Steve Hackett / Premonitions: 14-disc box coming later this year

If you are a fan or should I say an art rock and music aficionado like me and don’t have all of his early offerings than it is a no brainer. He is such an underrated guitarist. Just on what he has accomplished with his stint with Genesis and his Genesis Revisited releases is enough to set him a part from many a guitarist. He cannot be accused of sitting on his laurels. He changes and so does everyone. He will have acoustic offerings, some more similar in nature as the group he left behind and come full circle with his latest release Wolflight which I found to be very satisfying. He is a master of the nylon guitar and of the ‘ghost or spirit’ sounding effect on his guitar. Not many guitarist do this. One cannot deny the majesty of Spectral Mornings and
the uniqueness of Cell 151. All this to say that I ordered my set and am looking forward to spending a lot of time with his early recordings.
Darren Lock has already posted the unboxing and the box is gorgeous.

Peace and love and great music to all

oh and the alternate versions of narnia could be on the new stereo mix of please don’t touch as bonus tracks forgot about them.

If they get those missing bonus tracks from spectral mornings onto the new stereo mix of spectral mornings disc which certainly has enough room for it I am ok with this set.

a lot of the bonus tracks from the previous remasters were live tracks that are either in the live archive set or (I think) drawn from the complete shows included in this set(i thought i read that it was reading and drury lane) so by my count we are mainly missing some spectral mornings bonuses.

I have to say not that big a fan I would spring for the box set just for two 5.1 mixes which I would happily buy if they were outside of the box.

lost sales for me, ill stick with Ant Phillips, Geese & Ghost for the time being

The problem with this set – apart from the price (ouch!) – is the fact that much of it has been released before. Do we really need to buy the first six albums…again?

If the six albums had been remixed afresh into 2.0 and 5.1 by Mr Wilson or someone similar that would have made for a killer (12 disc?) box.

As it stands it’s all a bit….meh.

On the subject of pricing, the litmus test I usually operate on is $10 (US) per disc for it to be good value for money. Most new releases sell for between $10 and $13, so it seems appropriate. Right now, the conversion rate pegs the pound at $1.53, so we can round up and say that £7 per disc meets my criteria, more or less.

Now, for premium content, I’m all for paying a premium price. I either like an artist enough to want primo merch from them or I don’t. If the latter, it’s a moot point either way.

Where I’m having a hard time personally is products that blend the worst of all possible worlds – expensive, awkwardly sequenced, missing content, etc.

Specific to the Hackett set, it’s just a little over £8 per disc at the present pricing, so it’s not tremendously off the mark, but it’s still premium pricing. Likewise, I stand by my original statement on the sequencing of the material: if this was one of those clamshell cardboard setups with the discs in paper sleeves selling for $40-50, I wouldn’t blink about it. For a premium, I’d hope they could at least put each album on its own disc AND include all of the bonus content from the last wave of reissues (with additional, if available).

I’m sure there are people who’ll disagree with me on this one, but that’s my line of logic on the subject.

I love Steve Hackett and I pay gladly for each new album of his. However, I feel like this is a rip-off. If I bought this box, it would be the fifth time that I buy these albums (original vinyl edition, then first CD edition, Japanese CD editions, then remastered CD edition, and now this). If this message ever gets to those in charge of putting this box together: Please, Give me something extra, something unheard, Steve’s demos, whatever that justifies that I buy this albums once again. For me, the last remastered CDs sound OK. I do not have much time to play music although I do my best to have the best editions of my favorite albums in my shelves, I am not interested in 5.1 mixes or new vinyl editions. I just don’t have time to play all that. My car is the place where I play most of my music. I do not see a new to continue buying the same music over and over. I do understand those you can and want to do it and I wish I could. Buying music, collecting music, reading about music, will continue being the best hobby ever. Thank you all.

Please someone let Steven Wilson have much more time to sleep!
The more he works, the more leaks of our money and shortage of storage space…

Though this isn’t the place for it, I think pricing would be an interesting debate.

Some here are saying that the price needs to be half what it is at this time (£117), others even less. I think some of you are a little unrealistic. I know it’s cool to hate on record labels, but honestly I can’t see there’s any profit at all in putting something like this together – with new mixes – with DVD content etc. – if this was selling for half or even less of the current price.

What do people expect – £7 a disc, £5 a disc, £3 a disc?

Prices generally drop over time, unless a box sells out. Hackett isn’t exactly a mainstream artist, so volumes won’t be great.

I want record companies to be incentivized to create these sets, but from what I’m reading here, I think they’d look at the numbers people expect and simply decide to pass on a reissue altogether…….

Multi-disc box set = potential chaos.

Yes – Progeny box has mislabeled discs and so I will wait for this to be released, for the errors to get noticed by fans and then for the corrected replacements to make their way to the distributors.

Having over the last few months been buying SH`s remasters and back catalog I`m not over excited at this release and unless I can get it for less than half the price it currently is on Amazon UK I will not be bothering.

Excited for some more 5.1 to come out but not happy that the surrounds are at least so far listed in a big boxset. Still five months to go sure hoping for seperate 5.1 releases of albums or as others have said the price of this boxset has to come down as it is currently over priced for what one is getting(the good two Steven Wilson 5.1’s) and the rest is really not that new as same albums and a couple of live albums thrown in. The booklet included will probably be nice but this does not all add up for a mega price in my books.

This is all IF the above tracklisting proves to be the final one, I think there’s a lot to be said about the shame of it being a product with a PREMIUM price tag associated with it that sequences the music like one of those EMI sets packaged in the fat jewel cases for bargain basement pricing. If this set cost the equivalent of $50 and lacked the bonus cuts of the releases I already had with this track listing BUT also had the hi-def content… Yeah, it would be imperfect, but I could accept it. For over triple that, you’d expect it to be a bit more “properly” set up.

Heck, at its current pricing, it’ll cost more than the Pretty Things boxed set (at least what I paid for it) and that had more music AND content to throw at the buyer.

I’d be very suprised if they dont release the albums individually with the cd album and a DVD audio (5.1) mix. Interesting that this again Seems to demonstrate that in terms of what/how music is re-released, you really can’t please all the people all the time. I’m not saying you shouldnt try….I think the Yes and XTC re-releases over the past couple of years, while slow have given the customer what most people want, but with the re-emergence of vinyl, the (albeit a little sad) emergence of non-physical / digital music….what do you have to do to please all (or most) of the people most of the time?!

I was really looking forward to this, but none of the bonus tracks from the original reissues and the spliting of the albums has put me off getting this !!

I love this era of Hackett’s work, but I’m going to echo some of the misgivings already voiced on here.

First, it looks a bit odd that the tracks are laid out as they tentatively have been. Wouldn’t it make more sense to have one disc per album, chronologically ordered, followed by the live material with the DVDs trailing at the end?

Seems a bit of a waste to glom the material together when they could have taken the already successful business model of pairing the audio CD for each album with a corresponding DVD/Blu-ray containing surround/hi-def versions along with whatever bonus audio is deemed appropriate. It would have also allowed for staged release AND a considerably less painful price tag up front.

Just my take. On finalized track listing and release, it could prove to be a fairly priced treasure trove, but so far, there’s plenty of reason to have trepidation about it – especially if one already owns the last batch of remasters of this material and lacks a surround rig.

is there anything out there that steve wilson is not involved in ?

Hmm. Bit miffed that we are being asked to buy a 14 disc (!) box set to get hold of those 5.1 mixes. Would have also liked to see Cured and Highly Strung get the 5.1 treatment as well…

(and I really don’t like the way some of the studio albums have been split across CDs)

My favourite Hackett era in a box, what could go wrong?? Surely individual discs for the six studio albums wouldn’t have been out of the way would it?? The abscence of most of the bonus tracks from the original reissues is another downside, as is the (admittedly current) price.

Still, plenty of time for change, and for the price to fall (and for those master taps to turn up)……

Discs 5 – 8 are live recordings. The 5.1 mixes of ‘Voyage Of The Acolyte’ and ‘Defector’ are upmixes as the multi-tracks could not be located.

Not sure whether this is confimed but here is the tracklist (source MusicTAP):

Track List – Disc 1 [CD]:
01. Ace Of Wands
02. Hands Of The Priestess – Part One
03. Tower Struck Down
04. Hands Of The Priestess – Part Two
05. The Hermit
06. Star Of Sirius
07. Lovers
08. Shadow Of The Heirophant [extended version]
09. Narnia
10. Carry On Up The Vicarage
11. Racing In A
12. Kim
13. How Can I?
14. Seven Of Cups * Previously Unreleased Track *

Track List – Disc 2 [CD]:
01. Hoping Love Will Last
02. Land Of A Thousand Autumns
03. Please Don’t Touch
04. Voice Of Necam
05. Icarus Ascending
06. Every Day
07. Virgin And The Gypsy
08. Red Flower Of Tachai Blooms Everywhere
09. Clocks – Angel Of Mons
10. Ballad Of The Decomposing Man
11. Lost Time In Cordoba
12. Tigermoth
13. Spectral Mornings
14. Steppes
15. Time To Get Out
16. Slogans
17. Leaving
18. Two Vamps As Guests

