Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Hackett, Steve
Label: EMI Records
Release: 1980
Rating: 4/5
Steve Hackett, one of the most revered guitarists of the golden age of prog rock, kept pursuing his musical visions with plenty of creative energy even after the magnificent masterpiece “Spectral Mornings” (1979), though he never again matched the unreachable standards he set with his first three albums, which rank among the classics of symphonic prog. This great guitar innovator, the only musician to have won praise from both John Lennon and Yehudi Menuhin (which he counts as the two greatest personal honors of his entire career), didn’t rest for a moment and made yet another excellent album, one that still gets overlooked far too often in the shadow of those first three masterpieces.
“Defector” is nonetheless another superb record, and for years it was Steve’s last classic, symphonic prog-rock-oriented album, which is where he was usually at his strongest. As on its predecessor, we get an exceptional sonic richness and a more or less transcendental atmosphere, driven above all by his unique and instantly recognizable approach to guitar playing, which includes a whole range of techniques that he managed to push to heavenly heights over years of development, for everyone who values subtlety over speed. Steve kept the excellent lineup from the previous album, which featured, besides his brother John, the superb keyboardist Nick Magnus, drummer John Shearer, bassist Dik Cadbury and vocalist Pete Hicks. Sadly, this was the last time Steve used that lineup, and only John and Nick Magnus stuck around in the future. On “Defector” we get to enjoy mostly a series of magnificent symphonic instrumentals made in his best tradition, and a bit less of the pieces that already show AOR influences, which he would sadly put (far too) much emphasis on in his next outings, when his temporary artistic decline would begin.
The album opens with the atmospheric instrumental “The Steppes”, which, in both mood and structure, is in my opinion the best thing on it and one of Steve’s best pieces, period. A flute starts building a rich oriental atmosphere in the intro, then massive drums crash in, along with a great bass guitar line and subtle keyboards, which are among the integral reasons this first-rate masterpiece works so well. None of it would be anything without Steve’s guitar, of course, which sounds fantastic and remarkably fluid (as usual), especially when he serves up a series of exceedingly subtle solos that keep melting into the excellent flute and the divine sounds of the Mellotron. The sad fact is that this was one of the last moments the unforgettable instrument was used on a prog rock album of the 80s, because a period followed in which it fell into complete obscurity at the expense of new synthesizers, which in my opinion were always inferior to the “king of keyboards”. “Time To Get Out” is already a bit more in the AOR rock vein, which is where Steve would be pulled mostly on the next album, but thanks to Hicks’s vocals it’s still better than all of his later, similar attempts at commercializing his sound. After a solid guitar intro that echoes the Genesis classic “The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway”, it flows into a melodic vocal section that’s slightly reminiscent of “Every Day” from the previous album, though it’s a noticeably less interesting piece. Still, it has some good vocal harmonies, with guitar and keyboards weaving tastefully through them, and Steve shows off a few witty guitar passages at the end.
This solid AOR attempt is followed by the excellent “Slogans”, a hundred percent symphonic prog delight, and thanks to its constant swings between dark and dissonant sections, every Van Der Graaf Generator fan will love it. After a wild, wound-up keyboard intro, the song moves through numerous twists in a gloomy, almost eerie atmosphere, with plenty of great guitar passages. It’s a piece where you can clearly feel the contribution of every single instrumentalist, and where there’s no shortage of witty keyboard effects. The song peaks in the middle section, where maestro Hackett demonstrates his flawless command of the tapping technique, which is pretty much a given for someone who is now recognized as its inventor. Also worth mentioning is the very good closing burst of eerie synths and guitar, which sends the song straight into the much gentler “Leaving”. The latter has an exceptionally mystical vibe, with some very good harmonies in the interplay between guitar, flute and subtle keyboards. The short acoustic instrumental “Two Vamps As Guests” picks up with its basic motif right where “Leaving” ended. This is shown above all by the central guitar riff and the elegant acoustic guitar playing, with which Steve once again proves why he’s one of the best acoustic guitarists in the world of rock music. The excellent instrumental “Jacuzzi” is another highlight of the album and of Steve’s career in general, mainly thanks to the astonishingly successful interplay between inventive flute playing, spacey keyboards and well-conceived guitar riffs. The Mellotron and spicy time changes create real prog nirvana as the song shifts from section to section. The incredible coexistence of guitar, keyboards and flute in the middle part is one of the best moments on the album. The ending brings back the opening motif, where a complex melody returns once more all the way to the closing climax, where we again witness Steve’s diverse guitar wizardry.
