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Steve closes the decade beautifully with an album that, as the title suggests, represents a return to serenity and the ability to compose music with a free and tranquil mind, after three difficult years during which his ex-wife Kim tried to take everything from him, even the spare strings for his guitars, because she had forgotten that her husband hadn’t played on "Invisible Touch" and wasn’t exactly making pounds flow from his orifices. Here, Hackett abandons the slightly exasperated eclecticism of some previous albums and finds "the permanent center of gravity," so to speak, in a more "dry" and compact album, more decisive in the musical direction to take. In doing so, Hackett manages to write songs that perfectly blend the electric soul with the acoustic-classical one (the perpetual alternation of acoustic and electric or the dichotomy of an introduction with a classical guitar leading to an electric change is present in almost all tracks) with a fluidity and naturalness I hadn’t felt from him... Who knows, maybe even since Spectral Mornings. "Sleepers" is, hands down, the peak of the album, a little masterpiece where Hackett's electric guitar starts to stutter again (remember "Ripples"? There you go), but all the tracks shine, with just a couple being slightly less convincing but still pleasant. Beautiful, beautiful.

Hackett in Brazil (part two). Three years later, Stefanuzzo and his lady return to Brazil to compose some music, this time with more conviction compared to the ultra-relaxing vacation of "Cured." This is an interesting album, not spectacular but with some nice pieces and good ideas, and perhaps a bit underestimated within its discography. This time, some vaguely Brazilian influences can be heard, at least in the choice of musicians, all local (a substantial group of percussionists, but not only) except for Mosley and Magnus. But since Hackett is a joker, suddenly there are references to Japanese music ("The Doll That's Made in Japan," with Kim on vocals as the "Japanese girl," but they also pop up in the excellent "What's My Name") with Hackett playing the koto, things like that. Being a joker, the album closes with 40 seconds of instrumental from Disney's "Pinocchio" song, just because. "Myopia" is also a very particular piece by his standards. In "What's My Name" and Matilda-Smith... (great track, perhaps the best) there's excellent use of percussion (Brazil, not Africa, yes, but it's never been so close to Gabriel as in these snippets of the piece) "Taking the Easy Way Out" is a nice ballad and so on. Here Hackett experiments with something a little different, and it's one of the times he pulls it off well. In my opinion, it’s a solid work, an album to reconsider at least a little because it's really not bad at all.

Steve Hackett on classical guitar is always the best, in my opinion (maybe it's because I adore the sound of the instrument), even when he records an album under unfortunate conditions and in a complicated time, namely during a turbulent divorce from his now ex-wife Kim and also at war with the manager who had taken away his chance to record music in a studio (oh, to put it mildly). This album Hackett had to play and record in his own home, in an improvised studio, probably while Kim was busy ripping the carpet off the floor to take that with her too (guys, we’re lucky she didn’t come to our house asking for her husband’s record covers back, just kidding Kim, don’t sue DeBaser). Apart from his faithful friend King on production and mixing, here there’s only Hackett and his guitar. That’s it. Not even his brother on flute. Just him. Him and the classical composers he pays homage to, because here Hackett relies on the safe harbor of performing other people's pieces. The most represented is Bach, of course, since he was the one who originally opened new "Horizons" in guitar playing for Steve many years ago. And well, it might be an album made out of necessity (it was the only type of album he could afford to make at that moment, in fact), but it's still Hackett playing Bach and company with a classical touch. A gem. Hats off.

A good album this "Wild Orchids," within the average output of Hackett's electro-acoustic work. The main flaw of the album is indeed that 17 tracks are too many, and not all are valid, and the extreme stylistic eclecticism of the various songs doesn't help either. This is another characteristic that I both like and dislike in Hackett; for instance, here it seems he takes pleasure in surprising the listener with songs that are vastly different from one another in terms of genres, styles, atmospheres, etc. In the end, I can't help but think that his stylistic signature is to not have one. And while I usually enjoy versatility even within the same album, and appreciate Hackett's versatility as well, sometimes with him it feels excessively forced, as if he has never understood (or maybe simply doesn't care) what exactly to put in his albums. Fortunately, the average quality of the songs here is more than satisfactory. There are acoustic/classical/orchestral pieces (once again the Underworld from the splendid "Metamorpheus") and electric pieces, extremely sweet and wonderfully bucolic soft songs ("To a Close") and edgy, dark tracks, covers of Bob Dylan, and songs that you would never think "Wow, this is Hackett, you can tell" (like "Down Street," which by the way is one of the most beautiful, or "Ego and Id," composed by John Hackett, a classical flautist, and it’s an amazing electric piece...). Recurring musical themes, beautiful songs and others decidedly less so ("Wolfwork"). A bit messy, but it's a good album.

