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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I don't really understand the lack of interest in this album, which I personally rate slightly above "Defector". After the half-baked pop of "Cured" this album sounds like it was made by a rock band again.
The opening track "Camino Royale" scorches of the mark with rip-snorting guitar before settling down into a bizzare, owl-like, twit-twooing arrangement with "Carpet Crawl" style lyrics; this is Steve's territory alright. It also has a wonderful catchy chorus, as do many others on the album including "Give it away" which could have been Steve's greatest hit if released as a single instead of "Cell 151" (good as that song is). "India rubber man" is another success, a gentler piano led piece this time.
Steve normally has one or two "lighter" tracks on his albums, and rather like a mad scientist creating a doomsday weapon or some other montrous affront to nature, he just can't resist dabbling with pop music. Lying on his laboratory slab for us this time are the arguably more successful "Walking through walls" (an enjoyable listen, apart from the potato crisp instrumentation at the end) and "Weightless" (a rather bland song about hang-gliding and the weakest on the album).
There are three excellent instrumentals; "Always Somewhere Else", which has a beautiful (electric) guitar intro, and the more uplifting "Group Therapy" which always sounds to me like music a DJ might choose to play in the background while he counts down the Top Twenty (that would be an abuse of course). The final non-vocal track is the shortish closer "Hackett to pieces", which is a sort of Los Endos to Camino Royale's Squonk. Interestingly, "Always Somewhere Else" also shares a motif with "India Rubber Man".
The new re-master by the way is of a very high quality - very punchy, as are all those from Camino I have heard.
The opening track "Camino Royale" scorches of the mark with rip-snorting guitar before settling down into a bizzare, owl-like, twit-twooing arrangement with "Carpet Crawl" style lyrics; this is Steve's territory alright. It also has a wonderful catchy chorus, as do many others on the album including "Give it away" which could have been Steve's greatest hit if released as a single instead of "Cell 151" (good as that song is). "India rubber man" is another success, a gentler piano led piece this time.
Steve normally has one or two "lighter" tracks on his albums, and rather like a mad scientist creating a doomsday weapon or some other montrous affront to nature, he just can't resist dabbling with pop music. Lying on his laboratory slab for us this time are the arguably more successful "Walking through walls" (an enjoyable listen, apart from the potato crisp instrumentation at the end) and "Weightless" (a rather bland song about hang-gliding and the weakest on the album).
There are three excellent instrumentals; "Always Somewhere Else", which has a beautiful (electric) guitar intro, and the more uplifting "Group Therapy" which always sounds to me like music a DJ might choose to play in the background while he counts down the Top Twenty (that would be an abuse of course). The final non-vocal track is the shortish closer "Hackett to pieces", which is a sort of Los Endos to Camino Royale's Squonk. Interestingly, "Always Somewhere Else" also shares a motif with "India Rubber Man".
The new re-master by the way is of a very high quality - very punchy, as are all those from Camino I have heard.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
If I were comparing this album to the music of say, any artist in the pop charts these days it would get five stars but instead I'm comparing it to Steve Hacketts other work. This album just doesn't live up to his high standard. Though it is slightly better than cured which is just awful. Highly Strung has a couple of good tracks. "Cell 151" is worth a listen but the rest just blur into a pleasant but unremarkable noise. If you're new to Steve Hackett then you should get Spectral Mornings or Guitar Noir which are both quality albums.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Very little here beyond some acidic riffs and much-repeated phrases. You get the feeling Steve went into the recording studio with no ideas at all and just played the first stuff that came into his head. Even the one potential saving grace, India Rubber Man, which should have been a gentle ballad, is just a painful screech. It all went terribly wrong with this album and you get the impression he won't be making any more - but history shows he picked himself up and started over, to his credit.
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