Steve Hackett - Beyond The Shrouded Horizon (2011)

Artista: Steve Hackett

Álbum: Beyond The Shrouded Horizon
Año: 2011
Género: Progresivo ecléctico
Duración: 57:52
Nacionalidad: Inglaterra

Lista de Temas:
1. Loch Lomond
2. The Phoenix Flown
3. Wanderlust
4. Til These Eyes
5. Prairie Angel
6. A Place Called Freedom
7. Between The Sunset And The Coconut Palms
8. Waking To Life
9. Two Faces Of Cairo
10. Looking For Fantasy
11. Summer’s Breath
12. Catwalk
13. Turn This Island Earth

Alineación:
– Steve Hackett – Guitarras, voz, armónica (1-13)
– Nick Beggs – Bajo, chapman stick, ukelele (1, 6)
– Dick Driver – Contrabajo (4, 7, 10, 13)
– John Hackett – Flauta (9) voz (7)
– Roger King – Teclados, sintetizador (1-13)
– Amanda Lehmann – Voz (1, 6, 8) guitarra (5, 6)
– Gary O’Toole – Batería (1, 2, 5, 8, 9) voz (1, 6,)
– Simon Phillips – Batería (12, 13)
– Chris Squire – Bajo (10, 12, 13)
– Richard Stewart – Cello (4, 7, 9, 10)
– Christine Townsend – Violin, viola (4, 7, 9, 10)
– Rob Townsend – Saxo, flautín, clarinete (1, 4, 5, 6, 8)

El Menduco al ataque! Ahora compartiendo un buen disco del maestro Steve Hackett. Un disco de mucha calidad y la elegancia de este inmenso violero. No tengo mucho tiempo para ponerme a escribir, pero con lo que han escrito otros (y el historial de Hackett) no creo que haga falta.
Qué mejor que empezar por las mismas palabras del músico...

