Customer Reviews

Voyage of the Acolyte

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is rightly considered one of the masterpieces of progressive rock. It has the whole spectrum of the genre-- great, unpredictable arrangements (Ace of Wands), esoteric lyrics (The Hermit, Star of Sirius, Shadow of the Hierophant), manic instrumental sections (The Tower Struck Down), astoundingly beautiful moments (Hands of the Priestess), and the drama of classical-like buildups (Shadow of the Hierophant.) In order to perform progrock, you had to have the skills to pull off a wide range of musical moods.

Three vocalists contribute a variety of styles-- Steve himself delivers a quiet folkish song, Phil Collins his high and airy style, and an operatic approach from soprano Sally Oldfield (sister of Mike Oldfield). Steve's brother John Hackett is superb on flute and ARP synthesizer, while John Acock provides moody keyboard backdrops. Steve himself gives a more restrained performance than you would expect from a lead guitarist let loose on his first solo album, but his allegiance if first and foremost to compositional development, as was the tradition in progrock.

I'm not much of an audiophile, but I noticed the improvement in this disc immediately. This was one of the first albums I bought on CD, and I was glad to purchase it again for the improved quality. If you want to begin to explore Steve Hackett's career, or just want to relive a peak of the genre, start right here in 1975 when progrock was still one of the most commercially uncompromised genres in the history of popular music.

Recorded in June/July of 1975 (soon after Peter Gabriel left Genesis), this debut solo album by Steve more or less pointed in the direction that Genesis would travel following the Lamb Lies down on Broadway (1974). The album was also somewhat successful and reached No. 26 in England and No. 191 in America, which was a source of encouragement for the guys in Genesis (they were recording A Trick of the Tail at the time). More importantly however, Voyage of the Acolyte gave Steve an opportunity to record music that had been dismissed by some of the guys in Genesis.

Joining Steve (electric and acoustic guitars; mellotron; harmonium, bells, autoharp, vocal, effects) were Genesis mates Mike Rutherford (bass guitar, Taurus bass pedals, fuzz 12-string); and Phil Collins (drums, percussion, vibes, vocals); along with Steve's brother John Hackett (flute, ARP synthesizer, bells); keyboardist John Acock (Elka Rhapsody, mellotron, harmonium, piano); Sally Oldfield (vocal); Robin Miller (oboe, cor anglais); and Nigel Warren-Green (cello). For those of you Brand X fans out there (like me) Percy Jones contributes an excellent bass part on A Tower Struck Down. The musicians on this album are all excellent and I loved hearing Phil's drumming, not to mention his vocal contributions. Steve of course, shines throughout and his playing is both delicate and adventurous.

The eight tracks on the album range in length from 1'34" to 11'45" - the pieces are all superb and it is clear that Steve was (and is) an excellent composer. This is a very well recorded and soft album loaded with dreamy mellotron and warm synthesizer tones all over the place. Steve contributes some absolutely gorgeous and haunting acoustic guitar pieces and the proggy group workouts on tracks like Star of Sirius are a great deal of fun to listen to. All of the tracks flow together nicely and seem to form a larger work of sorts. I have to admit that this is easily my favorite Genesis - related solo album.

This was a well recorded album to begin with and the sound quality is simply excellent.

Voyage of the Acolyte ultimately gave Steve the impetus he needed to break off from Genesis (after having his ideas squashed) and strike out on his own. A simply superb album that is very highly recommended along with the Genesis albums A Trick of the Tail (1976) and the moody Wind and Wuthering (1976). By the way, Wind and Wuthering would be Steve's last album with Genesis and presents some of his finest playing with the group.

Steve Hackett's first solo album, a largely instrumental group of songs, remains something incredible, almost 30 years after its release.
The tracks on this disc are predominantly instrumentals, featuring lots of trademark Hackett guitar leads as well as some delicious synth playing and acoustic guitar. "Ace of Wands" is a magnificent mini-epic full of outstanding playing, memorable compostition and perfect instrumentation. "Hand of the Priestess" pats 1 and two as well as "the Lovers" are soft, pastoral pieces featuring delicate acoustic guitar and superb flute leads. "The Hermit" and the "Star of Sirius" feature vocals by Phil Collins and Hackett himself. "Star" has particularily impressive guitar/mellotron textures accompanied by synth and vibes, which border on spacey at times.
"Shadow of the Hierophant," the disc's lengthy closer is a very nice operatic sort of tune featuring vocals of that style by Sally Oldfield. The epic fadeout of the song is not to be missed, but it drags on for far too long, which explains the detraction of a star. "A Tower Struck Down" is the only tense song on this otherwise mellow, often pretty collection of songs.
Fans of Hackett's later work will find this somewhat different from his other material, but most of his followers as well as fans of early Genesis and prog in general will find this incredibly melodic album a real treat.

