SQUACKETT – Sea Of Smiles (2012)
*
Two prog-rock legends — bassist Chris Squire (Yes) and guitarist Steve Hackett (ex- Genesis, ex- GTR) — have gotten together to form a new band, SQUACKETT.
Their debut album, ‘A Life Within A Day’, will be released in June via Esoteric Antenna.
The pair got together about four years ago when Squire, the only Yes member to appear on every Yes album, was working on a solo album. Someone put him in touch with Hackett, who originally came to prominence as a member of Genesis and later worked with another member of Yes, Steve Howe, in the proggy AOR act GTR.
The recording is with Hackett regular Roger King (worked with Gerard Johnson; keys, engineer, producer) and Jeremy Stacey (ex-The Syn, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Sheryl Crow; drums), plus another Hackett regular Amanda Lehmann providing harmony vocals on some tracks.
A limited edition 7” single by Squackett was released for Record Store Day 2012 and now is available digitally.
This advance features an edited version of “Sea Of Smiles” which is exclusive to this release, plus “Perfect Love Song” taken from the main debut CD.
Hackett says; “A lot of the album is direct and accessible, but I have to admit that about 50% of it probably does cater to that idea of what it might sound like if Genesis joined Yes.”
Both are good tracks with the usual elegant arrangements of Hackett / Squire classic former bands, pretty commercial indeed. In my humble opinion production could be better, more crispy, but it’s just a matter of taste. Seems they were looking for an ‘analog sound’, which is not a bad thing at all.
01 – Sea Of Smiles (single edit)
02 – Perfect Love Song
Chris Squire – Bass, Vocals
Steve Hackett – Guitar, Vocals
Roger King – Keyboards
Jeremy Stacey – Drums
BUY IT !
www.amazon.com/Sea-of-Smiles/dp/B0081LQB8U
