Steve Hackett - Genesis Revisited Band & Orchestra: Live at the Royal Festival Hall (2CD&Blu-Ray)
It would be easy to get progressively blasé about the amount of Genesis Revisited based releases from Steve Hackett in recent years, including this latest, fully orchestrated offering.
But with Steve Hackett however it’s all in the details, the impressive scoring and having esteemed Canadian conductor Bradley Thachuk waving the baton – the results of which mean this isn’t simply Genesis songs with an orchestra, this is Genesis songs truly arranged for an orchestra.
It’s a subtle but telling difference and one that can be heard from the get go and opening number 'Dance on a Volcano,' further enhanced (for those who attended one of the orchestrated shows or viewing the Blu-Ray), rather fittingly, by being bathed in magma yellow and volcanic red spotlights.
Visually, the main thrust of the filmed concert is through cameras homing in on Steve Hackett and his core band colleagues (Roger King - keys; Gary O’Toole - drums, vocals; Rob Townsend - sax, woodwind, percussion, keys, vocals; Jonas Reingold - bass, variax, 12-string guitar, vocals; Nad Sylvan - vocals), higher camera pans across the stage/ over orchestra and audience shots.
Following 'Dance on a Volcano' the stage lighting settles in to a predominate use of blue, purple and occasionally green hues that pick out the featured players while also producing a shadowy look beyond the cones of light – it’s a look that works well (given a little extra light-sparkle from the orchestra’s music sheet stands) and a welcome change from the blinding light show approach, allowing more focus on the music and the musicians.
Powerful and purposeful as a 42 piece orchestra can be, it’s the subtler arrangements that are the real strength, as scored quite beautifully through the quieter passages of 'Firth of Fifth' (thus allowing the forlorn saxophone of Rob Townsend and those now classic piano lines to shine).
The full orchestra has a far bigger part to play in the more frantic passages of 'Dancing with the Moonlit Knight' and a vibrant, full-bodied rendition of 'In the Quiet Earth' (Rob Townsend’s saxophone in perfect harmony with Steve Hackett’s guitar lines) which, naturally, segues to a beautifully performed 'Afterglow,' with Nad Sylvan in fine voice.
Jonas Reingold (of Flower Kings fame) and Gary O’Toole are in perfect backing vocal harmony on 'Afterglow,' which climaxes with the orchestra in full flow at song’s end.
While the Revisited with Orchestra tour was a celebration of classic Genesis material the set is not without its stellar Steve Hackett moments – a third of the set is based around Classic Hackett material including two of the guitarist’s strongest old and new instrumental offerings, 'The Steppes' (from his highest charting solo album, 1980’s Defector) and the stormy rock-romp that is 'El Niño' (from 2017’s The Night Siren).
Weightier still is the orchestrated, eleven-and-a-half minute version of 'Shadow of the Hierophant,' featuring Amanda Lehmann on lead vocals and guitar.
Lighter contrast comes by way of Steve Hackett’s short and delicate Spanish guitar styed acoustic intro to 'Blood on the Rooftops' (the song features equally delicate strings in accompaniment to Gary O’Toole’s crooner-styled lead vocal) and, later, the lovely ballad 'Serpentine Song' from Hackett’s To Watch the Storms album.
The latter features Steve Hackett’s brother John on flute and perfectly pitched four-part harmony lead vocals from Steve Hackett, Amanda Lehmann, Nad Sylvan and Gary O’Toole; it’s another song that benefits from the orchestrated arrangement, here layering support to John Hackett and Rob Townsend’s woodwind virtuosity.
Showcase piece of the set is, without doubt, 'Supper’s Ready,' a song that needs no further review or comment given that just about every classic progger knows the song backwards.
Fortunately band and orchestra play a tremendous version of the Genesis classic forwards, and in quite striking, string swinging, brass booming style.
'Supper's Ready' might be the highlight of the set but closing number 'The Musical Box' runs it fairly close, band and orchestra in full overdrive by the song’s conclusion.
