Customer Reviews

Live Archive 70's 80's 90's

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Live Archive boxed set is an excellent addition to any Hackett fan's collection, and indeed mandatory. Chock full of excellent goodies, the listener is treated to three different decades' worth of material, including all of the standard Hackett greats ('Everyday', 'The Steppes', 'Ace of Wands', 'Red Flower...' etc..) and some true surprise bonuses. The enchanting 'Shadow of the Heirophant' is finally revealed here in all of its live glory, for example. If you are a Steve Hackett fan, do yourself a favor and GET THIS SET. You will not be disappointed. Also includes an excellent booklet full of color pictures and some musings by Steve himself.

Three out of four ain't bad. As usual with Steve Hackett, musicianship throughout the four cd set is superb. The only downfall is cd-3 (80's). It sounds as if it were recorded in an aluminum airplane hanger. Too much reverb and echo. Otherwise, a worthwhile purchase.

The best Guitarplayer on the planet (and I mean that in every sense of the word, since to me he is the only one of Genesis that still is proceding to carry on the real spirit of this Amazing band) I dont think I know a player that has mastered so much skills and styles as he had and can. Already from the days of Genesis he proves his mastership on more than one album. I have been waiting for a good live overview for ages, and when this box came I really really wanted to have it. I only knew that thete was a 5 disc version availlable as we'll, but could not find out how to get it. My friend brought the 5th one on a gig here recently, and so now I looked over the net to get a cheap version of the box, and now I have founded that. I cant wait till I have it in my hands finally. The 5th disc is amazing for sure, Im sure the rest will not dissapoint either.

I see and read alot of complaints about the soundquality of certain cd's. Ofcourse recordings from the 70's are not perfect, but what is more important here is that Hackett is keeping the nostalgy alive. I have no doubt he did his best to deliver the best possible sound. Cos thats the way he is. Let us be praised to be abble in some way to be abble to listen to this stuff now in some way.

Im 29 years now, so I am from another Generation than most people listen to Hackett, but since I heard him playing the legendary solo on Firth Or Fifth back in 1992, or on the other live stuff or album stuff he was in, (what goes beyond mentioning here) I was sold and up to today I never founded a beter player. An album that really blew me away was the Archive 1 of Genesis where you can find a integral part of the Lamb played Live. Listen to a song as Lamia, how they mixed the solowork of Hackett combined with a thrilling Tony Banks Mellotron sound, to give you tears in your eyes.

Highly recomanded !!!! And Please do yourself a favour and listen to more stuff he made. GTR or Genesis mostly.

Back before I was born, prog-rock kings, Genesis had a well beating musical heart. In 1977, this heart developed an arterial obstruction, weakening it to a point beyond repair. At that time, Genesis seemed to have replaced their brains with leather wallets, causing them to go in a more pop oriented state of existence. As their guitarist, Steve Hackett put it, "This band is heading in a different direction; it's no longer embracing the spirit of fusion... real fusion, not jazz... and I don't think I want to go there." Thus, one of rocks most innovative, inspiring, and talented guitarists hit the old dusty trail to strike it out on his own. This was a bitter, well publicized rift. Subsequently, Genesis entitled their next album "And Then There Were Three...", a leather glove slap to the face of their former, underappreciated guitarist. Hackett returned fire by naming his next album "Please Don't Touch", a solid song which he submitted to be on the Genesis "Wind and Wuthering" album, but was ultimately rejected by the rest of the band. It would be almost 20 years before a victor would be crowed in this duel of old friends.

Sorry for the silly babbling, I'll get to the actual Archive review now. This 4 disc Live Box Set is quite an accurate EEG for the solo career of this guitar God, the chart spanning 15 years from 1978-1993. The Hackett formula, which made Genesis such a memorable prog band, is now taken to higher levels than previously witnessed, as a liberated Steve Hackett was now able to delve deeply into his own unique guitar style: Offbeat melodic tones fornicating with a healthy serving of dissonance (sounds like an oxymoron doesn't it? It's a calamity recipe for any other guitarist, but Steve Hackett somehow pulls it off with fluid ease). To my ears, all of these discs are winners, all capable of 4-5 star ratings if they had been issued separately. The fact that they are all together for an absurdly thrifty amount is a scrumptious opportunity which shouldn't be passed up by any fan of prog-rock.