Comencemos por ser muy sinceros. Si en esta publicación llegamos algo tarde para ofreceros una reseña de este álbum a algo se debe. Es porque 2011 está siendo un año, ya casi en su recta final, con una serie de lanzamientos absolutamente increíbles, y hacía falta reflexionar mucho acerca de él. Parece que la magia ha vuelto o está a niveles de creatividad como hace años o décadas que no se recordaba. Y sí, este ‘Beyond The Shrouded Horizon’ de Steve Hackett llegaba con el halo de ser otro de esos ‘discos del año’, y yo, al menos, no me bajo de ese carro. Pero aunque las comparaciones son odiosas, al final a este maravilloso álbum le falta un paso más para haber llegado al más alto escalón de esa élite de 2011. Aún así, chupeau por Steve, que se ha vuelto a marcar otro gran trabajo de gran nivel.
Y es que si algo tenemos claro todos es que Steve Hackett se ha ganado por derecho dejar de ser el ‘ex guitarrista de Genesis‘ para llegar incluso al extremo contrario: Genesis es la banda que una vez contó con Hackett. Y con Peter Gabriel, sí. Pero el caso es que ya este maravilloso compositor y amo de las 6 cuerdas hace mucho que dejó de ser algo más que un ex miembro de la mítica banda setentera que década tras década fue disolviéndose como un azucarillo.
Y ya centrándonos en el tema que nos trae, este ‘Beyond The Shrouded Horizon’, hay que decir que supera con creces al que ya fue un buen disco, el anterior ‘Out Of The Tunnel’s Mouth’ (2009), y que se une a los más de 20 álbumes de estudio de este genial guitarrista. Aunque no hay un solo estilo que represente a toda su música, se puede decir que es un disco que para nada incide en su vertiente más bucólica y atmosférica, con acústicas hipnotizantes. Su nuevo trabajo combina temas muy delicados, intimistas y tranquilos con otros más agresivos y realmente cercanos al metal. Entendiendo lo de acercarse al metal el hecho de endurecer el sonido de sus guitarras, que nadie se espere que ahora él y su grupo se desmelenen haciendo molinillos con su pelo.
De la discografía de Hackett opino que si bien hay una supremacía de la calidad y el gran gusto, nunca he terminado de entender que no acompañara a sus temas vocales con un cantante de calidad, ya que ni su voz ni la de sus músicos con los que colabora suelen tener grandes registros. Son correctos, cálidos en sus timbres de voz, pero de esta forma se destrozan canciones como ‘Looking For Fantasy’, una bucólica y sinfónica composición de gran belleza. Ahora ya es casi asociado a su música la voz femenina de una correcta Amanda Lehmann, si bien su aportación es más bien escasa. En este álbum canta en solitario ‘Waking To Life’, un tema muy popero de gran atractivo y pegadizo estribillo, y aporta su voz como secundaria en otras dos piezas: ‘Loch Lomond’ y ‘A Place Called Freedom’.
En general, vemos un disco muy marcado por esos intensos solos hirientes de Hackett, que te conquistan el corazón con su calidad y todo el candor que transmiten. En ocasiones hay mucho de los Camel de la era Latimer en su música, sobre todo por esas comentadas voces planas de registros muy pastosos, sin llegar a notas altas ni nada que se lo parezcan. En realidad son puros coros, a veces a 2 o 3 voces, con las aportaciones de su batería Gary O’Toole y del flautista John Hackett, hermano de Steve.