“Hammer In The Sand” is a good instrumental with a touch of new age, mainly because of the very pretty piano playing and atmospheric synths. If those had been replaced with Mellotron, this solid piece could even have been one of the masterpieces. “The Toast” is another very pretty piece, loaded with mystique, quality vocal harmonies and an artful guitar motif. It also has a very nice instrumental section where the interplay between flute and keyboards calls to mind one of the famous works of classical music. “The Show” is, in my opinion, a rather weak attempt at a hit single, propped up by fairly cheap synths and a disco rhythm accompanying the main melody. It was even a minor hit in the UK, but that of course can’t possibly save it from its status as the weakest moment on the album. On his early records Steve usually liked to tuck in at least one burlesque number, and this time it’s the closing “Sentimental Institution”, which recalls the kind of pop our grandpas and grandmas listened to in the 40s. Steve amped up this feeling of “authenticity” from the old days with some special production effects. Even though this droll little tune has a certain charm, you get sick of it pretty quickly after repeated listens.
The bonus tracks on the reissue will surely delight most fans of Hackett’s work, though they don’t bring anything especially new. “Hercules Unchained” is still a highly interesting experiment, since it would be hard to imagine anything less typical for Steve. Here he plays what is pretty much outright punk, which at the end, especially thanks to the incredibly high vocal acrobatics of the excellent Pete Hicks, veers into early heavy metal territory too. The maestro obviously wanted to poke some fun at a genre and movement that was already in decline at the time, but that in its day had relished attacking every kind of inventive music from artists of Steve’s caliber. The remaining bonuses are live recordings from the “Defector” tour (mostly from the Reading festival show), the standout being the excellent rendition of the masterpiece “The Steppes”.
Despite a fairly average finish, the end result is a hugely varied, fluid and symphonically seasoned album that will go down a treat with all true fans of Hackett’s solo work, as well as most of those who appreciate good 70s symphonic prog. For me, “Defector” is the last of Steve’s classic, symphonic prog-rock-oriented albums, though because of some less noticeable experiments it doesn’t reach the masterpiece status that the unforgettable “Spectral Mornings” managed, and that’s exactly why this album remains somewhat overlooked. Still, it surely deserves a bit more respect, since in my opinion it’s one of the last “old-school” prog rock albums, which only came back to life in the mid-90s after a long drought in the 80s. From this album on, Steve’s records become far less progressive and the maestro tries his hand at other genres too. The next album was already a big step back through commercialization and synthesizing of the sound, and the end result was some of his weakest work.
Lineup
Steve Hackett – guitar, backing vocals, Optigan, Roland GR 500
John Hackett – flute
Nick Magnus – keyboards
Pete Hicks – vocals
Dik Cadbury – bass guitar, backing vocals
John Shearer – drums & percussion
Production
John Acock & Steve Hackett
Track List
1. The Steppes (6:04)
2. Time to get Out (4:11)
3. Slogans (3:42)
4. Leaving (3:18)
5. Two Vamps As guests (1:58)
6. Jacuzzi (4:35)
7. Hammer in The Sand (3:09)
8. The Toast (3:41)
9. The Show (3:40)
10. Sentimental Institution (2:32)
Album length: 36:50
Bonus tracks on the reissue (2005):
Hercules Unchained (B-side of “The Show”)
Sentimental Institution (Live)
The Steppes (Live)
Slogans (Live)
Clocks (Live)
