The release of guitarist Steve Hackett's solo album offered assurance that Genesis still had enough talent to compensate for the departure of singer Peter Gabriel. A Trick of the Tail, the first post-Gabriel Genesis LP, confirms it, surprisingly drawing most of its strength from the writing of keyboardist Tony Banks, who contributed to all eight of the songs.

Voyage of the Acolyte invites...

Steve Hackett has left Genesis as far behind as he can. To pursue a career as a songwriter, he's abandoned all of his old band's epic devices, but his wonderful orchestral guitar playing, which once governed his subtle use of effects, has unfortunately evaporated in the baldness of his new material. Hackett's guitar is still engaging at times: the reverberant acoustic picking that opens "Narnia"...