pluggedin2progressiverock

I was listening to my favorite source for progressive rock music, morow.com the other day and stumbled upon this gem. I initially recognized the song title “Spectral Mornings” from Steve Hackett’s 1979 solo LP of the same name.  Upon first listening it didn’t sound familiar but as the track continued I was dumfounded (always wanted to use that word in a sentence!) to find this was a vocal interpretation of the Steve Hackett original.  Now this is definitely interesting.  Adding vocals to a track that was originally released 36 years ago.  I had to know more!  And I’m passing it on to you now. First, the lyrics were penned by David Longdon.  He’s currently the lead vocalist for the British prog rock band Big Big Train. Ironically David auditioned to replace Phil Collins in Genesis in 1996 long after Steve Hackett had left the band. David also adds a flute solo to the piece.  Continuing with a theme to bring in top notch talent from the world of progressive rock, 2 members from the Welsh progressive rock band Magenta are also part of the line-up.  Christina Booth on vocals and Rob Reed on 12 string guitar join this ensemble.  Reed is the brainchild behind this collaboration and also receives producer credits. I always loved the dynamic of a duet with male and female vocals and the pairing of Booth and Longdon is exceptional!  Of course it would not be complete without Steve Hackett playing classical guitar and adding his signature axe solo that first appeared in the original instrumental version.  He is by far one of my favorite guitarists of any musical genre.  I’m also the proud owner of an autographed copy of the original 1979 solo release of the same name.  You can safely say I’m a big fan.

To add to the overall impact of this wonderful version of Hackett’s original it’s all a part of In Aid of Parkinson’s UK at www.parkinsons.org.uk.   That’s the Parkinson’s support and research charity of the United Kingdom that for more than 40 years has been working to find a cure and improve life for everyone affected by Parkinson’s.  That makes me appreciate these fine artists even more for coming together to record for such a worthy cause. I’ve included a performance video for the track here below.  It most cases it’s awfully hard to duplicate or surpass the original.  But in this case I think the talented musicians assembled here have done just that.