Nick first started his musical career with The Enid, but it will be with Steve Hackett with whom he will always be most associated with. He toured as part of his band, and of course provided keyboards on albums such as ‘Spectral Mornings’, ‘Highly Strung’ and ‘Defector’. In many ways, the opening title cut could have come from the last of these, and given that Nick of course is on keyboards, with John Hackett (flute) and Steve Hackett (guitar) very much in evidence perhaps that isn’t too surprising. This isn’t a Steve Hackett solo album, but it can be heard from just this one song how important Nick’s contributions were to those seminal works, with very similar keyboard sounds being utilised to what we all know so very well. Vocals on that number is by Tony Patterson (probably best known for his time with ReGenesis), but another ex- ‘Defector’ luminary takes that role on “Doctor Prometheus”, which to my ears is much more of an Alan Parsons Project romp, and is great fun with a bouncy singalong style.
It is an incredibly diverse album, with one of the highlights being “The Others”, which is far more orchestral in feel, with some delicate acoustic guitar and some wonderful vocals from Linda John-Pierre. Quite simply, this is a beautiful song that sounds as if it has been taken from a stage musical, where it is the closing finale of the first act. Restrained passion and power never sounded quite so good. Nick provides vocals himself on “Identity Theft”, and while this is in many ways the weakest song on the album his voice is pleasant and I am sure he could have undertaken more of this role if he had wished to. This is an album that is solid but not brilliant, but does contain some glorious moments. Well worth hearing if you get the opportunity.
