STEVE HACKETT, the famous former guitarist the legendary Genesis, strikes back with a vengeance! After his last two albums, the rockin' To Watch The Storms and the orchestral concept album Metamorpheus, he returns with an album which can truly be considered to be a hybrid which unites both of his fields of work and provides the listener with 13 tracks which are completely different in style. Listening to it for the first time, it sounds like a collection of singles created in different eras of time, but as one is getting into the album a little further, it completely unfolds and shows its entire beauty, being thoroughly consistent in a very special way. The Underworld Orchestra, which HACKETT already had engaged for recording Metamorpheus in 2005, demonstrates again how many classical instruments can support and enrich the diversity of rock music. It feels as if STEVE HACKETT has also finally found the optimal artistic environment for putting his rock-based ideas into practice, as he again collaborated with Roger King, Rob Townsend, his brother John and others which have already been involved in To Watch The Storms in 2003. It is exactly this combination of highly qualified musicians and Steve's ambition to advance and never end up creating the same kind of album over and over again which makes Wild Orchids are very unique release full of little musical gems and gadgets which are not easy to find until listening to it many times in a row. This keeps the album interesting and takes care of preventing the CD from becoming a dust catcher in the rack. As every song on this album is a little masterpiece in its very own fashion, it might be inappropriate to point out some favorites, but to me especially Down Street, a 7 minute song taking the audience onto a very visual journey through the abandoned subway stations of London, represents the musical class of STEVE HACKETT and his fellow musicians very well, starting with a creepy recitative introduction, leading over to a film noir style soundtrack part and ending with a wonderful piano section. Some people might call this “head cinema”; I would prefer to simply call it “ingenious”. Other tracks definitely worth mentioning are the simply beautiful To A Close, the powerful yet modern A Dark Night In Toytown and the Bob Dylan cover Man In The Long Black Coat which, of course, sounds way better and even more emotional than any version Dylan himself ever laid down on vinyl. So -what are you waiting for? Buy the album NOW and be sure to catch a copy of the limited edition featuring 17 instead of 13 tracks. Wild Orchids is simply awesome!