To more casual fans of Genesis, Steve Hackett is probably the least familiar of the group’s longer-serving members. Peter Gabriel left the group earlier, but aside from having a much more prominent solo career, his role as former lead singer is usually mentioned in even the briefest biographies of the band and Gabriel himself. Even those who are mostly familiar with the 1980s incarnation of Genesis will generally know that Gabriel was once with the group, but many of them may not even have heard of Hackett. On the other hand, to a rather vocal group of fans, Hackett was, along with Gabriel, what made the band great, to the extent that they will claim it was no good after his departure.
Hackett certainly played a very important role in Genesis in its art rock heyday in the 1970s. His guitar playing created a distinctive atmosphere that was very important to the group’s sound, and this was something that they lost with his departure. Mike Rutherford soon became a solid lead guitar player, but his strong point was always writing great riffs that songs could be built around, rather than atmospheric guitar solos. After Hackett was gone, Genesis had to rely much more heavily on Banks’s keyboards for atmosphere. This was not a bad thing, as Banks’s keyboards had always been at the center of the group’s sound, but Hackett had complemented Banks well and so there was still a noticeable change when he left.
On the other hand, Hackett’s importance to Genesis is sometimes overstated. By his own admission, his songwriting contributions were fairly minor, at least for his first few albums with the band. With some help from fellow new member Phil Collins, he wrote the song “For Absent Friends”, which appeared on his first album with the group, 1971’s Nursery Cryme. He wrote the brief Bach-derived classical guitar instrumental “Horizons” that served as a prelude to “Supper’s Ready” on Foxtrot (1972), and he recently stated that he was the main writer on “Can-Utility and the Coastliners” (presumably the opening song section, as the instrumental sounds like a group composition, and Rutherford has said it was written in the rehearsal room). On Selling England by the Pound, he was the main writer of the instrumental “After the Ordeal” and a guitar riff he came up with served as the starting point for “I Know What I Like”, though much of the final song was written by other members of the group. A better illustration of Hackett’s role in Genesis is seen on “Firth of Fifth” from the same album. Hackett’s guitar solo on this song is justly praised as one of his greatest moments with Genesis. But the song itself was written by Tony Banks and even the solo itself is, as Hackett said, “Tony’s melody, which I tried to interpret in kind of…[a] Middle Eastern way.” On this song as well as many others from this period, Hackett’s main role was to add color, which he did very effectively. In terms of actual composition, he remained in a role subordinate to senior members Banks, Gabriel and Rutherford. On 1974’s The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Hackett is known to have composed the music for “Here Comes the Supernatural Anaesthetist”, and he probably was also the main composer on a few others such as “Cuckoo Cocoon” and “Hairless Heart”. However, he still composed less than Banks and Rutherford, though his playing on tracks like “Fly on the Windshield” was obviously vital to the sound.
It was only around the time of Peter Gabriel’s departure from Genesis and the release of Hackett’s first solo album Voyage of the Acolyte in 1975 that Hackett became more prolific as a writer. In addition to writing almost all the music for his solo album, on the first post-Gabriel Genesis album A Trick of the Tail he was the main writer of the song “Entangled” (he wrote the music for the verse sections and all of the lyrics, while the music for the chorus was written by Banks). On Wind & Wuthering, he made significant musical contributions to “Eleventh Earl of Mar”, and with Mike Rutherford he co-wrote the instrumental “Unquiet Slumbers for the Sleepers…” and co-wrote its companion piece “…In That Quiet Earth” with the rest of the band. But his biggest contribution was “Blood on the Rooftops”, of which he wrote the music for the verse sections and all the lyrics, with Collins contributing the music for the chorus and the song’s title. However, despite his substantial compositional input, Hackett was discontented at this point. He had a lot of ideas at this point and felt he should get a larger share of the songwriting. In 1977, during the mixing of the live album Seconds Out, he quit Genesis for a solo career.
Most of Hackett’s early songwriting contributions to Genesis were pleasant interludes rather than major compositions. While tracks like “For Absent Friends”, “Horizons” and "Hairless Heart" were lovely little pieces of music, they were largely overshadowed by the longer tracks the band did. None of the songs that Hackett played a major role in writing while Peter Gabriel was still in the band are among the more widely cited tracks on their respective albums. The only possible exception would be “Can-Utility and the Coastliners”, though it’s not clear how much of this should be attributed to Hackett. On the post-Gabriel albums, however, Hackett contributed two very significant tracks in “Entangled” and “Blood on the Rooftops” (though it shouldn’t be forgotten that Banks and Collins respectively wrote the choruses to these songs). “Blood on the Rooftops” in particular is a great track, one that I consider the best song Hackett wrote with Genesis, followed by “Entangled”. Though Hackett didn’t write many lyrics with the band, both of these songs have very good lyrics, with “Entangled” displaying some of the sardonic humor he has shown in interviews (for instance, in talking about his first gig with Genesis, he said, “I felt so humiliated doing that gig, I just wanted to die. I think dying would have been easier. I’ll let you know once I’ve died.”).
So how much of a loss was it for Genesis when Hackett left? I think they really did miss his playing at first, as their first post-Hackett album …And Then There Were Three… really could have benefited from it. He had also given the band an extra dimension with his songwriting. But by the 1980s, Banks, Collins and Rutherford developed into a very tight musical unit, and while they produced music that was quite different from what they would probably have done if Hackett had stayed, it was in my opinion just as good. In any case, given the different directions they were headed in, Hackett’s split from the group was probably inevitable, and it freed both sides to do what they wanted to do without any of the tension that had existed while they were together. Speaking of which, much is made by some of the supposed conflicts between Hackett and Banks. It is true that on his departure Hackett complained about Banks having too much control in the group, and that Banks didn’t like some of the tracks that Hackett contributed, such as “After the Ordeal” (though in that case it wasn't so much Hackett's composition that he disliked as it was his own playing on the track). But Banks praised Hackett’s songwriting on “Entangled” and “Blood on the Rooftops” as well as his guitar playing, and noted that in some areas they were in greater sympathy than others in the band, such as a liking for more complex, romantic music (also Hackett, like Banks, occasionally opposed Gabriel’s singing over instrumental passages). For his part, Hackett seems to have gotten over any hard feelings, and even approached Banks about playing on his Genesis Revisited project in the late 1990s, though Banks, after being initially receptive, turned him down due to fears of a conflict with Calling All Stations, the Genesis album they were working on at the time.
As for Hackett’s very prolific solo career, unfortunately I have only heard a relatively small proportion. The only album I have is his first, Voyage of the Acolyte, which featured contributions by Mike Rutherford, Phil Collins, and Hackett’s brother John. This is not bad, though some of it seems a bit undeveloped, and a few tracks use keyboard sounds that I don’t care for (particularly “Star of Sirius”, the song Collins sings on). I’ve listened to Please Don’t Touch (1978) and Spectral Mornings (1979) a couple of times each, and my overall impression is that they are quite good, and noticeably better than his first, though there are a few weaker tracks. Interestingly, these two albums also have a lot of songs that don’t really fit the “art rock” or “prog rock” classification, despite Hackett’s popularity with prog purists. For these early albums Hackett used guest vocalists, though he sang on a few songs (regrettably in some cases with annoying vocal effects, like on his one vocal on Please Don’t Touch). I’ve also listened to most of his two albums that are said to be the most “pop”, Cured (1981) and Highly Strung (1982). These made less of an impression on me that his late 1970s albums, though they have good moments and he does do the vocals himself on these. As a singer, my impression is that he’s better than Mike Rutherford and not quite as good as Tony Banks (who has a more interesting voice), though of course none of them come close to Gabriel or Collins. Still, it’s always interesting to hear the writer sing his own songs. Finally, I listened to a few (very well done) tracks from his classical album Bay of Kings (1983) and the 1986 hit song from GTR, his collaboration with Steve Howe, the rather formulaic “When the Heart Rules the Mind”. Several of the albums I listened to I liked well enough that I may make an effort to get them, though I don’t think I’m likely to end up preferring them to most Genesis albums. A couple of them do have the potential to end up ranking among my favorite solo albums by members and former members of Genesis, though probably not in the top few spots.
The first list includes all of the Genesis songs which Steve Hackett is known to be or at least said to be the primary songwriter, or which he made significant writing contributions to. The second list is a sampling of his early solo work, though it’s by no means comprehensive.
Steve Hackett with Genesis
(All songs performed by Genesis)
For Absent Friends (Music: Hackett; Lyrics: Hackett/Collins)
Horizons (Hackett/Bach)
Can-Utility and the Coastliners (Music: Hackett[song?]/Banks/Collins/Rutherford/Gabriel; Lyrics: Hackett[primarily?])
After The Ordeal (Hackett/Rutherford)
Fly on the Windshield (Music: Banks/Collins/Hackett/Rutherford; Lyrics: Gabriel)
Cuckoo Cocoon (Music: Hackett[?]; Lyrics: Gabriel)
Hairless Heart (Music: Hackett[?]; Lyrics: Gabriel)
Here Comes the Supernatural Anaesthetist (Music: Hackett; Lyrics: Gabriel)
Entangled (Hackett/Banks)
Blood on the Rooftops (Hackett/Collins)
Unquiet Slumbers for the Sleepers... (Hackett/Rutherford)
…In That Quiet Earth (Hackett/Rutherford/Banks/Collins)
Steve Hackett Solo
(All songs written and performed by Steve Hackett except where otherwise noted)
Ace of Wands
The Hermit (vocals: Steve Hackett)
Racing in A (vocals: Steve Walsh)
How Can I? (vocals: Richie Havens)
Hoping Love Will Last (vocals: Randy Crawford)
Icarus Ascending (vocals: Richie Havens)
Every Day (vocals: Peter Hicks)
The Virgin and the Gypsy (vocals: Peter Hicks)
Spectral Mornings
Hope I Don't Wake (vocals: Steve Hackett)
Cell 151 (vocals: Steve Hackett)
The Journey
Honorable Mentions: Shadow of the Hierophant (Hackett/Rutherford), Clocks - The Angel of Mons, Can’t Let Go (vocals: Steve Hackett), Camino Royale (Hackett/Magnus) (vocals: Steve Hackett), When the Heart Rules the Mind (Hackett/Howe) (GTR; vocals: Max Bacon)
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