En cuanto a temas estelares, no es casualidad que las mejores sean instrumentales. Por ejemplo, la arabesca en su conjunto ‘The Phoenix Flown’ -lástima de duración de apenas 2 minutos-, o las bucólicas y renacentistas ‘Wanderlust’ y ‘Summer’s Breath’ -de un minuto de metraje-. La cosa aún mejora con la majestuosa ‘Prairie Angel’, una instrumental donde samples de teclados y la guitarra de Hackett logran una maravilla de tema, sobre todo con ese final insospechado de blues peleón y salvaje. Otra joya es la también arabesca ‘Two Faces Of Cairo’, que retrata genial las esencias musicales de Egipto. Parece que nos metiera Steve en pleno desfile faraónico. Impresionante trabajo sinfónico.
El resto de composiciones no van a la papelera por el hecho de tener partes vocales. Que quede claro. Pero en términos generales suelen estar por debajo de las instrumentales. El disco arranca con una no muy convincente ‘Loch Lomond’, si bien el atmosférico y misterioso comienzo nos lleva a un riff mágico que nos traslada al Edén. Por su parte, ‘Til These Eyes’ es una balada bucólica con un aceptable trabajo en la parte vocal, aunque sin excesos. Bella, sin pegas. La melodía principal es todo un lujo propio de música sinfónica, con una sección de cuerda de violonchelo, contrabajo, violín y viola sencillamente majestuosos. Y el mejor regalo para los nostálgicos de Genesis llega con ‘A Place Called Freedom’, que si bien en su parte central y estribillos nos llevan a músicas muy diferentes, los pasajes intermedios son de pura esencia genesiana. Poco a poco el tema progresa a una maravilla instrumental con un solo de infarto, muy al estilo David Gilmour: sinfonismo y sentimiento elevados a la enésima potencia.
En un escalón inferior están otros cortes como ‘Between The Sunset And The Coconut Palms’, que reitera mucho la vena bucólica de la música ‘hackettiana’ y con unas voces por momentos soporíferas. Se salva el tema con una preciosista parte final instruemental de música oriental y un posterior solo exquisito de violonchelo. Por su parte, la antes mencionada ‘Waking To Life’ incide en las melodías y ritmos orientales, con un acertado tono popero pegadizo al máximo. ‘Looking For Fantasy’, en cambio, que parece una canción de final triste de película lacrimógena, nos evoca unicornios, princesas e instrumentos de cuerda de época. Pero no, no convence como sus compañeras.
La sorpresa o joya escondida la deja para casi el final Hackett con la bluesera ‘Catwalk’, donde por cierto cuenta con invitados de lujo como el bajista de Yes, Chris Squire, y el célebre batería Simon Phillips (Toto, The Who, Judas Priest, Moore, Michael Schenker Group, etc…). Se nota la calidad. Ambos, juntos a un Hackett muy experimental y arriesgado, nos meten en una extraña canción de cierre, ‘Turn This Island Earth’, que tanto juega con sonidos extraplanetarios, como nos rescata momentos del disco, como nos mete homenajes a música clásica -se llega a oír un extracto de ‘El lago de los cisnes’, como nos devuelve al mundo real con un blues salvaje y con guitarras crudas de una enorme calidad. Suena más a jam session que a una composición estándar, pero es un broche perfecto a un disco que si bien no arriesga tanto como en esta última pieza, sí que vuelve a dejarnos lo mejor del ya mítico Don Steve Hackett, con mayúsculas.