I bought this on import LP in 1975 and have been listening to it a couple of times a year for 32 years. I know this recording. At least I thought I did. The remastering of this music is steller. I am hearing things in this original mix that I have never heard before. I even compared this to the initial CD release and there is no comparison. The acoustic instruments have much more depth and presence. The electric soundstage is well balanced. For the first time, the bass and bass pedals can be heard in full depth and brilliance. There could be some serious foundation shaking with the right subwoofer. I always believed this LP could have fit comfortably between Foxtrot and Selling England if Genesis had recorded it. The only thing that keeps this work from being a true Genesis project is the absence of Peter Gabriel's vocals and flute playing. This recording IS that good. It has always been my favorite Hackett release. You need to add this to your collection.

Many of the best Prog albums after 1973 were not group works but so-called "solo" albums. Steve Hackett, fed up by his work being excluded from Genesis albums, and taking advantage of the hiatus forced by Peter Gabriel's departure, went into the studio and worked out his frustrations, producing a fine album of extended pieces that were better than any Genesis work that followed.

The opening of the album, "The Ace of Wands" is a paradigmic prog composition; meters run rampant, thematic material swoops from mood to mood, minor to major, instrument to instrument, with melodrama and muscular playing depicting this figure from the Tarot deck and establishing Hackett's credos as a guitar god.

The album follows through with this form; changes in mood, from acoustic reveries to near-heavy metal shriek fests occur throughout. Phil Collins appears to sing the "Star of Sirius" to good effect. All the songs work in their own way, though they lack the absolute focus of Banks/Rutherford, they still are creditable works. Maybe it's wrong to think of them as songs and think of them as compositions, which is truer, I think to the actual work and to Hackett's intentions.

Other prog solo albums of this time, Squire's Fish out Water, and Jon Anderson's Olias of Sunhillow exhibit similar scope and determination, somewhat familiar to fans of their home bands, but still outside the expected. Hackett's solo work in point: far more jazzy and frenetic than Genesis' was or would ever be, yet recognizable as part of the Genesis sound world. The joke was on Steve; when he left the band, Banks and Rutherford hired a studio dude to mimic the sound Hackett forged; that's the trouble with a style: unlike mediocre unimaginative playing, a style can be copied.

Here is Hackett shaking off the shackles, showing he can out-prog the progiest. Name another 1975 rock album with this much daring.

Well worth your time and money.

Voyage of the Acolyte is actually the first Genesis solo album (one minor error in Paul Clark's nice review). This solo album came out before Peter Gabriel's first solo album. It was recorded in June & July of 1975 just after the Lamb Lies Down on Broadway Tour. Peter Gabriel had just left the band, and Genesis had yet to record Trick of the Tail (November, December 1976). Steve Hackett's first solo voyage shows the depth of creativity which he only continued to expand throughout his post-Genesis solo career which began after his departure following the Wind & Wuthering tour. Steve continues to this day to do things most rock musicians wouldn't, or couldn't, do (like record a CD with the Royal Phil, or play the Vivaldi guitar concerto with the English Chamber Orch). The cover is one of many of the beautiful pieces of art work done by Steve's wife, Brazilian artist Kim Poor (greatly praised by Salvador Dali).

Steve Hackett's first solo disc is a beautiful, complex alternately entrancing and terrifying first effort.

Freed of the constraints of Genesis (who were, according to Gabriel becoming VERY set in their ways, plus Steve's contributions were rather minimalized in the context of the band), Steve wrote a set of very personal music encompassing many moods from beautiful and pastoral ("Hands of The Priestess I & II") to terrifying ("A Tower Struck Down"), frenetic ("Ace of Wands") pensive ("The Hermit") and so much more.

