{"id":19635,"date":"2020-10-05T05:30:10","date_gmt":"2020-10-05T09:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=19635"},"modified":"2020-10-05T08:43:32","modified_gmt":"2020-10-05T12:43:32","slug":"book-review-steve-hackett-a-genesis-in-my-bed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/05\/book-review-steve-hackett-a-genesis-in-my-bed\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Steve Hackett — A Genesis in My Bed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"As a longtime fan of early Genesis and the solo work of Steve Hackett \u2013 as well as having interviewed Hackett on no less than three occasions and seen him live onstage as well \u2013 I simply couldn\u2019t pass up the opportunity to read his autobiography\/memoir, A Genesis in My Bed<\/i>. It would be a good halfway through reading the book before the title made any sense, but along the way I learned a lot more about his life, details that put his music into a more well-rounded context.<\/p>\n

As I first dug into the book, I found its tone a bit on the idiosyncratic side. Initially, it didn\u2019t seem to read much like Hackett comes across in conversation. But a mere few pages in, I adjusted to his style, and it flowed wonderfully from there. He\u2019s a witty storyteller with a keen eye for detail, and A Genesis in My Bed<\/em> is written in an admirably personal style.<\/p>\n

The book isn\u2019t exactly jam-packed with session details and the like; one might say that it\u2019s more of a chronology of its author\u2019s emotional development. Hackett\u2019s childhood \u2013 punctuated by a transatlantic relocation \u2013 clearly affected his direction as a person and a musician. He recounts in vivid detail the details of his youth, which in hindsight makes it all the more surprising that he ended up in Genesis.<\/p>\n

Hackett doesn\u2019t shy away from addressing the sorts of working relationships he had with his Genesis bandmates. Those familiar with the band\u2019s inner workings will likely be less than surprised to learn which members he got along best with, and which proved more problematic. But he lays out the scene skillfully and diplomatically; as often as not, Hackett provides a bit of detail and leaves it to the reader to connect the dots.<\/p>\n

The guitarist\u2019s reasons for eventually leaving Genesis are recounted in a way that makes a good deal of sense, and his coverage of his post-Genesis work will remind readers that he\u2019s been extremely prolific. And somewhat paradoxically, his prodigious output has been characterized both by a sharply defined creative vision and an eclectic nature. That means that one album often sounded very little like the one that came before or after it. The book covers his musical activities right up to present day.<\/p>\n

Like many artists, Steve Hackett\u2019s music has often been colored by his life experiences. As such, certain albums \u2013 like Out of the Tunnel\u2019s Mouth<\/i> from 2010 \u2013 have a character that captures his emotional state during their making. In A Genesis in My Bed<\/i>, he goes into some detail about what exactly was happening during those periods.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s not a lot of sex and drugs in Hackett\u2019s book, but there is some. The former is connected to the book title, and the latter is addressed in a somewhat perfunctory manner. Yet in context that treatment makes sense. It\u2019s not designed as a warts-and-all memoir. The book is filled with amusing and enlightening anecdotes, many, many<\/i> of which are structured along the lines of, \u201cthe tour\/session\/experience generally went well, save for that one time\u2026\u201d and then he goes on to recount the details of that one time. It\u2019s an effective approach to one\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

Readers interested in the man\u2019s life and work are encouraged to pick up a copy of A Genesis in My Bed<\/i>.<\/p>\n

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