Mención especial para el tema 3 del CD2: Four Winds-East. El tema original se llama "The supernatural" y es de Peter Green cuando estaba con Mayall en los Bluesbreakers, acá pueden escuchar la original... En alguna parte del booklet hay un agradecimiento de Steve Hackett. Ahora lo que hace Steve Hackett con el tema es glorioso. El sonido de la viola te parte el bocho.

Y tenemos más comentarios para que sepan qué es lo que escribió alguna gente de este disco...

No estoy de acuerdo con la mayoría de críticas que he leído sobre este disco. "Te gustará si disfrutas de los discos experimentales", "lo entenderás si te gusta el rock progresivo". Totalmente falso. Para disfrutar del nuevo disco de Steve Hackett (el que fuera guitarrista de Genesis, referencia que debería ser evitada por lo obvio de la misma y la poca relación que guarda lo que hizo con lo que lleva haciendo ya muchos años) lo único que hace falta es tener buen gusto. No puedo imaginar que alguien con un mínimo de sensibilidad permanezca impasible ante canciones tan colosales como las que contiene este "Beyond The Shrouded Horizon", poco importa si te gusta el pop, el rock, el metal o el jazz, escucharlas es sumergirte en un mundo aparte para el que sólo necesitas relajarte, ponerte tus mejores cascos y permanecer atento al impresionante abanico de matices que se despliegan en un disco de estas características.
La distorsión, el feedback de "Loch Lomond" (primer corte del álbum) acompañado de los arreglos de cuerda es como llegar a escuchar el amanecer de luces azuladas que parece representar la portada, ese momento de la noche en el que la luz del nuevo día hace huir a las sombras. Adoro esta forma de entender un instrumento, no disfruto demasiado con aquellos guitarristas que basan todo su genio en rapidísimos solos, me gusta cuando la guitarra "emborrona" la atmósfera de una composición. Cambios de ritmo y una guitarra acústica bellísima inauguran la estrofa hasta lo que parecen unas gaitas que marchan bajo el marcial ritmo de la batería hasta que entra de nuevo el riff principal y un solo magnífico. "The Phoenix Flown" aprovecha el zumbido que nos deja "Loch Lomond" y evoluciona con el magistral solo que hace de guía durante todo el tema, lleno de sentimiento.
"Wanderlust" tiene ecos de mestizaje en una guitarra muy nuestra que más bien parece un pasaje para abrir "Til These Eyes", una balada delicada y maravillosa.  "Prairie Angel" y sus sonidos de ambiente se verán rasgados, una vez más, por la triunfante entrada de la guitarra, cuyo cambio de tercio en el minuto 1:44 es verdaderamente sublime, rompe la canción por la mitad siendo acompañada por la harmónica poseída de Stev y, acaba conectando con la siguiente, "A Place Called Freedom", muy al estilo de "Til These Eyes" pero con unas voces dobladas deliciosas y unos arreglos de percusión que le sientan maravillosamente bien, como el ukelele y la flauta con la que la acaban, tan excesiva y extraña como magistral.
"Between The Sunset And The Coconut Palms" es reposada y vuelve a tener unas melodías vocales sobresalientes con un final emocionante. "Waking To Life" con la voz de Amanda Lehmann es la más étnica del conjunto. "Two Faces Of Cairo", experimental y misteriosa con la guitarra de Hackett en las notas altas, rozando una sonoridad cercana a un violín. "Looking For Fantasy" es relajada y tranquila y la guitarra vuelve a hacer de las suyas en la parte central como en "Summer's Breath" cuyas suaves notas te harán sentir la brisa ondulada del calor veraniego en plena noche. Un disco así no se compone de canciones sino de pasajes que te transportan del alba a la noche más calurosa, del misterio de la oscuridad a la brillantez de la luz del mástil de su guitarra.
El blues hace acto de presencia con la fortísima "Catwalk" de sinuosas notas, como el andar de un gato y la voz de Hackett ronca y forzada, la guitarra suena espectacular, solida y con grano, a veces saturada, otras espacial. De mis favoritas. Y llegamos al final del disco con la rarísima "Turn This Island Earth". ¿Cómo analizar una canción de casi doce minutos? Sintiéndola. Llena de cambios y todos derrochando genialidad y maestría a partes iguales; guitarras clásicas, eléctricas, bases programadas, baterías, cuerdas, un solo que es puro hard rock y atmosféricos coros que reverencian a este "Beyond The Shrouded Horizon" como uno de los mejores discos del año. No es apto para todos los públicos pero no porque haya que ser un entendido en progrock sino porque el buen gusto no abunda.

