STEVE HACKETT: 40th "Please Don't Touch" anniversary

    • Official Post

    Steve Hackett's second solo album recently celebrated its 40th release anniverary.


    I was wondering whether you own this record, whether you like it and what's your favorite track on this one.


    our review: https://www.genesis-news.com/c…Touch-CD-review-s345.html



  • I first bought PDT in the early to mid-80s. I don't consider it a perfect album by any means but I like it quite a lot. Favorite track is probably "Narnia."


    A few comments about the review linked to:


    [Carry On Up The Vicarage:] "a female voice says something unintelligible"

    I think that's actually a male "character" voice, apparently recorded from an arcade machine (as shown in some of the photos on the original vinyl inner sleeve), saying something like "I'm Bimbo the Clown. All you do to make me dance is push my buttons down."


    [Carry On Up The Vicarage:] "he distorted his voice with a 'laughing gnome' effect (the voice is simultaneously pitched higher and lower)."

    One of the vocals is pitched higher. The other one he apparently tries to make sound "lower" although it actually doesn't seem to be pitched artificially.


    "One could almost think that Kim was one of Satie’s famous Gymnopédies."

    Most certainly. I remember the first time I heard one of those Satie pieces (which I now have on SKETCHES OF SATIE); I was amazed by the stylistic resemblance to "Kim."


    "Tony Banks praised the song [Hoping Love Will Last] in Chapter & Verse. He felt that it would have been good on A Trick Of The Tail."

    He really said that??? Wow! 8|

    Little known fact: Before the crowbar was invented...


    ...crows simply drank at home.

    Edited once, last by DecomposingMan ().

  • The first Genesis related record I ever bought, following hearing his Reading festival performance on the radio. For many years my favourite album, still one of them, it is an ideal "desert Island Disc", in that, if you could only own one record, this covers all the styles.

    The vocals on The vocals on "Vicarage" are done using a harmoniser, which changes pitch without changing speed. The effect is used live on intros on the "Spectral Mornings" Live DVD recorded on ARD Musikladen


    Favourite Track? Hard to pick, but I guess Icarus just edges it.

    Ian


    Putting the old-fashioned Staffordshire plate in the dishwasher!

  • One of my favorite three from him (along with "Voyage Of The Acolyte" and "Spectral Mornings").


    "Narnia" always puts a smile on my face - it seems obvious to pick as my favorite, but it's an honest statement.

    Stepping out the back way, hoping nobody sees...

  • Best Steve Hackett album ever. Compared face to face with And Then There Were Three, it could not show more clearly what a loss Steve was for the band and how liberated he was after leaving.

  • Best Steve Hackett album ever. Compared face to face with And Then There Were Three, it could not show more clearly what a loss Steve was for the band and how liberated he was after leaving.

    None of that stuff would have ever made it onto a Genesis album, anymore than Phil's cover of You Can't Hurry Love or Peter Gabriel's Modern Love would have. The problem with Steve was that he rated his material far higher than the rest of his bandmates did. He was valued as a player but not as a writer. Looking at the success Genesis continued to enjoy after Steve left, I don't think they considered him to be that great a loss.


    Good for Steve, though; being in Genesis gave him the confidence that he needed to go out there and plough his own furrow as a solo artist.

    • Official Post

    released already 43 years ago today ...


    What are your favorites now?

    For me, still the title track, How Can I and Icarus Ascending

  • Not sure where I'd place the album amongst Steve's work, but it would be in my top ten at least. Difficult to choose a favourite track, but it's probably between Carry On Up The Vicarage and Icarus Ascending, though I also love Narnia and Hoping Love Will Last. Funnily enough, the title track doesn't grab me the way it grabs some people, but it's still a good track. One of my favourite album covers of Steve's too. :)

    • Official Post

    indeed it is. By the way, Nad Sylva did a great job when he sang Icarus Ascening during one of the recent Hackett tours. Shame they didn't try How Can I ...

  • never really liked this one. Don't know why, I know it's a favorite of many fans.


    My favorites are the title track, Narnia and How Can I?

    Each to their own of course, and it's good that different people like different songs, it just shows how strong the album is, and how diverse. For me, How Can I is not one of my favourites, though I don't mind it. Generally, I've always preferred the funnier and quirkier side of Steve which is why I love Carry On Up The Vicarage. I've always liked Kim as well, though it's not likely he'll be playing that one again!

  • I've always liked Kim as well, though it's not likely he'll be playing that one again!

    He should just give it a new name, like he did with Depth Charge/Riding the Colossus, Beja Flor/By Paved Fountain, Bacchus/Puck, End of Day/All is Mended...

    Little known fact: Before the crowbar was invented...


    ...crows simply drank at home.

    Edited once, last by DecomposingMan ().