"Spectrally Extended" - the Spectral Mornings EP reviewed by Alan Hewitt.

Well, I have to be honest when I first heard about this, I had my doubts. I am not a lover of cover versions at the best of times and when the track in question is perhaps one of your all time favourite pieces of rock music, then … well you get the gist?

However, I needn’t have worried. From the outset this is a superb piece of work. Big Big Train front man, David Longdon is the brave soul who has penned the lyrics that accompany the music and he has done an astonishing job on this. Some of the lines resonate in your mind long after the track has finished playing and that is surely a sign of something a bit special. Accompanied by the superb vocals of Rob Reed and Christina Booth from Magenta, the three vocal versions do something I didn’t think possible: they elevate an already established classic to even greater heights. It took a while for the lyrics to bed in but once they took hold, they REALLY took hold!

The instrumental version is the only track that to my ears sounds superfluous. After all, the original cannot be bettered to my mind but even so, the combined talents of Steve whose solo is every bit as mind blowing here as it is on the 1979 original, alongside those of Nick Beggs, Nick Di Virgilio, Rob Reed and several others, what you have here is a tasteful re-statement of why the original has become such a beloved staple among Hackett fans.

Released in support of the Parkinsons UK charity, which is a cause close to Steve’s heart as his late father, Peter was afflicted by the disease, this is one single that any fan of good rock and good causes should have in their collection. I am damn proud to have it in mine. Well done to all involved!