Reviews
Jam Magazine, Italy
vote: 8
Why? Now that he's started, we hope John Hackett will carry on the rock path and won't step back.
As far as we are concerned, classical music can wait!
History is filled with musicians overwhelmed by their rockstar brothers, from Simon Townshend to Chris Jagger, from Mike McGear (aka McCartney) up to those confined into their big brother's band, just like Dave Davies and David Knopfler... Yet, John Hackett represents a different case; his brother Steve is Genesis' ex guitarist, and John was born as a classical flautist, deeply involved in concerts, and also released some records, both on his own and as a member of the ambient band Symbiosis.
Since 1978 John has backed up Steve both on his records and on stage worldwide, and being burnt by the sacred fire of rock, he finally decided, stepping towards his fifties, to satisfy his desire and put away his flute in order to grab electric guitars and bass guitars.
This record's best surprises, and there are many, are however John's voice, not very powerful but extremely intense, and his writing. Checking Out Of London is made up by 12 tracks filled with a poignant melancholy; their intensity is even moving sometimes, and floats all around you, carrying you along up to the end, pushing you to listen to the album once again.
Yet the album was released by a very small team: Nick Magnus on keyboards and programming, Tony Patteson singing on three tracks and adding lovely harmony vocals to John's tracks, and obviously big brother Steve just can't stay out of the game and provides us with his wonderful guitar on half of the tracks and on harmonica on The Hallway & The Pram.
John Hackett shows a remarkable taste, too: the songs’ melodic figures are always perfect, as well as the chords successions are never for granted. A great deal of romanticism weds a background sadness, enhanced by Nick Clabburn touching lyrics, making the listening to this record even painful. Yet unlosable.
