Steve Hackett "Spectral Mornings"

Spectral Mornings is the third release and the second post-Genesis album by British guitarist Steve Hackett.

The album is the first recording to feature Hackett's first true touring band, consisting of his brother John Hackett on flute, guitar and bass pedals, long-time collaborator keyboardist Nick Magnus, bassist/vocalist Dik Cadbury, drummer John Shearer and vocalist Peter Hicks.

In 2005, Spectral Mornings was remastered and re-released on Virgin Records. The new edition features updated liner notes and seven bonus tracks, plus one hidden track. A new 5.1 surround mix of the album by Steven Wilson is included in Premonitions: The Charisma Recordings 1975-1983 [10-CD/4-DVD Boxed Set] (2015).

After the release of his previous album, Please Don't Touch!, in 1978, Hackett wished to tour the material from the album along with material from his previous solo album, Voyage of the Acolyte. This meant that he needed to assemble a touring band since the personnel on Please Don't Touch! had essentially consisted of guest musicians. The band that he created for this purpose became the band that he used in the studio for Spectral Mornings and the following album, 1980's Defector. Members of Genesis had contacted Hackett to say how much they really liked this and previous albums, since it was material Hackett felt he could have used with the band.

This is the second album for which Hackett used a Roland GR-500 Guitar Synthesizer. It can be heard on two tracks: "The Virgin and the Gypsy" and "Tigermoth".


Lead vocals on most of the album were provided by Peter Hicks, which were very often backed with harmonies by Steve Hackett and Dik Cadbury. Cadbury arranged the harmony vocals, having been trained as a counter tenor (falsetto) singer. Hackett himself sings lead on "The Ballad of the Decomposing Man".