Voyage Of The Acolyte

It is clear from this album that Steve's contributions within Genesis were very significant indeed. The same autumnal, English, pastoral feel that pervaded albums such as "Foxtrot" and "Selling England By the Pound" is prevalent on "Voyage Of The Acolyte". This album has a dark, haunting feel to it, emphasised by brother John's flute playing and the heavy use of mellotron and acoustic guitar. The album opens with the storming instrumental "Ace Of Wands" which has become a firm live favourite ever since. Hackett is very, very good at writing rock instrumentals. His back catalogue is littered with brilliantly executed pieces like "Clocks", "Sierra Quemada" and "Twice Around The Sun". Next up is the beautifully haunting "Hands Of The Priestess Part 1". This then segues straight into the fuzzy menace of "A Tower Struck Down", another classic instrumental. "Star Of Sirius" is significant in featuring a lead vocal from Phil Collins, a sign of things to come. The album is completed with the mighty "Shadow Of The Hierophant", with beautiful lead vocals by Sally Oldfield and ending with typical instrumental aplomb.

This was an excellent debut for Hackett. A bridge between the Genesis of old and the new and emphatically showcased not just what an excellent instrumentalist Hackett was, but that he had the compositional skills to match. Eventually the success of this album and his frustrations working within the confines of the band would lead to his departure.

This re-release is part of the remastering of Hacketts' first four albums he recorded for Charisma. The remastering was overseen by Hackett and sounds excellent. The sleeve notes and packaging have been put together by the highly esteemed team of Mark Powell and Phil Smee. Included as bonus material is an electrified live version of "Ace Of Wands" and an extended "Shadow Of The Hierophant". So all in all a truly impressive package and at this price you can't go wrong.

It was a time of solo projects for the band: Phil Collins drumming with Brand X (amongst others) and Mike Rutherford working on projects with former member, guitarist Anthony Philips.

Hackett’s guitar-work played a major role in trade-marking the Genesis sound and with Collins and Rutherford guesting here together with Sally Oldfield, this debut complements well the band’s period prog output.

Performance and production values are constantly high and the album showcases Hackett’s compositional talents, herein applied to a form of concept album based on the Tarot, with each track based on an individual card.

Cello and oboe vie with mellotron and ARP synth in a space occupied in the main by Hackett’s precise yet fluid playing, with plenty of variation of pace and runs of pure melody punched with sufficient staccato dissonance as to keep us sitting up and paying attention.

Critical and public acclaim greeted the release of this record, boosted here with a live version of "Ace Of Wands" and an extended 17-minute version of "Shadow Of the Hierophant" almost solely asserting its credentials as a slice of top notch prog of the time.