Welcome to The Waiting Room - the Genesis web-fanzine featuring all the news, reviews, interviews and more concerning Genesis and related projects - first, a word from the creators of TWR...
Click here for the full press release (PDF)
For more info and pre-ordering, please visit Wymer Publishing.
DON'T FORGET THAT STEVE HACKETT'S OFFICIAL WEBSITE IS NOW AT WWW.HACKETTSONGS.COM.
Genesis Revisited, the latest book
from TWR editor Alan Hewitt is now available to order online at Record
Corner's Amazon webshop
According to their profile, they will post internationally.
Save on postage...!
Genesis Revisited is now available over the counter at:
Record Corner
Pound Lane
Godalming
Surrey
GU7 1BX
Tel: 01483 422006
Paperback edition only at the moment!
Also, in an exclusive deal with Willow Farm Publishing, Genesis tribute band Los Endos are selling brand new copies of both versions of the book at their gigs, at heavily discounted prices!
WORDS FROM THE EDITING SUITE….
Hello, happy new year, and welcome to the latest bumper edition of TWR. First of all, it was with great sadness that we heard that Les Paul creator of the Gibson electric guitar and one of the pioneers of modern studio recording techniques, has passed away at the grand old age of 94. Genesis, and in particular Steve Hackett owe him an enormous debt of gratitude and our condolences go to members of his family at this sad time.
Sad news too from Phil Collins. According to a news report in the Daily Mirror on 10th September, he can no longer drum owing to an increasingly painful spinal condition, although how much of this is fact, and how much press exaggeration, remains to be seen. There have been rumours that Phil is considering touring again although how this will develop given the above “news” is still anyone’s guess. There is no further news on his “covers” project although if any news comes in to TWR HQ we shall let you know. In the meantime, I am sure you will all join with us in wishing Phil all the best whatever he decides to do.
The final Genesis boxed set which comprises the band’s live albums was finally released on 21st September and a review of it can be found elsewhere in this edition.
Tony’s first solo album; A Curious Feeling has finally been remastered in 5.1 and re-issued on 19th October. The album comes as a standard edition and special edition with extra material and a review is also to be found in this edition.
Steve Hackett’s latest album; Out Of The Tunnel’s Mouth has had its release delayed due to further ongoing legal wrangles over the ownership of the material itself. The legal judgement allowing Steve to release it was finally issued on 30th October and the album is the first to appear on Steve’s new record label Wolfwork with a catalogue number WWCD001. Steve kindly gave us the low down on the album in our last issue and a review of the album and this year’s “Summer’s End” Festival also feature in this edition. Nice to see the album garnering some really good (and deserved) reviews too this time round. Classic Rock Magazine had an extensive feature on Steve in their “Classic Rock Presents Prog” August edition which disappointingly placed almost all the emphasis on Steve’s time with Genesis and GTR! Sadly, the fall out from Steve’s divorce from Kim goes on and the pair were the subject of a poorly informed feature in The Times on Sunday 2nd August in which among other things, the myth that Steve and Kim had been married for 32 years was peddled once again! For the uninitiated among you, Steve married Kim on 14th August 1981 and the pair were finally divorced in May 2007 making for 25 years of married life.
Steve also managed a fleeting visit to my part of the world recently doing some promotional interviews for the new album and I was fortunate enough to sit in on them and give Steve and Jo a potted tour of the Albert Dock before dinner into the bargain and it was a pleasure to play mine host to the pair of them rather than the other way round!
 Steve takes a break in Liverpool |
 Steve talks to Kevin McDempster |
 Steve gets a mention in the Bedford Post |
 Steve and Jo in Liverpool |
It was also amusing to see a feature in the 2nd August edition of “Bedfordshire On Sunday” reporting on the signing session for Sketches Of Hackett - fame at last, eh?! I have to say that I am pleased with the reviews for Sketches… too although I was amused by Jerry Ewing’s comments in his review in October’s “Classic Rock Presents Prog” magazine… “workmanlike prose..” now really, Mr Ewing, don’t you think that’s a bit rich from a man whose magazine has contained so many factual errors in its features on Genesis ( and MANY other artists) over the years, you could drive a train through them?! Workmanlike my prose may be but at least I check my facts first, matey! Hold on though…. is “workmanlike” a compliment…???