Hackett's misstep in the last decade, one of his less beautiful albums which, by the way, is placed between two much more inspired ones. There are a couple of decent songs (the title track is nice, for example, as is "The Wheel's Turning") but overall I find it weak, flat, and very disappointing, with few ideas and even some messy parts. There are melodies, arrangements, and solutions in several tracks that aim to be epic but flirt with the cheesy; sometimes they hit the mark and give it a high five. It's a heavy album to listen to, boring, even if here and there in almost every song there's that piece or that passage of guitar that, okay, is nice, but it's not enough. The cover is also terribly cheesy... Sure, the wolf cubs are nice, but the overall effect, my goodness, no. For me, while waiting to listen to the latest release, the decade 2010-2020 has been fruitful for Hackett from a qualitative perspective, "Wolflight" being the only half misstep.

After the artistically unfruitful Brazilian holiday at Hackett in 1982, it was time to start stressing and arguing with Charisma again. The result is this album, released the following year, which went through a troubled gestation and would be the last published under Stratton-Smith's historic label (which at the time I believe was hardly managing much anymore...). "Highly Strung" I like; it's a nice album overall, better not only than "Cured" (thanks ar ca) but for me also better than "Defector," and I don't hesitate to say so. It still partially follows a very pop-oriented path, but much less and more rarely than its predecessor. The sounds, when they're not too cheesy or plastic, are brilliant, lively, and sharp, just like Hackett's guitar, which here shines more than ever. In short, just "Casino Royale" (which will become a classic in Stefano's live sets) overshadows "Cured," and if we want to talk about '80s pop, "Cell 151" with its very poppy and cheeky first part still triumphs over the pop-curedian style. All the more pop-oriented tracks are at the center of the album, and while "Weightless" and "Walkin Through the Walls" are a bit weak (the only ones on the album I don't like), I open the wardrobe and pull out the skeleton: I like "Give it Away," the most bubblegum-pop thing this man has ever done. Everything else is made up of high-quality tracks ("India Rubber Man" is a delight, "Group Therapy" is excellent, and so on). A great album, for me.

"Guitar Noir" is a beautiful album by an artist who has reached full maturity, a refined, elegant work often set in soft atmospheres, delicate when not dark or melancholic. This is also one of the albums where Hackett manages to better blend the acoustic and electric parts of his music, in a constant exchange and dialogue between them in most of the songs, with the excellent help of Magnus' keyboards, following a well-defined path, still far from the furious eclecticism that will dominate his albums in the following decade. Then Hackett allows the acoustic "soul" and electric "soul" to take separate paths, resulting in two of the best pieces, two instrumentals, "Walking Away From Rainbows" for classical guitar and "Sierra Quemada," which is the most typically "his" electric piece in terms of guitar style—a piece that would have fit well on "Spectral Mornings," just to be clear. The other two standout tracks that elevate the album are "Vampyre With a Healthy Appetite" and then, of course, the splendid "There Are Many Sides of the Night," which traverses electric, acoustic, and even orchestral elements, encompassing all things Hackettian, the peak of the album. The low point is the nice yet isolated "Lost in Your Eyes," which feels out of place with the rest and, frankly, is cute but not much more. Other than that, there are beautiful (on average) refined songs that contribute to making "Guitar Noir" one of the most coherent and successful works of Hackett's electric phase post-'79.

His masterpiece. Wonderful work.

His first album for classical guitar, all instrumental and acoustic stuff, of course. Here there is no orchestra yet, as will be the case in the classical albums of the '90s and '00s, and the only accompanying elements to the classical guitar are the cameos of John’s superb flute (which takes center stage in the beautiful "Kim" and "Second Chance") and the synthesizers of Magnus that replace the orchestral parts, just in a couple of tracks (especially in "Calmaria"). A perfect album for moments of quiet, filled with bucolic watercolors, enveloping atmospheres, notes like drops of dew, sometimes with an almost dreamlike sweetness, other times with a more restless, hazy grip. In the reissue, excellent additions of three more tracks, very valid ("Time Lapse at Milton Keynes" is one of the best on the album, the other two are traditional pieces). The gem remains "Horizons," a safe harbor reintroduced here, 11 years after the first time, but of course, it’s taken from Giovanni Sebastiano Ruscello; for the rest, everything is signed by Steve. The Bay of Kings is already a nice album; I have to say it’s the one I like the least among Hackett's acoustics, the only one that perhaps fails to envelop me in its atmospheres for the entire duration. Hackett will refine his style and later produce three stunning classic albums, all among my favorites in his discography: "Momentum" ('88), and with the orchestra, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" ('97) and "Metamorpheus" ('05).