Recorded in October 2018 at London’s Royal Festival Hall, Genesis Revisited Band & Orchestra: Live (available as a 2CD & Blu-Ray digipak with Stereo and 5.1 surround mixes, Behind the Scenes footage and three promo videos from Steve Hackett's latest solo album At The Edge Of Light) is a 42-piece, Heart of England Philharmonic, orchestrated success.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
But with Steve Hackett however it’s all in the details, the impressive scoring and having esteemed Canadian conductor Bradley Thachuk waving the baton – the results of which mean this isn’t simply Genesis songs with an orchestra, this is Genesis songs truly arranged for an orchestra.
It’s a subtle but telling difference and one that can be heard from the get go and opening number 'Dance on a Volcano,' further enhanced (for those who attended one of the orchestrated shows or viewing the Blu-Ray), rather fittingly, by being bathed in magma yellow and volcanic red spotlights.
Visually, the main thrust of the filmed concert is through cameras homing in on Steve Hackett and his core band colleagues (Roger King - keys; Gary O’Toole - drums, vocals; Rob Townsend - sax, woodwind, percussion, keys, vocals; Jonas Reingold - bass, variax, 12-string guitar, vocals; Nad Sylvan - vocals), higher camera pans across the stage/ over orchestra and audience shots.
Following 'Dance on a Volcano' the stage lighting settles in to a predominate use of blue, purple and occasionally green hues that pick out the featured players while also producing a shadowy look beyond the cones of light – it’s a look that works well (given a little extra light-sparkle from the orchestra’s music sheet stands) and a welcome change from the blinding light show approach, allowing more focus on the music and the musicians.
Powerful and purposeful as a 42 piece orchestra can be, it’s the subtler arrangements that are the real strength, as scored quite beautifully through the quieter passages of 'Firth of Fifth' (thus allowing the forlorn saxophone of Rob Townsend and those now classic piano lines to shine).
The full orchestra has a far bigger part to play in the more frantic passages of 'Dancing with the Moonlit Knight' and a vibrant, full-bodied rendition of 'In the Quiet Earth' (Rob Townsend’s saxophone in perfect harmony with Steve Hackett’s guitar lines) which, naturally, segues to a beautifully performed 'Afterglow,' with Nad Sylvan in fine voice.
Jonas Reingold (of Flower Kings fame) and Gary O’Toole are in perfect backing vocal harmony on 'Afterglow,' which climaxes with the orchestra in full flow at song’s end.
While the Revisited with Orchestra tour was a celebration of classic Genesis material the set is not without its stellar Steve Hackett moments – a third of the set is based around Classic Hackett material including two of the guitarist’s strongest old and new instrumental offerings, 'The Steppes' (from his highest charting solo album, 1980’s Defector) and the stormy rock-romp that is 'El Niño' (from 2017’s The Night Siren).
Weightier still is the orchestrated, eleven-and-a-half minute version of 'Shadow of the Hierophant,' featuring Amanda Lehmann on lead vocals and guitar.
Lighter contrast comes by way of Steve Hackett’s short and delicate Spanish guitar styed acoustic intro to 'Blood on the Rooftops' (the song features equally delicate strings in accompaniment to Gary O’Toole’s crooner-styled lead vocal) and, later, the lovely ballad 'Serpentine Song' from Hackett’s To Watch the Storms album.
The latter features Steve Hackett’s brother John on flute and perfectly pitched four-part harmony lead vocals from Steve Hackett, Amanda Lehmann, Nad Sylvan and Gary O’Toole; it’s another song that benefits from the orchestrated arrangement, here layering support to John Hackett and Rob Townsend’s woodwind virtuosity.
Showcase piece of the set is, without doubt, 'Supper’s Ready,' a song that needs no further review or comment given that just about every classic progger knows the song backwards.
Fortunately band and orchestra play a tremendous version of the Genesis classic forwards, and in quite striking, string swinging, brass booming style.
'Supper's Ready' might be the highlight of the set but closing number 'The Musical Box' runs it fairly close, band and orchestra in full overdrive by the song’s conclusion.
Recorded in October 2018 at London’s Royal Festival Hall, Genesis Revisited Band & Orchestra: Live (available as a 2CD & Blu-Ray digipak with Stereo and 5.1 surround mixes, Behind the Scenes footage and three promo videos from Steve Hackett's latest solo album At The Edge Of Light) is a 42-piece, Heart of England Philharmonic, orchestrated success.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