Admittedly, Disc 3 of the collection (early 80's) is the one most fondled by my CD player (if I play something from this collection, there's about a 75% chance I go for this disc rather than the others), yet all of them are gems. If you are a fan of anything that Genesis did from "Nursery Crime" (1971) - "Seconds Out" (1977), don't hesitate in ordering this collection. It's well worth the money.

Oh, and about the battle's turnout. It's 24 September 2005. Genesis have been broken up for a few years now. In four days, Steve Hackett will begin his North American tour. We have a winner.

Genesis and Hackett fans will really enjoy, Complete shows, one each from 70s, 80s, 90s. the recording from the 1970s is rare, a bit raw, but with a lot of tracks that aren't available live, otherwise, the enthusiasm of the crowd is infectious. The line-up from the 1980s is amazing, Nick Magnus from Saga, Marillion's Ian Mosley, recorded outdoors at an Italian Castle. 1990s set, best audio. Hackett has a lot of live sets, my favorite is Time Lapses, his newest Live Rails. This is a must for the Hackett Completest , the Genesis completist, Hackett newbies, would be served better by some of his other live units. I got this used for $20, at that price, it's a great deal for everyone from guitar enthusiasts, Hackett invented tap and strum on Foxtrot, Classic Rock, prog and jazz music fans.

$99? Too expensive. The audio is all sound board, and a little bit of play with your graphic eq will sort out any problems, the musicianship is all top notch, track selection is great. The booklet is a bit of a waste. The pictures are too tiny to appreciate. and the essays are little short. Great deal for $20, but I wouldn't pay more then $30, When Hackett has so many great lives sets.

Really sorry for long review, but I just could not help it as this box set deserves detail review because it's a precious set.

Having watched and completely stunned with Steve Hackett "Once Above A Time" DVD, I played back some of Steve's albums including this live archives from my collection. For some of you, you might have known Steve only from his tenure with Genesis and probably still label him with something like "ex Genesis guitarist" and you might not know what his work after he left the band. That's the same case with me when I got the cassettes of his first two albums, I still considered Steve as Genesis guitarist instead of Steve as a solo artist and never played the cassettes intensely. Until one time in a rock show performed by an opening act of Uriah Heep Live in Bandung, Indonesia sometime in 1980, I think. There was a local band that played Steve Hackett's "Ace of Wands" excellently. It strike my mind really - so when I went home I played this song over and over. That's the first love I got with Hackett music. I was hooked with "Voyage ..", "Please Don't Touch", "Spectral Morning" and "Defector". For me, Steve has produced many great prog tunes that I consider now as a classic, such as: "Every Day", "Star of Sirius", "Ace of Wands", "Narnia", "Clocks", "Shadow Of The Hierophant", and many more great tunes.

When this live archives CD came out, I was not really interested to purchase because I thought that I would get some standard version of studio tunes performed live. But, finally I purchased the CD because it was relatively cheap for 4 CDs set and for completing my collection. When I spin the CD, I was stunned with the fact that all 4 CDs contain great show recordings, great performance, great tracks and dynamic nuances indicated by the audience during the show. The four CDs span across live acts in three different venues: Hammersmith Odeon 30/07/79 (CD 1 & CD 2), Castel Sant' Angelo - Rome 13/09/81 (CD 3), and The Grand Theatre - London 08/06/93 (CD 4). As I'm impressed with the contents of all four CDs, each concert deserves detailed review, I think. For those who do not like to read long review, my advise is: get this box set! You will not regret!

Hammersmith Odeon - London 30/06/79 CD 1: 55:32 and CD 2: 56:29.