Third solo album, it is obviously one of his best works, the most successful after his debut among electric records. It's no longer the laboratory of diverse styles, genres, singers, and musical backgrounds that was valid but a bit confusing in "Please Don't Touch"; here Hackett puts together a well-defined band, featuring ONE singer, decent and underused, yet still maintains the eclecticism of his musical proposal and the desire to always try different things, from the journey in Japan of "Red Flowers..." to the darker and heavier "Clocks", through ironic moments like "Ballad of Decomposing Man" (which sings itself) or the surprising "Tigermoth" that constantly changes its face. When he then turns to classical guitar or his more melodic side (the delightful "The Virgin and the Gypsy" with the wonderful flute of his brother John and the melody of the chorus, which I adore), he hits me squarely. And then, well, at the beginning and end of the album, the two masterpieces that elevate this record to first-class work, two of his absolute best pieces: "Every Day" and the same, beautiful, "Spectral Mornings" because after all, Hackett, when he does "Hackett" with the electric guitar, always touches the heart, and it’s good to remember that the best singer in his albums has always been the one with six strings.

"Defector" has always left me quite cold and disappointed; it's a decent work, at times even something more, but I can't shake the idea that it's the unlucky little brother of "Spectral Mornings," even Kim's artwork is less appealing than the previous one. Half of the album is instrumental, which isn't a big deal since the singers are rarely the strong point of his albums (unless he had hired Sally Campovecchio full time, just saying), the sung tracks are the calm "Leaving" and "The Toast," classic Hackett-style ballads, beautiful songs, and then there are the two tracks where Hackett awkwardly veers towards a more pop direction, perhaps in an attempt to create something chart-friendly. Like you find "The Show" with that slappy bass line making you think, "Is it Hackett or is it AnoderUanBaizddeDast?" which I really like... The bass, I mean, the song is a bit of a mess. Just like "Time to Get Out," which isn’t bad but bland. In 1980, his former companions were much more inspired in the pop realm. Then there's the cute retro finale, nice. The instrumentals are also hit or miss; the dull "The Steppes," and the sunny "Jacuzzi," which I won't even mention the classical guitar piece, not bad but nothing exceptional in the others. I don’t know, it’s a clear step back after Spectral; from here he would start a more "pop" phase for a couple of years with the poorly executed "Cured" and the definitely better "Highly Strung."

In my opinion, Spielberg's best. The umpteenth way to interpret science fiction, here the aliens are good, just a bit curious. Technically spectacular, great special effects (for 1977), a great film, it ranks in the top 10 of science fiction movies.

emotional sufficiency.

the movie of my childhood, purely sentimental rating (the real one would be two points lower).

A classic, very beautiful. A science fiction fairy tale, very well directed. One of Spielberg's last great films.

Enough with the attack on Philip Dick. What harm has he done? I hold on tightly to "Blade Runner" and "A Scanner Darkly."

Even the emotional bond with the Jurassic lizards cannot save this film from its mediocrity. Useless.

7/10

Beautiful pop record, I've always liked it a lot. It doesn't quite reach a 5 but it's close, really a great album (and not even their best, after all). Tracks like "Goodbye Stranger," "Gone Hollywood," "Casual Conversations," and "Child of Vision" are worth the price of admission, or rather, the album.

Always one of my favorite "pop" albums (in quotes because there's more to it than that). The band's mature album and for me absolutely their masterpiece, with all the other (great) works trailing behind in its wake. A killer sequence of tracks, from "School" to the fantastic title track (one of their best melodies, and can we talk about Helliwell's sax solo at the end?), passing through "Bloody Well Right," "Rudy," "Asylum," etc. On a desert island, I'd gladly save a spot for it. A perfect album, with a wealth of ideas that deserves applause and not a single flaw.

Very trashy.

Epic, swan god. E-P-I-C. One of the most successful stylistic turns ever. However, in my opinion, "Filth" and "Young God" are not inferior to it.

TOTAL.

3.5/4. The Folk parentheses of the Swans. An episode that has remained quite isolated in their discography, it is probably the least interesting album from the extraordinary band led by Gira. However, there are still some valid moments, including a beautiful cover of Blind Faith, which for me is the most successful track on this The Burning World. If this can be considered a "half misstep," it must be said that with the following album they will make a remarkable comeback. In a big way.

The younger brother of "White Light From the Mouth of Infinity" has little to envy its predecessor. A beautiful record, extraordinary and increasingly numerous melodic openings, the epic and decadent folk of early '90s Swans offers pure emotions. Many tracks are intense enough to bring a tear. A masterpiece within a masterpiece? Perhaps, "She Cries (For Spider)."

It may also be one of their most accessible and lightweight works, and it certainly falls short compared to other masterpieces of the immense swans, but for me, it still rocks. Disco, maybe 5 stars are too many, but in any case, it would never go under 4 very, very abundant stars, and here we are.