Having guested on some of Steve Hackett’s solo albums, it was a logical next step for the prog titans to form a mini-supergroup.
They’d suggested their name as a half-joke in interviews but have decided to stick with it – slightly unfortunate, as it sounds like some new mail order, compact version of the squash racket, but since the alternative was ‘Huire’, it’s understandable.
Apart from some clever vocoderising, Squackett sets sail upon its own seas as if little of import has happened in music since 1973. The keyboard layers and guitar tunings are silvery, the vocal deliveries unabashed and grandiose, with the lyrical themes straddling oceans, the elements and the soul of man, as evinced on titles such as Divided Self, Stormchaser and Tall Ships.
It’s redeemed by the pedigree and quality of Hackett and Squire, but is likely to be of interest only to their followers, as opposed to a wider audience.
