Tag: John Hackett

Ms Amy Birks announces debut solo album and single I Wish featuring guitar legend Steve Hackett

Ms Amy Birks is thrilled to announce her forthcoming self-produced debut solo album All That I Am & All That I Was which is to be released on April 3rd.

Winner of ‘Best Female Vocalis’ in the 2018 PROG Magazine poll and former lyricist, co-composer and lead vocalist of the 2017 Prog magazine Limelight Award winners Beatrix Players, the album which contains the singles Jamaica Inn and I Wish and features guest appearances from a raft of luminaries including Steve Hackett, John Hackett and Caroline Lavelle is available in two physical formats.

The second single to be taken from the album, I Wish, features Steve Hackett on acoustic guitar and a lyric based on the words of Christina Rossetti – poet, activist and the subject of some of the most famous paintings of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. The digital-only single is available now for streaming and download and also as an instant gratification track for fans making digital pre-orders of the album via iTunes.

I Wish is accompanied by a video featuring Amy and a mysterious Flamenco guitarist each represented in stunning origami stop motion piece, created by Susan Raybould (Origami Om) and pushed the boundaries of traditional origami design.

Amy produced most of her solo debut herself although the single was produced by Nick Wollage who is famed for his engineering on the soundtracks to dozens of major motion pictures including “Atonement”. He also worked on Tony Banks‘ “Seven (A Suite For Orchestra)”.
Birks recalls the process of recording the track and reflects on its unsettling lyrical undercurrents – 

“I feel very honoured to have worked with Steve Hackett & Nick Wollage. I wrote this song during a trip to Colombia where I was influenced by the classical guitar and percussive sounds of Bambuco. When I bumped into Steve at the Prog Awards, I asked him to play and he very kindly obliged. The Rossetti poem works perfectly as this is a dark lyric about the fragility of the mind and how the past can so very easily come back to tease and torment.”

For Amy ” this has been a really personal and full-on experience that has pushed me further, emotionally, technically and lyrically than I ever thought possible, which has enabled me to become the writer that I have been wanting to be.”

Pre-orders of special, limited edition All That I Am & All That I Was and vinyl formats are available now via The Merch Desk.Formats are: Limited edition CD package in a six panel 7″ gatefold sleeve accompanied by twelve page photo book available to mail order customers and from the merch stand at shows from 5th April while stocks last.

Vinyl album in 12″ gatefold sleeve. Initial copies of both formats ordered from The Merch Desk will be signed by Amy.

The album will also be available via all the usual download and streaming services.

The 2020 tour dates include a string of trio and quartet shows opening for That Joe Payne and the John Hackett Band and a rescheduled full band date in London celebrating the release of the album All That I Am & All That I Was. More dates featuring songs from both her debut album and Beatrix Players’ “Magnified” are to be announced in due course including an appearance at a major festival for fans of progressive music.

UK Tour Dates
Sat 7th March 2020 The Court Theatre, Tring (special guest of That Joe Payne), Sun 5rd April 2020 The Troubadour, London (Headline full band show), Fri 17th April 2020 The Acorn, Penzance (special guest of the John Hackett Band), Sat 18th April 2020 The Wharf, Tavistock Penzance (special guest of the John Hackett Band), Sat 25th April 2020 Hanger Farm Arts Centre, Southampton (special guest of That Joe Payne), Sat 23rd May 2020 The Met, Bury (special guest of That Joe Payne), Sat 30th May 2020 CCA, Glasgow (special guest of That Joe Payne), Sat 20th June 2020 Crescent Theatre, Birmingham (special guest of That Joe Payne), Fri 20th Nov 2020 Artrix, Bromsgrove (special guest of the John Hackett Band)

Since Beatrix Players’ final run of shows opening for Carl Palmer, Steve Harley and Big Big Train in 2017 – 2018 Amy has been recording her debut solo album and playing impromptu solo sets with the likes of Tim Bowness and That Joe Payne. Amy’s debut solo single “Jamaica Inn” was released on November 15th with a memorable video shot on location in Bodmin Moor.

Pre Ordershttps://themerchdesk.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=88_296
I Wish https://youtu.be/pf4F9jQVz_E
Jamaica Inn https://youtu.be/g_ji_1Sm2vE


Review – John Hackett Band – We Are Not Alone – by James R. Turner

Following on from ‘Another Life’ released back in 2015 this, the sequel by John and band (Nick Fletcher, Jeremy Richardson & Duncan Parsons) came out last year in a special two disc set, one featuring the new album and another featuring a bonus disc recorded live at the Wesley Centre in Maltby back in May 2016 for our old friends the CRS.

I will come back to Maltby and the live disc later (having family from Maltby I could tell you all sorts of stories!) but first..