Speaking of facts, there have been some comments about the lack of representation of Kim in the book. The simple truth of this is that unfortunately, many of the comments which had been made by Kim in the interview kindly given by her to me for this project were ones which Steve found objectionable for one reason or another and both parties (Steve and Kim) had their chance to remove potentially contentious material from the text before it went to print. The end result therefore, may not be the “warts and all” production that some of you were hoping for but had that been the case, then it is almost certain that the book would not have been available due to legal action by certain parties! Nor would it have received the wholehearted support that it has from its subject: Mr Stephen Richard Hackett esquire. This was obviously something I was not prepared to risk - I have put FIVE years’ work into this project and I for one am more than content with the end result, and more importantly; so is Steve - it is HIS story after all! Oh, and if you really want to check out some of the bits that ended up on the cutting room floor, so to speak, there is a list of references at the end of the book so you can look them up for yourselves! Steve commenced his tour in support of the album with a show at this year’s “Summer’s End” Festival. The tour proper commenced in Zoetermeer Holland on 28th October and a full tour report is in this edition. There also seems to be some confusion among fans over the exact status of Steve’s official web site. So, for the avoidance of doubt, the details of the ONLY official Hackett web site are as follows: www.hackettsongs.com
Anthony Phillips too, has been busy on several more library projects and he also featured in the same edition of Classic Rock mentioned above. He has also recently released a brand new edition in the Missing Links series of albums. We have a lengthy chat with Anthony about these projects and his recent work with Steve elsewhere in this edition. (Errata: the photo of Ant in the Steve Hackett interview in #72 was wrongly credited to me, it should in fact be credited to Hackettsongs.com)
Peter Gabriel is still hard at work on several projects including the “Scratch My Back” album of covers which was scheduled for release in October and is now due for release in January 2010. Peter performed a couple of tracks from it at the recent WOMAD Festival concert in Malmesbury which was organised in support of the “Witness” project. A review of the gig can be found in this edition. Peter was also caught on camera purchasing alcoholic substances at a local off-licence recently, the still camera images make amusing viewing especially when it becomes obvious that the member of staff has recognised him! See, rock stars are ordinary people after all!
Mike Rutherford is currently working on a new project. Since Paul Carrack and Mike are no longer working together, Mike is taking the opportunity to work with other singers although details of who else is involved and whether this will be regarded as a Mechanics album, are currently unavailable. Hopefully, TWR will catch up with Mike once the album is ready.
The tributes to Genesis and the various solo members keep on rolling in. At the moment a compilation is being put together by Mellow Records in Italy (whose previous releases include the excellent “River Of Constant Change” album reviewed in TWR many moons ago) and this latest release is set to feature not only Karda Estra who are no strangers to the pages of TWR, but also Algebra, the band founded by fellow Genesis magazine writer; Mario Giammetti. I look forward to reviewing the album when it is released next year.
Speaking of tributes, ReGenesis have re-formed and have performed a couple of gigs recently. TWR caught up with the guys for a long overdue interview about the band and the various projects they have been involved with since ReGenesis last graced the concert stage and you can read all about it later in this edition along with a review of their Shepherds Bush concert. Our thanks to the band for the competition prize of a pair of tickets for their London gig - we hope the prize winners enjoyed themselves! We also have a review of a recent gig by The Carpet Crawlers elsewhere in this issue, too.
Nick Magnus is also hard at work on the follow-up to the superb Hexameron album. The new album, titled Children Of Another God should be available next year and we have an exclusive interview with Nick and Dick Foster to be published in our next issue.
That’s just about all the news for this edition - enjoy the rest of the issue!
Alan Hewitt
Liverpool
January 2010
"Words from the Engine Room" by Stuart Barnes
I'll start with an apology.
It's all my fault.
This issue was originally compiled in December 2009. It really has taken this
long for me to bring it into a form that can be read on the web.
This year has been very busy for me personally. So busy, in fact that I looked
at a calendar recently and discovered that nearly half the year has elapsed.
I thought it was just coming up to Easter!
You may notice that some of Alan's info in the leader above is out of date already,
specifically about Phil's album and Mike's latest Mechanics project.
So, what have I been doing? Well, put simply, I've been getting on with my life.
My work life got very busy after Christmas, and left me very little time for
anything else. I had to prioritise things. Family came first. I put lots of
things on the back burner, only looking at them when I had the time or when
they couldn't be left any longer. I did get to spend the odd hour on this latest
issue, but I wasn't able to put enough of those hours close enough together
in order to get the issue published earlier than this. Sadly for some, TWR is
not as important a part of my life as other things are. I put TWR on the back
burner, as to me, the world wouldn't end if I didn't get this issue done for
a while. The world is still here, so I guess my point has been proved.
So there you go. It's all here. Sorry for the delay.
Oh, and one other thing...
Ultrastar.
Oh dear. Mind you, by linking up with artists that were reforming, there were
only ever short term gains to be made, and I guess that they made them. Now
the reformed bands (Police, Genesis, etc) have done their farewell tours, the
'casual' fans (the large numbers) don't need to pay a membership fee to be a
member of something that gives them no benefits at all (year 2 membership, anyone?).
People haven't renewed and Ultrastar haven't seen the income they did a few
years ago, so their plug has been pulled. I can't say that I'm surprised. It's
business after all. No income = no business. Simple. And it's us loyal fans
(the small numbers of dedicated and slightly bonkers people) that are left to
get by. Again, I wouldn't be surprised if either Bill McCormack ended up doing
the Genesis website, or some other fan-type person (not necessarily a true fan,
but someone trustworthy, if you see what I mean), or even if the website was
left to lapse, never to be seen or heard from again. It's served its purpose,
and I'm guessing that so have the fans.
Stuart
Barnes
London
May 2010