The band: Steve Hackett (guitars, harmonica and vocals), John Hackett (flutes, guitars, bass pedals), Dick Cadbury (bass and vocals ), John Shearer (drums ) and Pete Hicks (vocals )

The show starts with an ambient keyboard solo performed very soft to give a nuance for the show. It flows seamlessly with "Please Don't Touch" with the mark of dynamic drum sound in a very energetic mood with excellent guitar and keyboard works. The track is best to open the show as it has an uplifting style and it's a classic prog tune. I can hear clearly how Steve guitar plays great sounds and its effects. The next track "Tigermoth" (from "Spectral Morning" album) opens with a classical guitar outfit followed by full music led by guitar work. The track has some segments with quieter passage in avant-garde style. It ends-up with a nice church organ and it continues with my all-time favorite Hackett tracks "Every Day". This track has a simple structure - at the beginning part it seems poppy or straight forward rock song with some quieter passages in Hackett style. True adrenalin-exploding segment occurs when long guitar solo enters the scene. The guitar melody is really wonderful with some complicated fills by Hackett unique style and it goes into higher register notes, combined with flute sound. I usually repeat this track 2 or 3 times because I want to replay this part frequently. Great guitar, Mr. Hackett!

Another classic track "Narnia" (from "Please Don't Touch" album) continues the show in an upbeat tempo. The slow style with eastern music flavor "The Red Flower of Tai Chi" (from "Spectral Morning" album) gives an excellent break on my listening pleasure and it then moves up again to a groundbreaking classic "Ace Of Wands" started with a dazzling drum. The intertwining works of guitar, keyboard and flutes are really good. Oh man . this is a wonderful track performed better in live version! It continues with "Carry On Up The Vicarage" in happy mood because the voice line is performed by children with programmed sounds and effects. Interesting track.

"Etude in A min" - "Blood On The Rooftops" - "Horizons" is an acoustic outfit. The audience seemed longing for this track especially when "Blood On The Rooftops", all of the audience shout and gave applause. It is then continued with "Kim", performed excellently with acoustic guitar, keyboard and flutes. The audience participant becomes really obvious just before and during "The Optigan" - "A Tower Struck Down" (of "Voyage ." album) are performed. A very good track composed in horror mood with variety of styles. CD 1 concludes with a classic prog tune "Spectral Mornings".

CD 2 opens with introductions to the band members. The band then plays Hackett's classic "Star Of Sirius" (from "Voyage ." album) with quiet opening - demonstrating keyboard and guitar fills in mellow style. The music then turns to full stream with bass, drums and other instruments in a faster tempo. The track performed similar with the studio version. An interesting track. The other classic "Shadow Of The Hierophant" that featured Sally Oldfield (vocal) in studio version is now performed nicely with this live record. "Clocks" (from "Spectral Morning" album) is performed dynamically as the audience participate in hand clapping during the tune is played. From the beats that follow the clocks it turns to a medium tempo beat music with stunning guitar in rocking style. It ends up with an excellent drum and percussion solo. An excellent performance! It seemed like this track was intended to close the show . but . the audience give more and more applause to request the band returns on stage. Finally they made to the stage with Genesis tune "I Know What I like".

On Genesis' "I Know What I Like" part, the audience is really getting into much more crazy and more dynamic to participate the show. It's a great audience with thousands people in the crowd, I would say. This tune is suitable to play as "encore" role for the show. The singing style is modified to stimulate much audience participation, bass guitar is played differently combined with improvised drumming. Guitar work is extended and in some part features the "Dancing and The Moonlit Knight" combined with excellent flute sounds and piano / keyboard. It's a great and dynamic live track. The ending part of this track is also modified in such a way that it differs with the original Genesis version but it's nice and dynamic.

The music is then continued with "Wardrobe Boogie" in a great guitar improvisation in boogie style. It seemed, again, audience did not want to leave the venue with this encore. They clapped hands and shout for approx. 3 minutes - and it is not cut-off in this live record (thanks!) that indicates the "true" stage situation during the show - and finally the band came back on stage!!! What a crazy audience man! And Mr. Hackett said "It seem you force us to play another one tonight ." and the audience replied with "Yeaaahhh .!!!". Now the band continues with "Racing In A" (from "Please Don't Touch" album) in relatively long duration (10:15) and "Racing In A Coda" - an acoustic outfit by Hackett.

