Photo: Tina Kohoren
Prog rock pioneer Steve Hackett has announced the release Premonitions – The Charisma Recordings 1975-1983, a comprehensive reissue project that includes his first six albums on the Charisma label, together with a wealth of previously unavailable recordings as well as remixes by Steven Wilson. Premonitions will be released on 16th October by Universal Music Catalogue/Virgin.
Premonitions will be available as a deluxe box set featuring a total of 135 songs on ten CDs and four DVDs (5.1 mixes), plus an extensive booklet; included in this version are 67 previously unreleased recordings between old and new tracks, live and remixes.
“I’m pleased that Steven Wilson has done several new mixes in both surround and stereo,” Hackett declared. “The box set will also contain a number of live shows from the era. I’ve enjoyed being involved with this comprehensive trip down memory lane. There’s also a substantial booklet containing a lot of background info along with many wonderful Armando Gallo shots, and Roger Dean has painted a beautiful picture for the cover. For me it’s a proud souvenir that highlights those years. I’ll play plenty of this early work at shows in the autumn which will include some numbers not played live for many moons, like ‘Icarus Ascending’ and ‘Star of Sirius’ plus all time faves such as ‘Every Day’ and ‘Spectral Mornings.”
Hackett’s two most successful albums from the Charisma era, Please Don’t Touch and Spectral Mornings, will also be re-released separately in a deluxe expanded version with 5.1 mixes by Steven Wilson in 2016. Both records having previously been reissued in 2005 as expanded single disc sets.
2015 marks 40 years from the release of Steve Hackett’s first solo record Voyage of the Acolyte; He was the first member of Genesis to release a solo album, before leaving the band in 1977. Hackett’s musical career has been blooming over the past four decades, establishing him as a loved icon and pioneer of the genre. His current studio album Wolflight was released in March to critical acclaim, charting at 31; his first studio album of new material since Beyond the Shrouded Horizon in 2011 it explores past and contemporary cultures in a revolutionary journey and was recently reviewed by RAMzine here.
The 40th anniversary celebrations continue with 19 UK shows on the Acolyte to Wolflight with Genesis Revisited Tour, where fans will have the opportunity to relive the Charisma years while discovering the guitarist’s more recent work, together with a selection of Genesis tracks previously unheard live. Full details of the tour can be found at RAMzine here.
Premonitions – The Charisma Recordings 1975 – 1983 Box Set
Full details for Premonitions formats including full track listings are listed below, with previously unreleased tracks indicated by an asterisk (*).
CD ONE; Taken from the album Voyage of the Acolyte: Ace of Wands, Hands of the Priestess, A Tower Struck Down, Hands of the Priestess Part Two, The Hermit, Star of Sirius, The Lovers.
Taken from the album Please Don’t Touch: Shadow of the Hierophant (Extended version), Narnia, Carry on Up the Vicarage, Racing in A, Kim, How Can I?
Recorded during sessions for Please Don’t Touch: Seven of Cups*.
CD TWO; Taken from the album Please Don’t Touch: Hoping Love Will Last, Land of a Thousand Autumns, Please Don’t Touch, The Voice of Necam, Icarus Ascending.
Taken from the album Spectral Mornings: Every Day, The Virgin and the Gypsy, The Red Flower of Tachai Blooms Everywhere, Clocks – The Angel of Mons, Ballad of the Decomposing Man, Lost Time in Cordoba, Tigermoth, Spectral Mornings.
Taken from the album Defector: The Steppes, Time to Get Out, Slogans, Leaving, Two Vamps as Guests.
CD THREE; Taken from the album Defector: Jacuzzi, Hammer in the Sand, The Toast, The Show, Sentimental Institution.
Taken from the album Cured: Hercules Unchained (B-side of single), Hope I Don’t Wake, Picture Postcard, Can’t Let Go, The Air Conditioned Nightmare, Funny Feeling, A Cradle of Swans, Overnight Sleeper, Turn Back Time.
