Premonitions - June 2015
Returning to the Please Don't Touch ride on Santa Monica Pier
Steve at City Hall, Newcastle 1977
Photo © John Bell
Hard on the heels of Wolflight (thanks to all for receiving it so enthusiastically) retrospectives are in the air... A comprehensive box set of the Charisma Years 1975 - 1983 entitled Premonitions, which contains my first six albums plus several live shows and rarities. Some of the studio work has been remixed by clever pal Steven Wilson both in surround and stereo, plus original John Acock mixes. The project is planned to come out in October via Universal under the auspices of Mark Powell who has been campaigning for this for quite some time. Due to his tenacity the whole thing has coalesced into quite a project.
The Wilson surrounds I've so far heard are spectacular. The lushness suits much of that material. Strange orchestras led by koto sound wonderfully otherworldly. Chester Thompson's percussion on Please Don't Touch at times sounds like the dead breaking out of coffins to reclaim the cobblestone streets...
For me it's a treasure trove from a padlocked chest found in an old attic.
Premonitions was my original title idea for Voyage of the Acolyte. This was the point my Genesis afterlife began. Even though I was initially still in the band, I was starting to captain my own ship. Once the floodgates were opened, there was no turning back.
It's like viewing a garden of unearthly delights brought back to life with deeper and richer colours...
Click here to download the track list
Steve Hackett with special guest Steven Wilson at London's Shepherds Bush Empire, 2010
Photo © Marco Salvatorelli
