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| Steve Hackett - Feedback '86 |
 Released: 2000 Label: Camino Cat. No.: Total Time: | |
Reviewed by: John "Bo Bo" Bollenberg, September 2000 You don't need to be an expert to know that it was never the intention to make the GTR album a one-off release. Looking at the success of Asia, it was certainly the idea to keep the GTR candle burning for many years. Sadly it never happened due to contractual reasons. These problems seem to be out of the way now as Steve Hackett just released Feedback 86 an album recorded in, you guessed it, 1986, containing eight rocking compositions and featuring a wealth of guest musicians. With Pete Trewavas and Ian Mosley helping out, the intro for "Cassandra" resembles "Kayleigh" quite a lot! However, thanks to the superb extra guitar of Brian May this song evolves into Hackett's very own "Layla" with also some outstanding hoarse vocals courtesy of ex-Manfred Mann's Earthband vocalist Chris Thompson. [See note below -ed.] These hoarse vocals seem to be a favourite of Steve as none other than Bonnie Tyler joins Thompson in "Prizefighters." We also note some great fretless bass here by Terry Pack. Queen guitarist Brian May gets one more chance to show his many talents during the rousing "Slot Machine" with "virtual drums" performed by Nick Magnus who used to be a permanent member of Hackett's band, the Enid, and China Crisis. Nick and Steve have known each other for years and they both understand each other very well where sounds and atmospheres are concerned. "Stadiums Of The Damned" is a collaboration between the two of them. The vocal range of Hackett doesn't really deserve a Grammy nomination and makes this tune one of the weaker ones on this album. The introduction of harmonica almost automatically adds a bluesy feel to "Don't Fall." However the guitar kind of brings this song into the domain of Rumours era Fleetwood Mac. Hackett is at his very best during the acoustic intro for "Oh How I Love You" augmented with a soulful Chris Thompson and classical piano by Nick Magnus. That same classical approach is taken over solely by Steve for his solo spot "Notre Dame Des Fleurs." Southern flavoured guitar opens "The Gulf" whilst the rhythmic backing holds an Arabian atmosphere, not long before Nick Magnus introduces powerful drums and Steve switches to loud, slightly distorted guitars. Compared to Darktown this is a cheap and easy album although it has its moments. Throw in a real drummer on some of the "virtual" tracks and you might have had a good album … in 1986! Now, almost fifteen years later Feedback 86 is just a piece of musical heritage, nothing more. The inclusion of Brian May certainly will boost sales, the profits of which can be put to good use if Steve is thinking of recording Darktown - The Sequel! Whilst the battles with MP3 and Napster become daily news on CNN, Steve Hackett and his Camino label have added no fewer than 20 MP3 files onto this disc. You'll find two songs each out of Chester Thompson's A Joyful Noise, out of Ian McDonald's Drivers Eyes and out of Steve Hackett's very own Sketches of Satie, Darktown, The Tokyo Tapes, Guitar Noir, Till We Have Faces and one track out of Steve's Genesis Revisited, There Are Many Sides To The Night, Time Lapse, Blues With A Feeling, Momentum and Bay of Kings albums. To top it all there is a video section featuring "Watcher Of The Skies", "Heat Of The Moment" and "Los Endos" filmed in Tokyo in '96 with John Wetton, Chester Thompson, Julian Colbeck and Ian McDonald helping out. So this package not only holds the unreleased Feedback 86 album but also twenty full MP3 tracks from the superb Camino catalogue. Value for money after all! ["Cassandra" also appeared as a bonus track on the Guitar Noir album of 1993; no info on it is included in the booklet, so whether this is the same exact version, I don't know, but the GN version certainly included Brian May. It seems it was on the version released in the US and Israel only. You can read a review of the whole album by The Christopher Currie at the Tentative Reviews site-.ed] [See also Keith's review -ed.] More about Feedback '86: Track Listing: Cassandra (4:07) / Prizefighters (5:13) / Slot Machine (4:23) / Stadiums Of The Damned (4:42) / Don't Fall (4:25) / Oh How I Love You (3:58) / Notre Dame Des Fleurs (3:11) / The Gulf (7:21) Musicians: Contact: Website: www.stevehackett.com Discography
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