The Tokyo Tapes

Infobox Album
Name = The Tokyo Tapes
Type = live
Artist = Steve Hackett


Released = 1996
Recorded = December 1996
Genre = Progressive rock
Length =
Label = Camino Records
Producer = Steve Hackett
Reviews =
Last album = "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1996)
This album = "The Tokyo Tapes" (1998)
Next album = "Dark Town" (1999)

"The Tokyo Tapes" is a live Steve Hackett album featuring a progressive rock supergroup lineup of John Wetton from King Crimson, UK and Asia; Chester Thompson from Weather Report, Frank Zappa and Genesis live; Ian McDonald, also from Crimson, and Foreigner; and rounded out by keyboards man Julian Colbeck (worked with Yes spin-off Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe). The album was compiled from two concerts at Koseinenkin Hall in Tokyo, Japan on December 16 & 17, 1996. The album also contains two Steve Hackett studio tracks.

In 2001, a live DVD also called The Tokyo Tapes and culled from the same two performances was released. It contained all 17 live tracks plus 18 minutes of bonus rehearsal footage and band biographies.

Both the CD and the DVD were promoted with the tagline:"What would it sound like if occasional members of GENESIS, KING CRIMSON, ASIA, YES, ZAPPA & WEATHER REPORT all got together to form a unique team just for one night?"

Track listing

Disc 1
# "Watcher of the Skies" (Banks/Rutherford/Hackett/Gabriel/Collins) – 8:59
# "Riding the Colossus" (Hackett) – 3:32
# "Firth of Fifth" (Banks/Collins/Hackett/Rutherford/Gabriel) – 9:32
# "Battlelines" (Wetton/Marlette/Mitchell) – 6:43
# "Camino Royale" (Hackett/Magnus) – 9:06
# "The Court of the Crimson King" (McDonald/Sinfield) – 7:39
# "Horizons" (Hackett) – 1:53
# "Walking Away From Rainbows" (Hackett) – 3:47
# "Heat of the Moment" (Wetton/Downes) – 4:06
# "...In That Quiet Earth'" (Hackett/Rutherford/Banks/Collins) – 4:02
# "Vampyre With a Healthy Appetite" (Hackett) – 7:23
# "I Talk to the Wind" (McDonald/Sinfield) – 5:37

Disc 2
# "Shadow of the Hierophant" (Hackett/Rutherford) – 7:14
# "Los Endos" (Banks/Collins/Rutherford/Hackett) – 6:54
# "Black Light" (Hackett) – 2:30
# "The Steppes" (Hackett) – 6:48
# "I Know What I Like" (Hackett/Banks/Rutherford/Collins/Gabriel) – 5:51
# "Firewall" (Hackett) (Studio track) – 4:41
# "The Dealer" (Hackett) (Studio track) – 4:23

Credits (live tracks)

*Steve Hackett: guitar/harmonica/vocals
*John Wetton: bass /guitar/vocals
*Chester Thompson: drums
*Ian McDonald: flute/saxophone/guitar/keyboards/vocals
*Julian Colbeck: keyboards/vocals

Credits (studio tracks)

*Steve Hackett: guitar/percussion
*Aron Friedman: keyboards/programming