Steve Hackett
Under A Mediterranean Sky
(InsideOut)
9/10
By Decibel Report

In this unprecedented time, in recent memory, of restrictions on personal freedom of movement and activities, it’s the inner freedoms we might often take for granted that have become even more acutely valued. Although we can’t board a plane or ship and transport ourselves to another country we can trip out on our inner emotions and let imagination take flight and immerse our inner beings in our memories and desires. The stimulating power of music enables each and every one of us to do just this. Similar to our sense of smell, sound also has the power to remind us of places we have been and are yet destined to hopefully visit.

As a rare and hard to master instrument, there’s something abstract and refined in the timbre and textures of the acoustic guitar, masterfully played, that transports the soul beyond its everyday ruminations and enriches the spirit. Just like the recently departed maestro Julian Bream and the ever-present John Williams, who himself popularised the nylon guitar by broadening its appeal with the electric ensemble Sky, so is Steve Hackett gifted with a unique talent to translate emotion to a mass audience on a nylon guitar that raises the profile of this rarefied and mostly solitary instrument.

His celebrated acoustic excursions during his precious time with Genesis apart, Hackett has persevered with nylon acoustic recordings throughout his resurgent solo career to magnificent effect; even recording whole albums with this much-loved instrument. This renaissance effect has never been more felt and needed than on this wish you were here postcard of songs and passages of music inspired by his travels throughout the Mediterranean. The dramatic tumbling of notes and evocative movements of music inspired by Hackett’s various visited destinations conjures up both place and experience in the imagination of any receptive listener.


Not unlike a hinged globe spun on its axis and opened to reveal the inner core of places being explored, each piece reveals its essence of place via Hackett’s hands, accompanied as ever by his outstanding musical companion Roger King.

The detail is in the very fine detail of the individual passages of music that magic up the theme of each track. A prize example is album opener Mdina and its dramatic sweep of instrumentation revealing visions of this ancient Maltese location. The imposing opening impact of cumbrous sound settles into a run of labyrinthine tones as though racing through ancient passageways towards radiant sunlight.

The refreshing fluidity of not only the musicianship but also of these carefully distilled ideas rises to the surface like bubbles in still water, or something stronger, especially on the eastern influences of Sirocco with its heavy rinse and repeat cycle of emotions. Whereas Adriatic Blue, Joie de Vivre, Scarlatti Sonata, Lorato, and Andalusian Heart waft along on a featherlight touch of crafted charm.

Further surprises are revealed by the hypnotic swirl of strings and indigenous instrumentation on The Dervish And The Djin, which is not only redolent of such timeless places as Petra, Wadi Rum, and the Jordanian desert but also of the eastern-influenced flavours on some of Hackett’s most recent electric solo album releases.

Is there currently a more universally followed exponent of the classical nylon guitar reaching out to mass audiences across the globe as Steve Hackett? And at this refined level of expertise and popularity? Singularly in a class of his own, Hackett's Under A Mediterranean Sky is a modern classic.