Even though the sonic quality of CD 1 and 2 is not very good, but it's acceptable for me and the performance and the music are really wonderful!

Castel Sant' Angelo - Rome 13/09/81 - CD 3: 74:50

The band: Steve Hackett (guitars, harmonica and vocals), John Hackett (flutes, guitars and bass pedals), Nick Magnus (keyboards), Chas Cronk (bass and vocals) - usually played with Rick Wakeman and Ian Mosely (drums) - whom later you would know him as permanent member of Marillion replacing Mick Pointer after the performance of Script for A Jester's Tear tour.

As Steve put it in the CD sleeve "And don't forget the crowd. They couldn't have been more enthusiastic - spontaneously bursting into applause for anything that grabbed them, never mind waiting for solos. What I am saying is, that this show was, I think, possibly the best this line-up ever performed". - this is a dynamic live concert.

The CD 3 starts off with a track from an under-rated album "Cured" with an instrumental piece "The Air Conditioned Nightmare" and it continues with another instrumental from "Defector" album called "Jacuzzi". Both tracks receive great applause from the audience. After the opening two tracks, Steve introduces Nick Magnus and continues with third track "Funny Feeling" with vocal line. It's a poppy stuff but it's nice. After this track, Steve continues the communication telling the crowd how he felt at home with some local language.

He then introduce the next feature from "primo album" called "Ace Of Wands". As usual, this is my all-time favorite track of Hackett, it starts with a dynamic drumming. The crowd give applause throughout the performance of this track. This track has been improvised in this live version. Before it continues with "Picture Postcard" which is another pop outfit - Steve does some communication again. The next three tracks are really my all-time favorite "The Steppes" (from "Defector" album), "Every Day" (from "Spectral Mornings" album) and "Overnight Sleeper" (from "cured" album). "The Steppes" is an instrumental piece in a medium tempo, blues based, with an eastern music nuance on guitar and keyboard styles. It's an album opener for Defector album and it's very nice and easy to digest. The guitar solo is stunningly performed here with soft touch on the guitar strings.

"Every day" receives great applause from the crowd as they clap hands when the song starts to blast the air. It seems they love this classic track. This has made this track more dynamic and lively. With many times this song featured in Hackett live performances, I still enjoy this version. Each version has its own nuance that I love almost all of them. This version has great drumming solo (very short) and some improvised part at the ending session. Well, it all confirms that Steve is better doing solo than as a guitarist of Genesis!

"Overnight Sleeper" opens with an acoustic guitar work followed with dynamic keyboard sounds with great melody. I love the opening part. One of my chief reason on why to buy the "Cured" album which most people under rate it was because of this wonderfully crafted song. In this live version, Steve does perform it with enthusiasm and fulll of energy as the song itself has variety of styles - that is also combining some traditional music with woodwind sounds. Oh man . this track is WONDERFUL!!!

Other three tracks are really Hackett true classics with great compositions: "Slogans" - "A Tower Struck Down" - "Spectral Mornings". Yeah .. another great live performance! "Slogan" is performed really lively and has been improvised to feature extended guitar solo and drumming solo. Really greaaaatttt ..!!! It rocks man ..!! "A Tower Struck Down" is performed lively and continued without break to "Spectral Mornings". It's a killing track man ..

"The Show" (from "Defector" album) is an upbeat tune that can accommodate crowd applause throughout the tune performance on stage. It flows semalessly to the intro of "Clocks" (from "Spectral Mornings" album) that concludes this CD 3.

The Grand Theatre - London 08/06/93 CD 4: 70:54

The band: Steve Hackett (guitars, harmonica and vocals), John Hackett (flutes on "Kim"), Julian Colbeck (keyboards), Doug Sinclair (bass and vocals), Hugo Degenhardt ( drums and vocals).

