when I first heard about this, I had my doubts. I am not a lover of cover versions at the best of times and when the track in question is perhaps one of your all time favourite pieces of rock music, then... well you get the gist?
However, I needn't have worried. From the outset this is a superb piece of work. Big Big Train front man, David Longdon is the brave soul who has penned the lyrics that accompany the music and he has done an astonishing job on this. Some of the lines resonate in your mind long after the track has finished playing and that is surely a sign of something a bit special. Accompanied by the superb vocals of Rob Reed and Christina Booth from Magenta, the three vocal versions do something I didn't think possible: they elevate an already established classic to even greater heights. It took a while for the lyrics to bed in but once they took hold, they REALLY took hold!