Seymour Glass

Y nuestro infaltables comentarios en inglés...

A new release by Steve Hackett is always an important event. By far the most prolific, and I think, most consistent of the former Genesis members, the fact that he can still release visionary and relevant music in 2011, and on his 24th solo release, is testament to his talent. In a recent review of Anthony Phillips' debut solo album, I remarked upon Armando Gallo's comment that hearing that album made him wish that Phillips had never left Genesis.
Well, as much as I admire and adore Phillips' output, listening to this, the vast majority of Hackett albums, and his immense contribution to Genesis themselves, all I can say is thank God Hackett did join the band and provide us with such an immense body of work.
Much of this album was written whilst on holiday in Egypt, with Hackett joined by his wife Jo and keyboardist Roger King, both of whom it is abundantly clear have made a huge contribution to the feel and shape of this album. I really enjoyed the predecessor album, but this, I think, is a more accessible work, and has the feel of a band effort throughout, not withstanding the array of artists that Hackett gets to join him, including, on three tracks, the great Chris Squire.
There is barely a weak moment on this album. It opens with Loch Lomond, which, after a rather heavy start, moves into more of a "traditional" Hackett track. It features some exceptional acoustic guitar work, alongside nice vocal harmonies. The denouement reverts to a classic rock feel, with Hackett showing off his electric prowess, mixed with some lush keyboards by King.
The Phoenix Flown is the first of the "Egyptian" songs, and is lush, wholesome, evocative, and far too short. This mild criticism could also be applied to Wanderlust, a lovely acoustic guitar solo.
Til These Eyes is a gentle ballad, very pleasant with more very rich acoustic guitars given a lush texture by keys. The additional orchestration provides a somewhat melancholic feel.
Prairie Angel is a real highlight, and is a brilliant instrumental evoking the Wild West in all of its glory. Extremely imaginative, this is a track with no lyrics which speaks loud and clear to you, and a special mention should go to Amanda Lehmann for her superb guitar work accompanying the master himself. It moves along at a cracking pace, and the track then segues into A Place Called Freedom, which continues the American West theme, this time lyrically. Gary O'Toole sings superbly, and the whole track easily brings to mind the spirit of the Native American world view and the surrounding geography.
Between The Summer & The Coconut Palms is a thoughtful track, which is, surprisingly to me, given the nature of the music, inspired by a Peter Sellers sketch.
Waking To Life features Lehmann again, this time taking lead vocal duties. She sings very well, and this is a nice love song, with layers of rich Middle Eastern sounds to bring to mind romance filled evenings on an Egyptian beach.
Two Faces Of Cairo was written at the foot of The Sphinx, and it shows. Gary O'Toole provides a memorable drumming performance, invoking the modern day tomb raiders existing alongside the richer past of the country. King's swirling Egyptian keys provide the lead instrumentation.
Looking For Fantasy is the first track to feature Chris Squire, and features some nice orchestration. It is pleasant without being remarkable.
Summer's Breath is another track to feature Hackett's mastery of the acoustic guitar. It moves, though, into what can only be described as a very heavy blues number. Catwalk is as heavy as Hackett has got for many a year, and the rhythm section of Squire and the great Simon Phillips on drums sets the tone throughout. A marvellous track, very much at odds with much of the pace of what preceded it, but not any the worst for that.
The album closes with its longest track, Turn This Island Earth. Clocking in at almost twelve minutes long, this is a science fiction inspired track, and, again, the mastery of King on keys especially manages to portray its futuristic theme. Squire and Philips again shine, and you really do, by now, begin to wish that the long promised Squackett collaboration becomes available soon. This is a real group effort, but, of course, led by some extremely complex Hackett guitar work. It is truly progressive, containing a multitude of time signature and mood changes, a percussive Greensleeves, orchestral work, and is truly awesome, and at times creates a massive wall of sound and also true menace, interspersed by true symphonic beauty. A great way to finish the album (I did not buy the bonus CD version), this is proof positive, if any were needed, that Hackett's creative drive and zeal remains as strong as ever.
I should also mention the fact that the Amazon download comes with a sumptuous digital booklet, featuring some marvellous photography.
Strangely, I haven't gotten around to reviewing Out Of The Tunnel's Mouth, the predecessor album. That, to me, is a solid three star album. This one is better. This is a very strong collection of tunes, well written and exceptionally well performed, with some fantastic highlights. Hackett shows he is a master of all things stringed, he sings very well, he writes very well with his wife and King (Steve Howe also contributed to the writing of two tracks), and the whole work feels like a collaborative effort between a host of talented musicians.
Four stars for this, and it comes very highly recommended to all of you who enjoy true mastery not just of the guitar, but of the true progressive genre as a whole.