On top of great performance of CD 4, one thing that stands out clearly with this live performance: the great contribution of Hugo Degenhardt. He is a fantastic drummer! Who is he? Well, for sure I have searched through the nets and I found very minimum info about him. He did contribute to Mark Owen "In Your Own Time" which John McLaughlin contributes as producer. I am keen to know about him because his drumming style is top notch! The other great musician in this line-up is Doug Sinclair (bass). You can see how great his and Hugo's works on track 10 of this CD 4. Both musicians contributed in Steve's "Dark Town" album.

From the start "Medley" where it features Myopia / Los Endos / Imagining / Ace Of Wands / Hackett to Pieces in relatively fast pace - sounds like a jazz rock fusion tune, it's clear how powerful the drumming style of Hugo here. I think, "The Hugo factor" has in a way made a great contribution to the great performance of this CD 4! He sets the powerful and energetic tone of the show, I would say. It's very dynamic!

"Vampyre With A Healthy Appetite" starts off with rocking guitar solo and followed with a medium tempo music that features guitar rhythm and fills. The harmonica takes the lead during interlude followed with bass guitar solo. In "Sierra Quemada" and "Take These Pearls" the band offer mellow and nice instrumental tunes. It continues with a classic track "In The Heart Of The City" - "Walking Away From Rainbows" - "There Are Many Sides To The Night". A tribute to Steve's wife "Kim" is also featured.

"Dark As the Grave" explores acoustic ventures with great sound effects. An interesting song. "Always Somewhere Else" is really a GREAT track that explores the talents of Mr. Hugo Deggenhardt and Mr. Doug Sinclair. Oh man . their dynamic play in this track is really superb! I keep repeating this track because wanting to enjoy more and more . Bravo Hugo! Bravo Doug! Bravo Steve! (who has successfully brought together great musisicians like Hugo and Doug in this wonderful live set!).

"Lost In Your Eyes" is not may favorite but it's OK. But the "Medley: Spectral Mornings / Firth of Fifth /Clocks" - "Cinema Paradiso" and "In That Quiet Earth" are really excellent tracks! They are well positioned to close the show.

Newcastle City Hall - 26/10/79 & Hammersmith Odeon London - 30/10/78 [bonus-disc]

Well so sorry . I can not review this CD as I did not order through Steve's website (poor me .) but I'm sure it's another great show with crazy audience, especially those in Hammersmith!

OVERALL RECOMMENDATION

Before I make my final recommendation, I would emphasize on the sonic quality first. I would say the sonic quality is not excellent but it's okay to my ears. On ten-scale system, I would put overall sonic quality rate is 6.5 out of 10 - with exception to CD 4: 8 out of 10. But, considering that this is a live archives and I still can grab the music in pretty detail manner, I have excluded the sonic quality in my overall recommendation. So, my final rating is 4 ¾ out of 5 stars. You are the final judge on your purchase decision. If you love Hackett era of Genesis, I would be pretty damn sure you would love this live archives. On top of music, the 40-page booklet is really nice as your prog reference. Long live Hackett!! Keep on progging!!!

Yours progressively,

GW - Indonesia.

[...]

"Live Archive" is a sprawling 4 disc mini box set of live material from Steve Hackett and band. CD 1 and 2 were recorded in 1979 in London. CD 3 was recorded in 1981 in Rome and CD 4 recorded in 1993 in London. As one would expect the latter CD's are recorded a bit better than the earlier material, but it all sounds pretty good for the most part. With 4 CD's Hackett is able to cover just about every facet of his career up to the early 90's. You can really hear his growth and maturity as both a guitarist and especially as a songwriter over the course of the discs. Overall there are 51 tracks represented here. There are several repeats between the discs with some like "Spectral Mornings" appearing on all 3 shows. Hackett's solo albums are all culled from as is his old band Genesis. Overall this is a great overview of Hackett's career. You can find this box set used on Amazon for under $20 which is a steal.

