The indefatigable 'Steve Hacket' continues to release albums with an impressive frequency and, after his wonderful studio album of 'At The Edge Of Light', the album revisited of Genesis with a symphony orchestra in the mythical 'Royal Albert Hall' and after the last album in public 'Selling England by The Pound & Spectral Mornings: Live at Hammersmith' released at the end of 2020 in which he covered two of his first albums as well as the complete 'Selling England By The Pound' from 'Genesis', here is his new baby, 'Under A Mediterranean Sky' and it is yet another facet of these multiple talents as a guitarist that he offers us with an invitation to travel under the soft Mediterranean sun under which he went to seek his inspiration during his various visits with his wife 'Jo', I quote Steve: "I've had a lot of ideas in the classical genre over the last few years and felt it was the perfect time to make this album, a moment to contemplate the places we have visited around the Mediterranean.". With him, he invited his long-time friend 'Roger King' who concocted all the keyboard parts and orchestral arrangements as well as other instrumentalists with, among others, acoustic instruments representing well the Mediterranean countries. We are therefore embarked on a kind of patchwork of influences bordering the Mediterranean and we travel from Andalusia to the Orient and this from the first title 'Mdina (The Walled City)', celebrating Malta at the crossroads of different cultures and which alternates orchestral parts and classical guitar sections with always that magical fingering that Steve possesses, and which is further accentuated with the acoustic instrument. The titles parade one after the other and we go from academic compositions such as 'Adriatic Blue' or 'Joie de Vivre' or 'Lorato' or even the sonata by Scarlatti bringing out all the melodious arpeggios to the romanticism of 'Sirocco' or 'Casa del Fauno', the first with sounds mixing East and West and the second being much more classic, passing by a syrupy 'The Memory of Myth' on the border between Greece and Spain or by a bewitching 'The Dervish and the Djin' or even by 'Andalusian Heart' which cradles us in the shade of a beautiful Andalusian square. In short, this other facet of 'Steve Hackett' turned towards the classic is a beautiful journey that the guitarist offers us during this period which precisely deprives us of it, and, even if some amateurs of progressive rock will not find their account there by the classical side of this opus, for the others of which I am part, make yourself comfortable in a calm place and close your eyes, the music will do the rest and you will see all these wonderful landscapes of our beautiful Mediterranean scroll by... | |
