Wild Orchids marks the return of the former Genesis and GTR guitarist to his progressive rock roots.
If 2005's Metamorpheus was Steve Hackett's penultimate classical record, then Orchids is his art rock flagship.
A heady mix of David Gilmour, Adrian Belew, Yanni and Future-era Leonard Cohen, fans of the genre will look upon this 13-track collection (seventeen if you pick up the Special Edition) as a template for excess, but for those who still reserve an upper level seat in the stadium of their hearts for silly narration ("Down Street"), extended blues jams ("Blue Child") Thrak-era King Crimson-inspired arena-rockers ("Ego and Id") Dixieland interludes ("Why") or heavily orchestrated Dylan covers ("Man in the Long Black Coat:"), then this impeccably-crafted, surprisingly playful and alternately wince-inducing and beautiful barrage of superior musicianship should inspire the flickering flames of a thousand lighters.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A Dark Night in Toytown | Steve Hackett | Play | 03:38 | 8 MB | 21 MB |
| 2 | Waters of the Wild | Steve Hackett | Play | 05:35 | 12 MB | 34 MB |
| 3 | Set Your Compass | Steve Hackett | Play | 03:37 | 8 MB | 18 MB |
| 4 | Down Street | Steve Hackett | Play | 07:33 | 17 MB | 41 MB |
| 5 | A Girl Called Linda | Steve Hackett | Play | 04:46 | 10 MB | 23 MB |
| 6 | To a Close | Steve Hackett | Play | 04:48 | 11 MB | 21 MB |
| 7 | Ego and Id | Steve Hackett | Play | 04:08 | 9 MB | 24 MB |
| 8 | Man in the Long Black CoatBob Dylan | Steve Hackett | Play | 05:09 | 11 MB | 32 MB |
| 9 | Wolfwork | Steve Hackett | Play | 04:49 | 11 MB | 26 MB |
| 10 | Why | Steve Hackett | Play | 00:46 | 1 MB | 2 MB |
| 11 | She Moves in Memories | Steve Hackett | Play | 04:59 | 11 MB | 23 MB |
| 12 | The Fundamentals of Brainwashing | Steve Hackett | Play | 03:00 | 6 MB | 16 MB |
| 13 | Howl | Steve Hackett | Play | 04:31 | 10 MB | 25 MB |
| 57 mins | 132 MB | |||||
| 57 mins | 312 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Colin Clague | Trumpet |
| 2 | Dick Driver | Double Bass |
| 3 | Bob Dylan | Composer |
| 4 | Benedict Tobias Fenner | Engineer, Programming |
| 5 | John Hackett | Flute, Guitar (Electric) |
| 6 | Steve Hackett | Guitar, Harmonica, Optigan, Primary Artist, Psaltery, Sitar (Electric), Vocals, Voices |
| 7 | Roger King | Engineer, Guitar (Rhythm), Keyboards, Mixing |
| 8 | Nick Magnus | Keyboards |
| 9 | Gary OToole | Drums, Vocal Harmony |
| 10 | Jerry Peal | Backwards Vocals, Engineer |
| 11 | Harry Pearce | Design |
| 12 | Kim Poor | Cover Painting |
| 13 | Christopher Redgate | Cor Anglais, Oboe |
| 14 | Richard Stewart | Cello |
| 15 | Christine Townsend | Viola, Violin |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |