Steve Hackett - Under A Mediterranean Sky UHD (2021 - Rock sinfonico) [Flac 24-44]

Steve Hackett - Under A Mediterranean Sky UHD (2021 - Rock sinfonico) [Flac 24-44]



There is an idea that was rightly reiterated and remembered several times during last 2020, while the whole world found itself more or less segregated at home to cope with the Covid-19 emergency: music was a great comfort for the soul. It allowed us to be a little less afraid when we were scared or it alleviated boredom when we didn't know how to spend time closed in four walls, while the people who lived there received infinitely less in return than they gave (but this is another matter ...).

Some might imagine that even Steve Hackett's new album has all the credentials to relieve our anxieties after so many months of waiting: an acoustic, delicate, entirely instrumental record, recorded in solitude with the only help of the historic keyboardist Roger King and the remote contribution of some friends and musicians from various parts of the world. Instead "Under A Mediterranean Sky", despite all the characteristics mentioned so far, is a ruthless record. Steve Hackett through music takes us on a long journey around the Mediterranean Sea and, in doing so, he seems to commit himself to wanting to remind us with devastating vividness all that we lack today.

The new album of the former Genesis talks about freedom, wind on the skin and sun that burns, tells the music of the sea and the stories of the peoples bathed by its blue waters. It takes us to Greece, Spain, France, the Middle East and of course also Italy. It reminds us, if we ever forgot it between a live-streaming and a video on YouTube, that music is not just a set of notes, but it is that experience that has allowed us to visit new places and that a concert is not only what happens when the lights in the room go out, but it is also everything we have experienced since we cross the threshold of the house. In short, "Under A Mediterranean Sky" would be 'only' an excellent record, but placed in our current context, it becomes a stab, melancholy and beautiful.

Hackett, as is well known, has always loved to combine his 'electric' career with numerous acoustic and orchestral works. Lately this aspect of his art had been temporarily suspended, so much so that we have to go back twelve years to meet a record with similar characteristics, or that "Tribute" in which the guitarist paid homage to the great masters of the past and in particular to Andrés Segovia . This new situation, however, has meant that many of the musical ideas collected during his travels could be brought to fruition, waiting to resume all activities (live and not) with his band. Compared to the other recording chapters of Hackett's acoustic career, in this record we still find the guitarist's fascination for world music, with a particular ethnic cut that shines more strongly in the songs dedicated to the East such as "Mdina (The Walled City)" and “The Dervish & The Djin”.

One of the greatest merits of the work, however, is its perfect ability to recreate the atmosphere of the place they are inspired by, giving enormous stylist variety to a work that never tires and never bores. We therefore have compositions for classical guitar only, such as "Adriatic Blue" and "Joie De Vivre", bright re-enactments of ancient civilizations ("The Memory Of Myth"), inevitable tributes to the Spanish tradition ("Andalusian Heart"), classical reminiscences (" Sonata Scarlatti ”) and bucolic landscapes (“ Casa Del Fauno ”, embellished by the transverse flute of his brother, John Hackett). The guitarist acts as a central pivot around which the arrangements revolve, always dosing superfine technique and elegance, giving the right space to Roger King's orchestrations and ethnic instruments, which often become absolute protagonists, in a dialogue that enriches both parts.
Another amazing work, therefore, for an artist who, despite having reached the age of seventy, still seems to be kissed by a flourishing and out of the ordinary inspiration.

The only warning we would like to give is the one we already expressed at the opening: after being lulled by the blue waves of the Mediterranean, going back to closing up at home, in the gray and cold of winter, will be even more difficult.

Steve Hackett - Under A Mediterranean Sky UHD

Tracklist:

CD1

1. Steve Hackett - Mdina (The Walled City)
2. Steve Hackett - Adriatic Blue
3. Steve Hackett - Sirocco
4. Steve Hackett - Joie de Vivre
5. Steve Hackett - The Memory of Myth
6. Steve Hackett - Scarlatti Sonata
7. Steve Hackett - Casa del Fauno
8. Steve Hackett - The Dervish and the Djin
9. Steve Hackett - Lorato
10. Steve Hackett - Andalusian Heart
11. Steve Hackett - The Call of the Sea

Playing Time.........: 51:19
Total Size...........: 454,31 MB