Thank you for this review. My first Steve Hackett purchase and i'm really enjoying the concept, music and sleeve artwork/photography.

Awesome review thanks Pete! I agree after hearing this one I think Steve has got better as a player in the last 10 years (which seems impossible)! Really fine fine playing! One other thing I love about this record is the start which sounds like a short Isao Tomita FX enhanced composition - it’s Tomita dialect as far as I can tell! Final nylon string acoustic guitar piece White Dove an incredible work of art - very well done!

Great “honest” and fair review Pete!! You the man!!

Just received my vinyl copy yesterday. Looking forward to diving in. Thank you for the review Pete😊

I have to thank you Pete for this review of Steve Hackett new album.I did order this album threw internet on vinyl.

Great job. Pete. Thank you 👍💯

Thank you, Pete, for your review. All the damn time. I’m going to give the new, Steve Hackett ‘The Circus and the Nightwhale’, a listen. 🎤🎸🎵🎹🥁

Fantastic review Pete. This is an album that I've been looking forward to, and it's even better than I expected. Steve's playing is phenomenal on this record. I'm sure this album will be in consideration for my year-end list.

Yea Pete I found it sounded good online, Nice review.

Totally agree with you Pete. That's a great album from our beloved Steve Hackett. Thanks for the review.

Well said about Steve Hacketts new album I totally with you on his music guitar playing it’s so good my favourite guitarist in the world and that’s why I love genesis and all members of the band soloists as well. Best band of all time circus and the night whale for me album of the year 5/5 amazing

IMHO one of Steve’s more accessible albums. A very strong album. A top 5 for me in a rather immense catalog! Probably the MOST unrecognized STELLAR guitar players out there. Especially in the “old guys” club. 😁

I just listened to this over the weekend, it’s a pretty solid record.

Great reviews as always this Wednesday! Guys on Review Crew are doing great too with Puppet Pete!

Agree with your assessment. Great album. Would be a masterpiece if Nad Sylvan and Amanda Lehmann had taken all the lead vocals. Maybe Steve will re-release another version of the album with them on the lead vocals. Would be a cool alternate release.

Couldn’t agree more Pete. Steve’s playing is incredible. I can deal with his vocals. I love the variety. Might be my favorite of 2024 so far. Great listen. Captured me immediately.

Great job on the review. Prog lives!

Didn't even realize this came out! What a big prog review day!

Given that its an autobiographical album, i love that Steve's taken most of the vocals. Makes sense and he does a good job. Generally it's one of his most enjoyable albums. Really listenable and rewards repeated listens. Top stuff.

I thoroughly enjoyed this album. Amazing how prolific he is these days. Bless his soul.

I like it alot. I have row 2 next month in Brown Count ind. and hope some of it make it in to the first set.

Love Steve's playing, ordering this in next day or so.

'Shadow of the Heirophant' with Amanda Lehman on vocals at the beginning (it's on the 'Live' albums too) are totally the best version of Steve's song. KZfaq has this version (Look for the cover photo showing Nad with green lights behind him) YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT

I've only heard the album once, but I DID notice some KILLER guitar work. Thanks for the review. 😎😎

Like this one very much. His guitar playing is amazing, and I find his voice is a nice mellow contrast to the often snarling guitar. I also find a lot of great creative ideas on each song.

2 listens in. Review is spot on. Guitar playing is off the charts, will keep listening for that. Especially enjoy how much classical music is in the forefront of what Steve delivers. As far as the vocals, well the classic Voyage of the Acolyte was mostly instrumental... Regardless, 3.5 stars today. This one should move up with more listens.

As a lifetime Steve Hackett fan I find this album quite enjoyable. It takes a few times through to properly digest. It has really sounded better with each listen. IMHO this is one of his top five efforts. Steve’s Voice is an acquired taste, given the fact that it is autobiographical he should sing these songs. If you liked the early Genesis, you should enjoy this. Steve don’t change a thing. 30 albums, holy crap, you are surely Iconic. 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🎸⚡️

Variety is the spice of life: this album has plenty of it, even,dare I say it, the CSN sounding Enter the Ring. Guitar playing is a five out of five. Don’t mind his vocals and I agree the compositions are some of his best prog.

Totally agree with your comments Pete. I have played and played this new album by Steve Hackett and I have to say I think I like it. Your dead right this album is much better than say the previous half dozen which sounded much the same. And agree also that his vocals are always the same. He needs Nad Sylvan singing or just someone completely new. Glad he has Craig Blundell with him though. A great drummer.

