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Steve Hackett
The Tokyo Tapes
(Snapper Music)
Triumphant and courageous, the sublime progressions of art rock circa 1970's makes a welcome return for the century's closing in Steve Hackett's recent, Tokyo Tapes. From bassist John Wetton, formerly of Roxy Music, King Crimson and Asia, to multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald of King Crimson and Foreigner, Hackett's backing on this live concert recording is impeccable. Along with drummer Chester Thompson of Weather Report and Genesis and longtime Hackett collaborator Julian Colbeck, talent, taste and technique makes this band a fortress of sonic solidarity. A discographer's daydream, Tokyo Tapes brings together Hackett solo material, early Genesis classics, some popular King Crimson, even Asia's big hit, "Heat of the Moment," which surprisingly stands tall among the one hundred and ten minutes of sharp fusion maneuvers and strong exotic rock. A feast for the ears of those yearning for a home in the global afterglow of laser beam guided solos, or craving a castle of stately synths marking medieval tempos against blitzkrieg bass and drum. Ceremonial symphonies with pumped up pomp and accurate flash, Steve Hackett's Tokyo Tapes shoots out from the East in stratospheric splendor, landing somewhere between fantasy and the future.
John Noyd
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