Steve Hackett hits album #30 – concepts and classic solos lead the way.
Release Date: 16th February 2024
Label: Inside Out Music
Format: digital / CD / vinyl
Steve Hackett pauses the revisiting of Genesis for long enough to add another album – his 30th – to his ongoing legacy. While The Circus And The Nightwhale might sound something akin to a revisit to The Virgin And The Gypsy from 1978’s (and 28 albums ago) Please Don’t Touch, or even some children’s fantasy story a la Roald Dahl, it turns out to herald the first concept album of Hackett’s solo career. Lest we be admonished by Hacketeers everywhere, yes, his very first solo effort, the very fine Voyage Of The Acolyte, did have a tarot thing going on, but The Circus And The Nightwhale heads into more autobiographical territory.
Maybe offering up a musical acknowledgement of his own autobiography, A Genesis In My Bed, Hackett has his latest offering described as a ‘rite-of-passage’ concept album that “says the things I’ve been wanting to say for a very long time.” Therapeutic? Cathartic? We shall see if it lives up to the bold PROG magazine billing as “Hackett’s finest solo album to date.“ And while many might cough and splutter about the iconic early albums – maybe tossing their hat into the ring for Spectral Mornings, or Voyage, while some may have a soft spot for more recent works such as Beyond The Shrouded Horizon or At The Edge Of Light – there’s no denying the fact that The Circus… captures many, if not most of the faces of Steve Hackett.
The touring band (Roger King, Jonas Reingold, Rob Townsend and Craig Blundell) are at the core – as they should be having formed quite a crack unit, now delivering the goods in the studio – with cameos from the likes of Nad Sylvan, Amanda Lehmann, brother John Hackett on flute and Malik Mansurov with the tar.
The Hackett fascination with trains, particularly those of the steam variety, which has been a rich source of inspiration, kicks in as we join the central character of Travla whose journey could well draw a parallel that of our hero. Accompanied by soundbites from childrens TV of yore and Pathe News and the steam train heading off, we’re advised to sit comfortably as Hackett twists out a searing guitar line against a powerful no frills drumline and evocative images of bomb sites are juxtaposed against some angelic harmonies and the fairground dreams which are set to feature heavily in the life of the baby born in one of the verses.
The heavier edge is maintained and handed a bluesier tint in Taking You Down that has the sort of chugging rhythm that feeds both the Hackett steam addiction and recalls a visit to Cell 151. It’s a musical direction that too is revisited along with some lovely delicate acoustic work and the sort of musical diversions that we expect that come via Found And Lost; all late-night, candlelight and smoky cabaret, and one of several short passages that provide linking parts to the story.
Keen students will thrill at the opportunity to read all manner of interpretations to Enter The Ring as our character (“the fool jumps in“) encounters “Kaleidoscopic thrills and spins, encountering pleasure gardens of delight.” The flute from John Hackett adds a Camel/Tull vibe to the track that’s picked up with sprightly guitar parts and bounce that give an upbeat presence. Soon to be countered by Get Me Out – maybe we’re now paying the price of fame and the grind of the machinery has worn down or suppressed the creativity – the sober and sombre finds us in Hackett’s much loved bluesy territory again balanced with grandiose and cacophonous interjections; Hackett donning his “rock noir” hat.
Some lovely orchestrations from Roger King and Amanda Lehmann’s haunting vocal are showcased in the operatic opening to the evocative Ghost Moon And Living Love. The stunning ambience of the vocal is reminiscent of Vide Cor Meum from Dante’s La Vita Nuova. Midtempo it may be, but within, you may agree, is the star guitar solo part of the album, where some of the earlier frenzied and fearsome shredding gives way to a bout of less is more, classic soaring Hackett emotion – of the type that inspires the Steve Rotherys of the world.
The second half kicks off and kicks out with a whole cluster of ‘breaking free’ themes. The massive Circo Inferno is an intense ride bearing the cry of “Save me!” and comes followed by a series of instrumental passages that weigh heavily and dare we say angrily – and could be, we even say, cut from the same cloth as the freeform workouts of The Waiting Room. The influence of Eno and the minimalist composers perhaps filtering through?
“I wasn’t all at sea, and I hadn’t been in the belly of a whale,” says Steve as the musical passages proffer visions of nightmarish encounters, “but I had been through things just as challenging.”
Atmospheres via the ambient sounds (maybe if you’ve ever wondered what it sounds like in the belly of a whale?) and guitar noir vein return, but there’s both light at the end of the tunnel and redemption; love and melody win through. Hurrah and huzzah! It’s a happy ending for Travla. Hackett, (propelled along by Craig Blundell, possibly delivering the most forceful performance of his career) comes up with another winning solo as Wherever You Are marches towards the conclusion that’s provided by the cameo come down of a nylon guitar piece.
Wherever The Circus… stands in the grand scheme, it’s an album that needs not to be cherry-picked from in support of the Genesis revisitations, but one that deserves a fuller showcase. Maybe even one that should be performed in full, top-to-toe. 45 minutes – made for a vinyl release and an in-concert performance!
Here’s the album’s opening track, People Of The Smoke:
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