Steve Hackett
The Total Experience Live In Liverpool

He is industrious, this man called Steve Hackett. A man with a long history that we have seen quite relived with many live albums doing Genesis songs these last few years. This year celebrates 40 years since Hackett’s solo debut and thanks to that we have a show featuring songs that are from Steve Hackett’s solo career but also with some Genesis songs that hadn’t been performed live for many years. So he has been digging around a little in the treasure chest that is his extensive music catalogue and put together a huge live production recorded on the stage of the Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool.

Progressive rock of course, often quite long tracks that are strong on melodies and some brilliant choruses. A parade of great songs is what we have here, and an excellent production with a sound that is really impressive. Good variation through the album, this is also helped by some very interesting guests that show up in some tracks. There is really nothing to complain about when it comes to the production and sound of this album, other than that they could have done something to the sound when Hackett talks between songs as it can be somewhat difficult to hear what he is saying. Other than that little niggle I think this album is an excellent production and the song selection is really interesting and varied enough to keep you listening for all the time without feeling tired of what you are hearing.

Short about the video as well, cool venue is one thing that strikes me when watching the video. I also very much like the way it is filmed, the video quality is good but also they way it is filmed and cut together. You can argue that Hackett and his band is a little static on the stage but dynamic filming helps that rather well to make that less of a thing for the viewer. I think however that you could do well without the video as I have really enjoyed listening to the album more than viewing it, but the real Hackett fan will of course get the big deluxe package with video and CDs, you shouldn’t really loose out on the CDs as the audio is the best thing about this release.

Fans of progressive rock music will find this very appealing and for all of you it is very recommended. A massive load of great tracks and picking out a favourite isn’t the easiest thing but I think the fourth track Wolflight from Hackett’s latest solo album with the same name is the best one if I am to pick one standout track. I don’t really have to write any more about this great live release that manages to be enjoyable for more than 150 minutes – that is really impressive.

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