Steve Hackett – Please Don’t Touch (1978) Review | Climbing Up on Solsbury Hillage
Kronomyth 2.0: Voyage to the vicarage.
Steve Hackett’s second album is chock full of good ideas and great playing from the now former Genesis guitarist. Fans of his first album will find something to love about Please Don’t Touch—they just won’t enjoy everything on it. That’s because Hackett tries to cram too many different styles into one album, including no less than four different lead vocalists. Steve Walsh (who joins Phil Ehart on this elpee) is a great choice on Narnia and, to a lesser extent, Racing in a. Richie Havens, who appears on How Can I? (Hackett’s attempt to recreate the success of “Solsbury Hill”) and Icarus Ascending, is a distinctive (though talented) singer who prog fans might find offputting. Randy Crawford (Hoping Love Will Last) is about as prog as Chaka Khan. I’m not saying that Hackett has to be some prog purist, but his first album was steeped in it, while his second steps in and out of it like a convenient costume. Individually, there are fine moments here, from the lovely instrumental Kim (no doubt inspired by his wife, Kim Poor) or the clockwork strangeness of Carry on Up the Vicarage to the mind-candy maelstrom of Land of a Thousand Autumns/Please Don’t Touch. What’s missing is a salable single. In more than a few ways, this reminds me of Peter Gabriel’s multifarious first album, and it’s not unthinkable that Hackett was hoping his first post-Genesis album would find similar success. It didn’t, unfortunately, although the album performed respectably in the UK, where eccentricity is more than tolerated. Personally, I suggest you buy Voyage of the Acolyte, Spectral Mornings and Please Don’t Touch, then maybe Defector if you still have money lying around. As for Cured? No, not with a ten-foot pole.
The Product
A1. Narnia (4:06)
A2. Carrying on Up the Vicarage (3:11)
A3. Racing in a (5:07)
A4. Kim (2:14)
A5. How Can I? (4:40)
B1. Hoping Love Will Last (4:09)
B2. Land of a Thousand Autumns (1:57)
B3. Please Don’t Touch (3:39)
B4. The Voice of Necam (3:11)
B5. Icarus Ascending (6:21)
All songs composed and arranged by Steve Hackett.
CD reissue bonus tracks
11. Narnia (John Perry vocal version) (4:07)
12. Land of a Thousand Autumns/Please Don’t Touch (live) (1:44)
13. Narnia (alternate version) (4:07)
The Players
Steve Hackett (electronic and acoustic guitars, vocals, keyboards, percussion), John Hackett (flutes, piccolos, bass pedals, keyboards) with John Acock (keyboards), Marian Bonvino (guest soprano on B1), James Bradley (percussion), Randy Crawford (vocals on B1), Phil Ehart (drums, percussion), Feydor (vocals on B4), Tom Fowler (bass), Richie Havens (vocals, percussion), Dave Lebolt (keyboards), Hugh Malloy (cello), Necam the computer (computer assisted mix down), Dale Newman (guest vocals on B5), Dan Owen (guest vocals on B5), Graham Smith (violin), Chester Thompson (drums, percussion), Steve Walsh (vocals on A1/A3). Produced by John Acock and Steve Hackett. Engineered by John Acock.
The Pictures
Cover illustration by Kim Poor. Sleeve design b y Kim Poor and A.D. Design.
The Plastic
Released on elpee, cassette and 8-track in April 1978* in the UK (Charisma, CDS 4012), the US (Chrysalis, CHR/PV/HER-1176), Canada (Charisma, 9211 4011), France (Charisma, 7164 074), Germany (Charisma, 9124 024) and Japan (Charisma, RJ-7372) with lyrics innersleeve. Reached #38 on the UK charts and #103 on the US charts. (*First appeared in 4/8/78 issue of Billboard.)
- Re-packaged w. Voyage of the Acolyte on 2-for-1 cassette in 1983 in the UK (Charisma, CASMC 105).
- Re-issued on compact disc in the UK (Virgin, CDSCD 4012).
- Re-issued on compact disc in 1991 in the US (Caroline, CAROL 1861).
- Re-issued on compact disc in 1993 in Europe (Virgin, 786680).
- Re-issued on expanded, remastered compact disc in 2005 in the UK (EMI, CDSCDR 4012) and on February 15, 2026 in Japan (Virgin, VJCP-68774) with 3 bonus tracks.