Well this box set is the most complete collection of Hackett's most famous songs and instrumental pieces of art music as well,concerning the important career of the most influential guitarist, along with Andy Latimer and Steve Howe, all over the world prog scene!! This collection -being so wide- can witness the exact shade of meaning concerning Hackett's several kinds of execution, including also the defects during his performance (usually He's almost perfect technically, but of course his creativity and taste as well are always perfect); but this fact doesn't affect the high quality of the present box set, where you can find immortal classics such as "Please don't touch", "Blood on the rooftops", "Spectral Mornings" (the first 2 discs are taken from a concert in London)while "Jacuzzi" and "Ace of wands" come from a famous gig in Rome on 1981 ...the disc concerning the 90's activity of Steve is better recorded, even though the songs-apart from the splendid "Take these pearls"- are less interesting and not always inspiring. Nevermind!We forgive Steve for the presence of such tepid songs among several jewels, if you regard such moments as his break of inspiration: for this reason you can notice the duty He must pay, due to the necessary mainstream exigences, as an interlude between a complex part and the following easier section, suitable for the "laity" of prog music.
Highly recommended!! The booklet as well ...

Steve is probably my favorite guitarist of all time.
I had the extreme pleasure of seeing him perform with
Genesis a couple of times in the 70s. What can I say -
it changed my life. Expanded my musical horizons to the
highest level. Opened doors. The performances here are
very, very good. My personal favorite is the second 70s disc,
although they all have their strong points. The 90s disc
is probably my second favorite. There are really no words
to accurately describe Mr. Hackett's unique style.
It just seems so sad that today he is hardly noticed
in America and there are few bands around today that give
as much to their performance or even begin to know how.
If you love fantastic original guitar or are a fan of Hackett's
you won't want to miss this unique look back.

Genesis is one of my favorite groups and I have always liked Steve Hackett and have followed his career. He is a great guitarist and Genesis certainly went down a level when he left the band (almost as much as when Peter Gabriel left). However, he wasn't always that good of a composer. His limitations in composing really show up in the first CD's in this set, but his evolution and improvement are demonstrated in the later CD's.

This is a 4 CD set. The first 2 CD's come from a concert during his first tour of the 1970's. The third CD comes from a concert from the 1980's and the fourth CD is from 1990's.

Many of Steve Hackett's early compositions were boring and tedious. Many of them sounded like an Overture to a musical, where small pieces different songs are strung together.

Most of the tracks on the first 2 CD's are boring. There are some great guitar bits in them, but the supporting music around these guitar bits are worthless. There is also some nice flute work from John Hackett. There are interesting flourishes to some of the songs. It is the kind of thing that sounds much better if you are there, with the loud, hi fidelity concert sound instead of listening to it on CD.

The sound quality of the first 2 CD's is OK, but not great. The worst part is that all the audience applause was left in, even during the encore call back. There are stretches of several minutes of just applause. In total, the second CD has over 10 minutes of just applause. I would give the first 2 CD's 2 stars.

Things get much better on the third CD. If you don't believe me, listen to Every Day on the first CD and compare it to the third CD. You will be amazed at how much better it sounds. By the 1980's, Hackett's composing style changed. His compositions are much more fluid and interesting throughout. I would give the third CD 3 stars.

The fourth CD is fantastic, approaching 5 star material. There is just high energy playing throughout. His guitar playing is no longer an interesting bit of a bad song...now it is part of the complete work. There isn't a single bad track on it and there is some of the best material he has ever done.

Early Genesis concerts had the same issue as early Hackett concerts. You had to be there to really enjoy them. The mood and playing did not really translate well to CD. Genesis live material only became interesting on CD after Gabriel left the group and Phil Collins added his personality to the live performance.

These shows are sold separately. I would highly recommend getting the fourth show on its own. Then get the CD called Time Lapse, which is takes his best peformances from the seventies and eighties and combines them seamlessly on one disc. But, this boxset is so cheap, you might just want to get it anyway and rip the tracks you like best from the seventies and eighties (and remove all the cheering) to end up with one very nice CD. That is what I am doing.