Unlike many guitarists solo discs, Steve doesn't set out ot blow you away with displays of chops but rather lets the songs be the star. He gets plenty of capable help from his bandmates Phil Collins (also singing on the beautiful "Sirius The Star"), Mike Rutherford as well as other notables on the English prog-rock scene at the time (for instance Mike Oldfield's sister Sally does an amazing vocal turn on "Shadow of The Heirophant"). In particular, Collins' drumming here just smokes, especially on "Ace Of Wands" {listening to this however makes me sad to realize that his drumming has since gone completely down the sewer, it hurt even more to hear him in interviews years later totally slamming Genesis' work from this period as that "silly progressive music", but that's another rant).

Back to the subject at hand, this was the start of Steve's rather varied and ecclectic solo career. Some Hackett discs are brilliant, some are rather cheesy but this one is a five-star barnburner! Highly recommended

PS: Great Halloween-type cuts include "Tower Struck Down" and the last part of "Shadow of The Heirophant", play these and watch the spooks come flying out of the speakers.

1975's "Voyage Of The Acolyte" was the debut solo album for Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett, recorded two years before he left the band. In my opinion, "Voyage Of The Acolyte" remains his best solo work to date. "Acolyte" is an absolutely gorgeous album, with Steve magically weaving rock with classical, creating a perfect prog-rock palette of moods, feelings, and sounds. The album also boasts excellent production & phenomenal musicianship, not only from Steve (whose guitar work here is sensational) but also from his Genesis co-horts Mike Rutherford on bass and Phil Collins on drums, and his brother John Hackett on flute. Powerful rockers include "Ace Of Wands," "A Tower Struck Down" and the closing section of "Shadow Of The Hierophant," while "Star Of Sirius" (featuring lead vocals from Phil) is wonderful prog-pop. Exquisitely beautiful pieces include "Hands Of The Priestess Parts I & II," "The Hermit" (with lead vocals by Steve) and the opening section of "Hierophant," with a lovely vocal by Sally Oldfield. "Voyage Of The Acolyte" is Steve Hackett's masterpiece, an album that sounds just as fresh now as it did 30 years ago. No diehard fan of Steve's or Genesis or progressive rock in general should do without it.

The very best thing to say about this album is, if you like Hackett's guitar work with Genesis, and you always wished there was one more Genesis album with him on it, well, here it is.

Originally recorded and released during the short hiatus following The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway tour, Voyage Of The Acolyte features a number of guests, including Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford. In other words, for most of the album, the core band is effectively 3/4's of the then current Genesis lineup (or you look at it as 3/5's of the classic Gabriel/Rutherford/Banks/ Collins/Hackett lineup). Even though Tony Banks is absent, the keyboard sounds used certainly sound like the kind of sounds that Banks normally used. The credits even list "ARP synthesizer" (the same make of synth Tony used on many of the classic Genesis albums). Combine that with Steve's fantastic electric guitar work and the heavy use of 12 string acoustic guitar, what you end up is effectively an extra Genesis record.

This is a great and very auspicious debut solo release, one which would please any fan of great work, and also please any Genesis fan.

Steve Hackett expressed the need at the time of this album (1975), and even when he left Genesis, to have more of his musical ideas incorporated into the group work. Failing to wrest the musical mantle from keyboardist Tony Banks (at least that's my opinion; note that Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford show up on this album but not Tony), the answer: a solo album! The hallmark of this album - and successive releases - is the tension between the quietly pastoral songs (e.g.,Hands of the Priestess) and the electrically-charged, sometimes metal-driven tunes (e.g., A Tower Struck Down), and even tension within individual songs (e.g., Star of Sirius). One of Hackett's strengths is that, as impressive and idiosyncratic as his fretwork is, he never lets it interfere with the lyricism of his compositions. Whether riffing or coming up with sound effects off his electric, or demonstrating his facility on the nylon six-string, Hackett shows taste and restraint within the prog rock tradition. Yes, Hackett had too many musical ideas that couldn't be placed on a Genesis album, but lucky for us that we have albums with them - we are the richer for it. His next album (Please Don't Touch) builds upon what is contained here. One of the most underappreciated guitarists in rock.