Plus Tales of the Riverbank (B-side of single), Second Chance.
CD FOUR; Taken from the album Highly Strung: Guitar Boogie, Time Lapse at Milton Keynes, Walking Through Walls (12” single version – Released as single 1983)
BBC Radio One Friday Rock show session – 4th March 1983: Camino Royale, Cell 151, Always Somewhere Else, Walking Through Walls, Give it Away, Weightless, Group Therapy, India Rubber Man, Hackett to Pieces, Cell 151*, Walking Through Walls*, Hackett to Pieces*, Please Don’t Touch*.
CD FIVE; Live at The New Theatre, Oxford on 1st July 1979 (Mixed by Ben Wiseman & Mark Powell at Blitz Productions, London in April 2015): Please Don’t Touch*, Tigermoth*, Every Day*, Narnia*, The Red Flower of Tachai Blooms Everywhere*, Ace of Wands*, Carry On Up the Vicarage*, Acoustic Medley:*.
CD SIX; Live at The New Theatre, Oxford on 1st July 1979 (Mixed by Ben Wiseman & Mark Powell at Blitz Productions, London in April 2015): The Optigan*, Spectral Mornings*, Star of Sirius*, Shadow of the Hierophant*, Clocks*, I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)*, Racing in A*.
CD SEVEN; Live at The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane 11th November 1979: Please Don’t Touch, Tigermoth, Every Day*, Ace of Wands, Sentimental Institution, The Red Flower of Tachai Blooms Everywhere*, Spectral Mornings*, Clocks*, Acoustic Medley: 5:01, Etude in A Minor, Horizons, Kim.
CD EIGHT; Live at The Reading Festival, 28th August 1981: The Air Conditioned Nightmare, Every Day*, Ace of Wands*, Funny Feeling*, The Steppes, Over Night Sleeper*, Slogans, A Tower Struck Down*, Spectral Mornings*, The Show*, Clocks.
CD NINE; Please Don’t Touch – New Stereo Mix by Steven Wilson: Narnia, Carry on Up the Vicarage, Racing in A, Kim, How Can I?, Hoping Love Will Last, Please Don’t Touch, The Voice of Necam, Icarus Ascending.
CD TEN; Spectral Mornings – New Stereo Mix by Steven Wilson: Every Day, The Virgin and the Gypsy, Clocks – The Angel of Mons, Ballad of the Decomposing Man, Lost Time in Cordoba, Tigermoth, Spectral Mornings.
DISC ELEVEN – DVD; Please Don’t Touch – New 5.1 Surround Sound Mix by Steven Wilson: Narnia, Carry on Up the Vicarage, Racing in A, Kim, How Can I?, Hoping Love Will Last, Land of a Thousand Autumns, Please Don’t Touch, The Voice of Necam, Icarus Ascending.
DISC TWELVE – DVD; Spectral Mornings – New 5.1 Surround Sound Mix by Steven Wilson: Every Day, The Virgin and the Gypsy, The Red Flower of Tachai Blooms Everywhere, Clocks – The Angel of Mons, Ballad of the Decomposing Man, Lost Time in Cordoba, Tigermoth, Spectral Mornings.
DISC THIRTEEN – DVD; Voyage Of The Acolyte – New pseudo 5.1 Surround Up-Mix from the original stereo master tapes: Ace of Wands, Hands of the Priestess, A Tower Struck Down, Hands of the Priestess Part Two, The Hermit, Star of Sirius. Taken from the album Voyage of the Acolyte: Shadow of the Hierophant (Extended version).
DISC FOURTEEN – DVD; Defector – New pseudo 5.1 Surround Up-Mix from the original stereo master tapes: The Steppes, Time to Get Out, Slogans, Leaving, Two Vamps as Guests, Jacuzzi, Hammer in the Sand, The Toast, The Show, Sentimental Institution.