Steve Lazland

Oh man .... He has done it again! This album blew me away at first spin for a couple of reasons. First, I am amazed with how productive he has been since 1975 until now producing 22 (twenty two) studio albums plus some live albums and DVDs. This is great, really. In fact he has produced 21 albums after he quitted Genesis while the band he left had not produced that many albums. Second, talking about quality, I think Hackett has been very consistent with his music style so far as compared to Genesis who tried to make poppy albums. I have not seen any effort that Hackett made to make pop music, he has been so consistent with his progressive music style. Look at this album; you will find this one is consistent with his styles since debut album in 1975, also the legendary 'Spectral Morning' as well as 'Dark Town' in 1999. Third, I like enjoying this album as I have always been failed with my effort to stop the music in the middle of the album. Whenever I play this album, I always spin in its entirety from start to end. The music has a solid structural integrity and it's so cohesive like story telling from start to end.
He has been consistent with his music style
Let' have a look the music in this album. It starts off wonderfully with "Loch Lomond" (6:49) where it reminds me to the Spectral Morning album in terms of nuances and textures even though the song is totally fresh - there is no such elements that copy the previous tracks from previous albums. This is not something like "Everyday" that opens Spectral Morning album nicely, it's much mellow than Everyday. Wonderful! It also reminds me to one of his songs 'The Steppes' of Defector album in 1980. The guitar fills still represent his style really well. What surprising is when the vocals enter comprising male and female vocals, it's really nice. Even thogh Hackett's vocal quality is not that good but he manages to blend nicely with the music. The guitar solo is also stunning. The second track 'The Phoenix Flown' (2:08) sounds like continuing the opening track by showing off Hackettian guitar style with some howling segments as well. Even though it's a short instrumental track but it's so instrumental to the album as a whole because it satisfies Hackett guitar style freaks. It's really great!
'Wanderlust' (0:44) is basically a guitar fills outfit that reminds us to 'Horizon' and it flows nicely to 'Til These Eyes' (2:41) which ha opening guitar fills that remind me to Kansas' 'Dust In The Wind'. Again, I enjoy this mellow track especially with Hackett guitar fills and vocal, backed with nice string section. I am sure most of you would love this track as the melody is really nice and it's very Hackett!
You must love 'Prairie Angel' (2:59) as it starts beautifully with howling guitar work by Hackett. It flows in mellow fashion with slow tempo and when it enters the interlude there is a rocking part with his unique guitar riffs followed with music that moves faster, faster and faster - combining the work of guitar and keyboard, augmented with guitar fills that is unique style of Hackett as an opening of the next track. It flows seamlessly to 'A Place Called Freedom' (5:57) with vocal line. In here Hackett explores his guitar fills as rhythm section of the vocal line. 'Between The Sunset And The Coconut Palms' (3:18) - again ...it reminds me the Defector album, something like before 'The Toast' I believe .... It's a nice track.
'Waking To Life' (4:50) something that is really different than other tracks of Hackett even though there are components that are still his style. This one has eastern music style with female vocal. I think he is brilliant making this track as it demonstrates something unique that focuses more on traditional elements as the music flows in this track. The guitar solo is still showing his style; he plays it soft and inventive. The song has high energy especially it contains beats and grooves. It's probably will be your favorite from this album. As the tittle implies, 'Two Faces Of Cairo' (5:13) represents the nuances of Middle East music. The opening part that has atmospheric drumming work sets the tone of the music really well. What follows are the keyboard solo that replicates the style of eastern music followed brilliantly with Hackett guitar solo while the drumming style remains intact. Well, you might refer to Led Zeppelin's Kashmir on the kind of eastern style the rhythm section (predominantly played by keyboard) of this track. This track is really killing me man!
'Looking For Fantasy' (4:33) starts off with keyboard work followed with Hackett vocal line and acoustic guitar fills. 'She's only looking for fantasy ...' followed with wonderful guitar fills that sound really great if you play your CD at decent stereo set or using a headset. 'Summer's Breath' (1:12) is a nice acoustic guitar outfit that bridges to the next 'Catwalk' (5:44) that sounds blues rock to me - and it's really an excellent track as far as my taste. Again his guitar solo rules!
I think the mascot of this album is the concluding track 'Turn This Island Earth' (11:51) that has opening part in the same nuance like Dark Town album with its atmospheric, haunted style combining sound effects from keyboard and a wonderful acoustic guitar work. The song moves in crescendo and it's really moving on with rockin's part especially in the interlude. The guitar and drums sound really nice backed with inventive string arrangements at the back. The music turns mellow at approx minute 7:50 - it's really a very nice segment and it flows mellow with nice melody augmented with atmospheric music comprising keyboard and string section at the background. It's hard for not loving this track, really!
With all the positive words that I use throughout this writing, I am confident to say that this is really an excellent addition to any prog music collection with 4+ rating.

