STEVE HACKETT: DEFECTOR
A Virtuoso Guitarist Building On Solid Grounds
by ahand83
In 1980, only three years after his departure from the mothership Genesis, Steve Hackett already had three rather successful albums under his belt. The last album ‘Spectral Mornings’ was recorded in Hilversum, The Netherlands in 1979 at Phonogram Studios. For the recording of the album Steve Hackett used musicians he’d played with on his first solo tour in 1978. The band consisted of his brother John on flute, Peter Hicks on vocals, Dik Cadbury on bass, Nick Magnus on keyboards and John Shearer on drums. All of the musicians that played on ‘Spectral’ turned up again on ‘Defector’, the first album Hackett would deliver in the 1980’s.
‘Defector’ became a typical Steve Hackett album with great performances and high recording standards. Hackett explained that ‘Defector’ was a collection of separate songs, rather than it being a concept album. However, so he said, “the songs definitely inter-relate. There’s a lot of heavy kind of claustrophobic kind of feelings from the idea of someone being trapped in a situation (in the broadest sense of the word) and having to move away to something else, somewhere else, somebody else…”[1] The term Defector was a metaphor to all that, he explained.
Reaching no. 16 in the charts after its release on June 15th 1980 the album went up to no. 9 in the next week and therefore it’s been Hackett’s most successful album to date. ‘The Show’ became the album’s first single because it probably was the most radio friendly track. It actually is a very unusual Steve Hackett track. Steve’s guitar playing has a very submissive role while an 80’s synthesizer sound dominates the track. There’s some great singing of Peter Hicks and Dik Cadbury delivered a sharp and spiky bass line. The single release was accompanied with a video featuring Hackett as a puppeteer playing with musicians dressed in black with white faces, bowler hats and glasses. It’s plausible that the idea for this video came from the lyrics of the song “…all dressed in black, I can’t tell if they are girls or boys.” Despite all efforts the single failed to climb the charts.
‘Defector’ goes through a wide variety of style and mood changes. ‘The Steppes’ opens the album and takes the listener into a cathedral-like atmosphere where the presence of angels and demons can be heard. Although Hackett’s distinctive guitar sound is present throughout the song, it’s not a typical guitar piece. The track is based on a drumbeat by John Shearer and builds up slowly towards a more bombastic orchestral sound and melody. All instruments play their part for the greater good and combined they’ve made a piece of music that’s been part of Hackett’s live set for many years and a huge favourite amongst fans.
‘Time To Get Out’ is a more pop orientated song with some great vocal harmonies by Hicks, Hackett and Cadbury. The middle section and the end of the song are instrumental pieces with some great guitar playing and added percussion. Did the title of the song perhaps refer to Steve leaving Genesis in 1977? And then comes the track ‘Leaving’, it can’t be all just coincidence. Here was a man at work shaking off his old feathers, opening new doors and gazing for opportunities. ‘Leaving’ was a sober track with again vocal harmonies from Hicks, Hackett and Cadbury. As a listener you can’t really tell who’s the lead vocalist, as if there was one. This track, as did the others, sounds like it’s a collective’s effort instead of being the work of just one man. Steve Hackett showed that he was able to write dark, story telling lyrics, which framed the style of the music.
‘Two Vamps As Guests’ is a beautiful nylon guitar piece performed by Hackett alone. ‘Hammer in the Sand’ is also an instrumental track that has a classical feel to it. It opens with melancholic piano playing by Nick Magnus and gets accompanied by string arrangement. The sound for the strings was very well chosen, considering this was 1980 and synthesizers were still in development.
Steve collaborated with his brother John on many occasions (and on different records) and on ‘Defector’ their teamwork and brotherhood was reflected in beautiful pieces of music. There’s some lovely flute playing from John on this album. Take for example the haunting melody for the opening track ‘The Steppes’ or the romantic line on the inner section of ‘The Toast’. On ‘Jaccuzi’ the flute has a prominent role throughout the entire song. For many years to come Steve and John accompanied each other in their musical journeys.
‘Sentimental Institution’ closed the album and was written by both Hackett and Hicks. The track was released as a single with ‘The Toast’ as a b-side but did nothing at all commercially. It’s the kind of Hackett track where you find yourself on an English fair in 1952 next to a barrel organ. Hicks’ singing has a jazzy feel to it and a dusty carpet lies over the production of the song. The song fits the same category as for example tracks like ‘The Ballad of the Decomposing Man’ from ‘Spectral Mornings’ or the 48 seconds long ‘Why’ from ‘Wild Orchids’. The lyrics are quite humorous or slightly cynical and the musical arrangements are different from what you’d expect from a virtuoso guitarist.
As for his previous albums the artwork for ‘Defector’ was designed by Kim Poor, the Dutch-Brazilian painter and jewellery artist who was to become Hackett’s wife in 1981. They met in December 1974 in New York at The Academy of Music during the tour for ‘The Lamb’. Their relationship started soon after. Kim joined Genesis on tour and worked on several paintings that accompanied Genesis’ lyrics. Her paintings finally came together in her book ‘Genesis Lyrics Illustrated’, first published in 1979.
The ‘Defector’ artwork shows a blurred Steve Hackett with long hair and grey eyes without pupils. Kim Poor scratched the title DEFECTOR in the top right corner of the painting next to Steve’s forehead. It’s a mysterious portrait of a man that was building a foundation for his solo career. Steve and Kim were collaborators apart from lovers. Things were not plain sailing for them after Steve’s departure from Genesis but together they felt they could overcome any future obstacle. Over the years came ‘Please Don’t Touch’, ‘Spectral Mornings’ and ‘Defector’, all beautifully crafted and deeply felt album projects which often were hard fought for.[2] With another successful album like Defector added to his solo repertoire and a loving, talented and ambitious woman by his side, Steve Hackett was ready to face the next decade.
[1] Defector Polygram Press Kit 1980 [2] Kim Poor