Track List – Disc 3 [CD]:
01. Jacuzzi
02. Hammer In The Sand
03. Toast
04. Show
05. Sentimental Institution
06. Hercules Unchained
07. Hope I Don’t Wake
08. Picture Postcard
09. Can’t Let Go
10. Air Conditioned Nightmare
11. Funny Feeling
12. Cradle Of Swans
13. Overnight Sleeper
14. Turn Back Time
15. Tales Of The Riverbank
16. Second Chance

Track List – Disc 4 [CD]:
01. Camino Royale
02. Cell 151
03. Always Somewhere Else
04. Walk Through Walls
05. Give It Away
06. Weightless
07. Group Therapy
08. India Rubber Man
09. Hackett To Pieces
10. Guitar Boogie
11. Time Lapse At Milton Keynes
12. Walking Through Walls [12″ single version]
13. Cell 151
14. Walking Through Walls
15. Hackett To Pieces
16. Please Don’t Touch

Track List – Disc 5 [CD]:
01. Please Don’t Touch
02. Tigermoth
03. Every Day
04. Narnia
05. Red Flower Of Tachai Blooms Everywhere
06. Ace Of Wands
07. Carry On Up The Vicarage
08. Acoustic Medley: Etude In A Minor / Blood On The Rooftops / Horizons / Kim

Track List – Disc 6 [CD]:
01. Optigan / Tower Struck Down
02. Spectral Mornings
03. Star Of Sirius
04. Shadow Of The Heirophant
05. Clocks
06. I Know What I Like {In Your Wardrobe}
07. Racing In A

Track List – Disc 7 [CD]:
01. Please Don’t Touch
02. Tigermoth
03. Every Day
04. Ace Of Wands
05. Sentimental Institution
06. Red Flower Of Tachai Blooms Everywhere
07. Spectral Mornings
08. Clocks
09. Acoustic Medley: Etude In A Minor / Blood On The Rooftops / Horizons / Kim

Track List – Disc 8 [CD]:
01. Air Conditioned Nightmare
02. Every Day
03. Ace Of Wands
04. Funny Feeling
05. Steppes
06. Over Night Sleeper
07. Slogans
08. Tower Struck Down
09. Spectral Mornings
10. Show
11. Clocks

Track List – Disc 9 [CD – ‘Please Don’t Touch’ – New Stereo mix by Steven Wilson]:
01. Narnia
02. Carry On Up The Vicarage
03. Racing In A
04. Kim
05. How Can I?
06. Hoping Love Will Last
07. Land Of A Thousand Autumns
08. Please Don’t Touch
09. Voice Of Necam
10. Icarus Ascending

Track List – Disc 10 [CD – ‘Spectral Mornings’ – New Stereo mix by Steven Wilson]:
01. Every Day
02. The Virgin And The Gypsy
03. Red Flower Of Tachai Blooms Everywhere
04. Clocks – Angel Of Mons
05. Ballad Of The Decomposing Man
06. Lost Time In Cordoba
07. Tigermoth
08. Spectral Mornings

Track List – Disc 11 [DVD – ‘Please Don’t Touch’ – New 5.1 Surround Sound mix by Steven Wilson]:
01. Narnia
02. Carry On Up The Vicarage
03. Racing In A
04. Kim
05. How Can I?
06. Hoping Love Will Last
07. Land Of A Thousand Autumns
08. Please Don’t Touch
09. Voice Of Necam
10. Icarus Ascending
11. How Can I? [1977 Charisma Promotional Film] * Bonus Video Track *

Track List – Disc 12 [DVD – ‘Spectral Mornings’ – New 5.1 Surround Sound mix by Steven Wilson]:
01. Every Day
02. Virgin And The Gypsy
03. Red Flower Of Tachai Blooms Everywhere
04. Clocks – Angel Of Mons
05. Ballad Of The Decomposing Man
06. Lost Time In Cordoba
07. Tigermoth
08. Spectral Mornings
09. Clocks [1979 Charisma Promotional Film] * Bonus Video Track *

Track List – Disc 13 [DVD – ‘Voyage Of The Acolyte’ – New 5.1 mix by Steven Wilson]:
01. Ace Of Wands
02. Hands Of The Priestess – Part One
03. Tower Struck Down
04. Hands Of The Priestess – Part Two
05. Hermit
06. Star Of Sirius
07. Lovers
08. Shadow Of The Hierophant [extended version]

Track List – Disc 14 [DVD – ‘Defector’ – New 5.1 mix by Steven Wilson]:
01. Steppes
02. Time To Get Out
03. Slogans
04. Leaving
05. Two Vamps As Guests
06. Jacuzzi
07. Hammer In The Sand
08. Toast
09. Show
10. Sentimental Institution