Amazing album .For me this top album for year 2024 in this moment

AWESOME ALBUM !!!

Great review. All points are spot on. I feel the same way about Rush. I cannot listen to Geddy Lee's voice and have always imagined how great their catalog would be with a proper vocalist.

I've journeyed through this album 4 times so far, it's very good. I'll go with 4 stars for now, but I can see it moving up to 4.5 as I listen to it more. Thanks for the review, Pete!

I have always struggled to get into Steve Hackett's solo stuff. Steve Hackett is a fine guitar player but his lyrics and singing have a lot to be desired. I prefer his instrumental work the best over any of his vocal contributions.

Totally agree about the guitar playing. I've seen him live every year for the past ten years and every show is better. It will be interesting to see which songs from the new album make it to the live Lamb shows. Amanda tends to guest a few times, in the UK, so I hope she is at the show I've booked for.

I really dig the album cover and Steve’s playing in general (especially at this point in his career) but I just can’t get past the production. The album sounds like it was mixed and mastered in 1987-1989. Personal preference I suppose. Thanks for the review Pete 👍😄

I really like how Steve has handled vocals on most of his albums (aside from his most early attempts at lead way back circa Cured). The restrained, smooth texture of his voice actually suits his solo music well. I really like how he uses Amanda and other members of his band for harmonies, to the extent that I prefer this choral vocal approach to that of Genesis (in any era), who did very little in the way of harmony, aside from a few early tracks with Peter and Phil. I really like Nad’s live work on the GR songs, as he does excellent justice to both the Peter and Phil eras. However, I actually don’t think his voice suits much of Steve’s solo material. I agree that more lead vocals from Amanda would probably work nicely. It is interesting how Steve has, now for over a decade, walked the parallel yet distinct paths of revisiting classic Genesis material plus producing large amounts of quality solo material. And in fairness to the familiar structure of his recent rock albums, keep in mind that these have been interspersed with completely alternative releases: classical acoustic albums, jazz fusion work with Djabe, etc. Aside from these minor quibbles, thanks for a solid review. I’m looking forward to this album. Steve is solidly in my top 10 artists/groups of all time, and definitely in my top four Mount Rushmore of guitarists… rounded out by Gilmour, Hendrix and Satriani.

Not bought the album just yet, but I certainly will be doing.

I'm glad Steve sings. It's his story. He should be telling it with guitar and voice.

A very good cohesive album, more so than previous albums. The concept works very well even with all the variation ( whereas on previous albums the variation could be grating). I'd have like more keyboards and flute. Best guitar for a long time and carefully arranged. Also fair point about vocals, the vocals are OK but also well arranged - in fact it's a well composed album ( as a work of art should be) - but I don't like fiddling around with the vocal sound eg. vocoders etc.

Hi Pete - I have listened to the album just the once, and I am sitting on the fence? I already have 8 Steve Hackett CD's so I am a big fan. I need to listen to it more before I make my mind up. I would argue Wild Orchids, Darktown and Metamorpheus are better and the album "Squackett" with Chris Squire is sensational. He's certainly not breaking any new boundaries with the new album, but then I guess he's good at what he does. I dont think I will be buying it at this point in time - we'll see. Cya Doug

I have only heard a few of the songs on this album, but I am like you about Steve's vocals. I think he sings well enough, and he has got better over the years, but he has a great singer in Nad Sylvan performing most of the songs on his live shows, why just one song here? But as you say, it is his album and he will do it the way he feels is best. Another question is regarding the length of not only this album, but of albums in general. To me if the album is a good one, I want as much of it as possible squeezed onto an album! At the rate some artists release new material, ever new album should be a box set! 🤣. I have loved all of Steve Hackett's work and to me the more of it I get the better! I think he is the only former Genesis member that is still consistently putting out interesting prog music and is the only one from the classic five that still embraces his prog roots. The others seem to have left that behind a long time ago.

To me, SH is one of the finest guitarist in the world, and I haven't heard this album yet, but as a generalism people do not really excel at more than one thing. SH (and I've been a great fan since the early 1970s) is probably 1 in a 100 finest living guitarist (I'm trying to be generous to others), but as a singer he is probably 1 in 10,000. Great review, SOT, and many thanks.

