****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
A Hackett classic in the truest form of the word.You have to hand it to him. This offering by him and his cast is not 'alchemy' as he referred to it but rather sheer 'wizardry' (The Merlin type as opposed to Harry Potter.) As to another reviewer stating Hackett 'ripped off Holtz' in one piece, it was not a 'rip off' but a deconstruction or more correctly 'variation' of 'Mars the Bringer of War.' I loved how Hackett did just that with 'Descent.' He did this as he did years ago with 'The Steppes,' essentially a deconstruction (variation) of Ravel's God Aweful 'Bolero' which Hackett had presented us as something entirely from a new viewpoint as if Ravel and Stravinsky had a meeting of the minds in Steve's head to which he also added the necessary colour and depth that that piece desperately needed. All groups have referenced Holtz's piece yet not with the success I heard Steve do in his variation here. May I simply refer you to both Emerson Lake and Powell as well as King Crimson in their initial live shows and Fripp's stab at it in 'The Devil's Triangle.' The over all texture and depth of Mr Hackett's newest offering is ground breaking. The cast employed here adds does not detract from this work with everyone from Anthony Phillip's to Ray Schulman adding his own sense of 'Acquiring the Taste' on this recording. Simply Masterful.