Gatot Widayanto

Steve Hackett provides 13 multi-layered songs here, so all in all this is as diversified as we should expect from such a prolific musician. Nothing to consume in passing or greedily, this is hardly possible! 'Beyond The Shrouded Horizon' needs full attention to get it. Just take the extended Turn This Island Earth which evolves like a modern symphony in rock - Hackett's creative highlight ... well, at least when it comes to this album. A wonderful workout placed at the farthest end, which makes clear that this album is not the end of the flagpole, I'm sure.
Charming folksy impressions with acoustic guitar are representing the majority, however often alternating with (heavy) rocking parts like it is with the opener Loch Lomond - he starts his special journey beyond the shrouded horizon on the shores of Scotland's biggest lake, bagpipes come up in between ... remarkably enough he acts like a quick-change artist here due to multiple varied moods, this track is simply growing the more you listen as a consequence.
Prairie Angel and A Place Called Freedom are arranged like a couple which sounds like Hackett is paying tribute to Andy Latimer, in between though he's surprising because it turms into a straightforward rocking thing. Another pair consisting of Waking To Life and Two Faces Of Cairo is presenting a significant ethno/world orientation the other way round, where Catwalk simply comes as a blues cracker. Furthermore you'll detect rudiments of orchestral sentiment respectively classical components due to implemented strings all over.
It would burst all limits to bring up the complete various impressions which are implemented on 'Beyond The Shrouded Horizon'. Those highly considered musicians, which accompanied him on tour with the result of the excellent 'Live Rails', are on his side here again. Stylistically not that kind of music I'm focussed on, which I would expect to knock my socks off, (I came to this via promo offer) - I find it utterly prolific all in all - even considering some rock/pop excursions such an album deserves high appraisals.

Uwe Zickel

From the shores of Loch Lomond to the Rings Of Saturn, eh?
Steve Hackett seemed to have lost interest in progressive rock for a while, doing some lackluster pop oriented stuff, then some nice classical oriented stuff, but when he came back around to doing regular prog he has really put his heart back into it.
It's a very upbeat album which is a nice contrast to say, Darktown, which was his first move back into serious prog rock. He showcases and refines many styles he's visited before. It's heavy on the instrumentals and lets the music mostly tell the tale. When Steve does sing, you can really appreciate how well he's developed over the years. There's also a welcome female vocal presence, Amanda Lehmann, who makes Steve's tribute to love's discovery, Waking To Life, really shine. There's a great set of musicians including Yes man Chris Squire on five tracks, if you count the bonus disc.
Speaking of which, the bonus disc is no mere appendage. Some more instrumentals and for some strange reason, The North Wind, blew its way in front of the epicesque ender of the main album, This Island Earth. I rather like it that way I must say. More Instrumental winds will blow and one track with no Steve on it at all. She Said Maybe, may be the best track included with the bonus set. Next, an old Hackett instrumental gets vocalized in the middle of the Night, Focus erupts in Tommy fashion, and then the Nightmare gets Reconditioned.
And to think this album missed out on the distinction of being number 1500 in my collection by one slot. I went for an autographed double deluxe addition from overseas so go figure. The sicker on the cover says "The new studio album from Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee and former Genesis / GTR guitarist STEVE HACKETT." Sigh.
Anyway, spring for the deluxe edition, unless you don't like SH, then you can save yourself some trouble and just avoid it altogether. The extra tracks are worth having, the book/booklet has some nice artwork with brief comments by Steve for each track including those on the bonus disc. My only complaint is that his fat silver pen autograph on the cover looks like n . Ha_duw. I mean, Steve, really, were just cracking up at the sticker as you signed the things? Solid four stars, keep up the good work!

Brian S. Lindsey

Still a songwriter of great diversity of styles--all on display in this album, as Steve is want to do on all his studio albums--and still as gutsy/quirky a songwriter, I find Beyond the Shrouded Horizon, overall, perhaps the most accessible prog studio album Steve has done in about 30 years. (Save for the Sketches of Satie album, IMHO, you have to go back to the Voyage of the Acolyte/Spectral Mornings/Please Don't Touch/Defector/Cured period to find as appealing and accessible a studio album as this one. All of the live ones). Bravo, Steve! Thanks! P.S. LOVE the cover of Solution's saxophonist, Tommy Barlage's song "Divergence"--made famous by Focus's inclusion of it on Moving Waves' epic "Eruption" as part 6, "Tommy"--and by Jan Akkerman's inclusion of it on virtually all his solo live albums. Very cool! Would love to hear Steve and Jan Akkerman play/do an album or song together.

Drew Fisher

Este es un lindo disco para empezar bien un lunes....