Thanks, 5 out of 5 for me due to production, performance, and brevity. At least as good as Spectral Mornings. I rank this in his best two records.

Good album,like usual lol..I'm picky about his vocals..dark as the grave,for example, is when I love his style, the transylvania Dracula things he does is when it's great..nomads,is awesome-tacular 😁✌️🥃

Listened through it a few times and I like it more than almost anything he's done since the 70's. It's DENSE. If you give it rime though, it reveals itself.

I agree: it's a great album; it is like previous albums, except for Under a Mediterranean Sky. I was not blown away, however. Steve Hackett has not yet topped Spectral Mornings. I keep on expecting his next album to be better than Spectral Mornings, but this one isn't. It's good, it's great, but still not greater than Spectral Mornings.

I’m 56 and really been serious with Prog for about a year. I really dig this album. Great purchase from Ken. However, if he’s so much better than he was in his Genesis days, I’m a little nervous I won’t like those classic Genesis albums. 4.3 for me, love it

I guess being a solo album he felt obliged to do the vocals in the main. He could start a side project band and then use other lead singers to get around this I guess. Maybe 15 years ago he should of, alternating the albums between a new band and totally solo ones..

My theory is that Hackett's playing got better by writing and recording 6 classical albums-- a very demanding genre. In the 1970s, no one would have said that Hackett was a better guitarist than Howe. But today, I have to admit that Hackett's playing is way more complex, even though I'd still rather listen to Howe's material with Yes because he's such a good writer. Both obviously neither should not be doing lead singing, especially at this point in their lives; at least Howe has a good singer doing co-lead vocals with him. I don't actually buy most of Hackett's albums, but I adore Tribute and Momentum-- two acoustic classical guitar albums.

Shows that there’s still a lot of great music being released these days. Who says music is dead? Certainly isn’t in the PROG world.

I see on another channel that Steve was inspired by Jeff Beck’s passing while recording this, which may have driven some of licks a bit.

Pete totally agree, if you had guest musicians as well as Nad and Amanda, I just find it boring , apart from Steve’s brilliant playing and you just know it’s a SH album

Малопонятно, но факт.... For some reason I never liked the solo projects of 'Genesis' ( except for P Gabriel of course) there were a few pretty songs of Collins like 'Thru the walls', a very good album of Tony Banks - 'Fugitive' but still....

I'd only let the vocals take my assessment down by half a point. I'd give the album a 4.5.

Yep, last few Hackett albums were great, this one is even better.

Pete did you ever see the Fixx?

I personally have acquired the taste for Steve's voice. He has improved leaps and bounds from his early albums. More Nad would be good, though. I will say I agree, there is a sameness to his recent works. I'm ok with that. Hope he has many more left.

I agree with a lot of your comments here, but you're reviewing a 'one off' autobiographical Concept album - Why shouldn't he do most of the singing? Remember that Pink Floyd were criticised for including an exceptional female singer on 'The Dark side of the Moon' when it was released.

My feeling is that this album is a big disapointment. Since Out of the tunnels mouth, he does the same kind of music. Two songs perhaps are worth listening but the whole thing does nothing for me. The concept is not very interesting. Still very good musicianship, Steve had never played better, but it's not well produced, the drums are always the same too heavy. Was hoping for more. And the cover art is awfully ugly. Boring rock world music.

I recently heard one track from this. I didn't like it at all. (And I love Steve Hackett). Also, I really hate Nad Sylvan as a vocalist. I'm probably in the minority but I can't stand him.

It's not for me.

I dont like it. Its very predictable and its a lot of copy and paste. I prefer Steve early work that peaked with To watch the storm. A lot of the previous Hackett qualitys disapeared with Roger Kings production. In my ears, very sad. For sure, Hackett is one hell of a guitar player, but the songs are weak and overproduced.

Didnt like it...bored to death.

Let's state it clearly: Hackett's main problem has been his ridiculous giant ego.

Not bad alblum it’s to rocky. I loved last few albums when Steve did songs based on theme. Each song sounded Spanish vibe. Or steam punk setting. Each song had different style. Thus is is concept alblum I love it. When last song your fave song because it acoustic side and melancholic side of Hackett I grown accustomed to. Yea. Overall this is 8 out 10 alblum. I feel concept is way out there.

If u want nad aylvan on full album go listen his solo albums or agents of mercy. I will refuse buy album where hsckett is not on vocals at all.