‘We Are Not Alone’, adorned by a striking cover painting by Lizzie Spikes, and opening with bluesy and powerful Take Control, is an album that grabs you from the get go. John needs no introduction and, as you can imagine working with a guitarist like his older brother, John is used to powerful guitar work. With co-writer and collaborator Nick Fletcher providing said fantastic guitar, particularly as Take Control stretches it’s legs, and with some fantastically soulful vocals from John and some great flute as well, the whole band give it some welly and, at well over 8 minutes long, it has time to grow and doesn’t feel like it’s outstayed it’s welcome.

It’s a perfect opener to what is an excellent sequel to ‘Another Life’.

With some more of that wonderful guitar work and some great vocals and, indeed, lyrics on Never Gonna Make a Dime, also with his brother providing some wonderful harmonica (his only appearance on this record), it’s clear that musically and thematically John is his own man.

This album continues in its melodic rocky fashion as the tracks alternate between instrumentals that showcase the full range of this tight band’s ability, from Nick’s wonderful acoustic guitar work on the beautiful Blue Skies of Marazion, to Johns wonderful flute and keyboard work, whilst Jeremy Richardson’s vocals shine on his track Jericho.

The track by Duncan Parsons, Queenie & Elmo’s Perfect Day, is a fantastic instrumental as well and it showcases that the whole band are highly talented instrumentalists and musicians, each bringing something special to the table.

With songs like Summer Lightening and Castles, this album really shines, it has a real groove and chilled out vibe in parts. This is another fantastic and strong album.

Live on the second disc, the band treat us to a selection of great material from ‘Another Life’ with the title track and Life in Reverse getting an airing.

On stage, the band are taut and dynamic, their musical interaction spot on and their execution flawless. This must have been one hell of a gig (one I would have liked to have seen but, you know, it’s not like the old days when it was round the corner, I can’t just pop up to Maltby from Bristol for a gig these days) so it’s great that this is documented here and even nicer is the dedication to Stephanie Kennedy, someone I got to know really well throughout my CRS gigging days, and who I’m sure there’s lots of us out there who miss her.

This is a perfect combination, as I end so many reviews wishing I could hear the band live, and with this disc, well, you can! Win, win I say!

Released 29th September 2017

Order from Cherry Red Records here:

https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/we-are-not-alone-2cd-deluxe-edition/

 

Guest review – John Hackett – Another Life – by John Simms

Stepping into the chair and taking a break from his Flight of the Skypilot blog is my good friend John Simms.

JOHN HACKETT packshot

When someone steps out of their usual musical genre and produces something different, it can often spark some interest. John Hackett is well known in musical circles as an accomplished flautist, and has contributed to ambient and dance music as well as classical and progressive recordings.

The majority of his recorded output in recent years, in his own name, has been classical works – often self-penned and usually with classical guitar accompaniment. Indeed one of his biggest selling albums was ‘Sketches of Satie’ recorded with brother Steve in 2000.

The new album ‘Another Life’ is different in that it is a rock album – even a progressive rock album! Only once before has John done anything similar, with 2005’s ‘Checking Out Of London’, and here again he has called on the talents of Nick Clabburn to provide the lyrics for the 13 songs.

This is an album of contrasts: light and shade; rock, some quite poppy moments, and more quiet, meditative tunes. John plays not only his trade-mark flute, but also guitars, bass and occasional keyboards. His main collaborator is Nick Magnus, and this – along with the frequent appearance of Steve on guitar – gives the album, for me, a feel reminiscent of some of Steve’s earlier solo work.

The vocals are strong (without being overpowering) expressive and varied, with a good use of harmonies, and I couldn’t help feeling that maybe Steve should have used him in this capacity on some of his own solo albums, particularly when he was beginning to sing his own material.

John’s guitar work is not to be sniffed at, but it is with flute in hand that he really excels. In the opening song, Another Life, there is some haunting, swooping flute work which brought to mind his work on Tigermoth on Steve’s ‘Spectral Mornings’ album, and Life in Reverse, one of the quieter songs, uses the flute where others would put in another guitar solo, and does so to great effect. This song, along with Poison Town, has a definite sound of Tim Bowness about it, and I would love to hear Tim’s take on either of these tracks.

Satellite deserves some special attention, featuring as it does not only Steve – but on harmonica rather than guitar – and Anthony Phillips on 12-string. It has a blues-y, Neil Young vibe with a tinge of early pastoral Genesis that can only come with Phillips’ signature style.

For those who enjoy their music a little on the soft side, this is a collection which repays repeated listening: good, though not great, but still a worthy addition to John’s canon and repertoire.

Released 25th September 2015 through Esoteric Antenna

Buy direct from the artists website

About the author – John Simms

Welcome 5

John Simms is a long term Prog fan in his mid-fifties from Yorkshire, currently living in exile in Cumbria. By day (and sometimes at night too) he works as a Methodist clergyman, and when not doing that he scours the outer reaches of the Progressive universe searching for musical nuggets. This latter endeavour is slowly bankrupting him.

John’s blog ‘Flight of the Skypilot’