Hi and welcome to my thread Fabrizio. I’d love to hear your nominations for your 10th and 9th favourite Genesis tracks. We’re only posting one per week so you can quickly catch up
Top 10 Genesis tracks
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Hi and welcome to my thread Fabrizio. I’d love to hear your nominations for your 10th and 9th favourite Genesis tracks. We’re only posting one per week so you can quickly catch up
Hello Brindie, I am afraid I will have to pass, at best I could cast a vote for the top three, they have pretty much remained the same throughout the years, the others are just an impossible task: they are too many and they keep changing constantly.
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I like all the allegedly 'poppier' stuff but I don't have the analytical skills to get into a debate about it. I will just have to plough my own furrow & state that at the time of writing my ninth favourite Genesis song would probably be Dancing With The Moonlit Knight.
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Ironically, you have undersold Phil by not mentioning his drumming! He was very much channeling his inner Ringo on this tune.
Speaking of irony, I've always found it interesting that the band's first truly decent pop song came from Steve Hackett, a man often praised for his progressive leanings. I don't know if Selling England is Steve's favourite Genesis album but I wouldn't be too surprised if it was; it's certainly the album where he really shifts gear (then again, I think the band as a whole upped their game on this record, in every way).
You’re right, Steve has publicly stated multiple times that Selling England is his favorite album
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Number Nine:
Squonk - just an amazing song from my favorite album. Wish I could have been a fly on the wall when Phil first sang this one in the studio. Love how the song starts off so powerful and ends real laid back. When I want to show anyone Genesis, this is usually the song I play them first.
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Hi everyone. On a journey here - I had no particular awareness of or affection for Genesis in my youth, but started playing the albums over my streaming service at home, gradually got to like them more. It's great reading comments by people who have been steeped in the stuff since a younger age. So I'm going to attempt a top ten.
At #10: White Mountain from Trespass.
I just can't believe this album. Excluding the demo tapes they put together for Jonathan King which ended up on FGTR, this is their first proper piece of work. Someone tell me who they are modelling themselves on, these 20 year olds. Were the Stones doing anything so complex? Floyd weren't. Where on earth do they get it from?
You compare early Genesis and early Pink Floyd and it's men against boys. I speak as a big Floyd fan, but they took a fair few albums to get going. Gabriel et al are straight out of the traps. The album didn't sell at the time - except in Belgium apparently where they hit #1. But it's a fantastic piece of work. The Knife and Stagnation are worth fan favourites but White Mountain just does it for me. Voice, instrumentation, the different slow and fast phases. Fantastic.
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Very difficult to narrow it down to 10 tracks but I'll play...
10. Back In New York City
This was my favourite Genesis song when I was in my teens. It was powerful and immediate, and decorated with some interesting sounding keyboard playing. Obviously it's still one of my favourites, just not No. 1 anymore.
9. Stagnation
I imagine "The Knife" would have been very exhilarating to hear in a live setting (sadly I can't speak from experience), but for me "Stagnation" was by far the most appealing track on Trespass and the one most likely to cause goosebumps to rise.
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At #9 I have Home by the Sea from the Genesis album.
I struggle to find much after ATTW3 that interests me. Their best seller - Invisible Touch - contains literally nothing, and it's mainly a case of scratching around for a couple of acceptable singles - Turn It On Again, I Can't Dance, Abacab. But the eponymous album has a stellar Side One with the haunting Mama (complete with the evil laugh Collins ripped off from Grandmaster Flash), the foot-tapping That's All, and this late classic. Together with Second Home it forms an eleven minute suite. If I were allowed to pair them I might even push it up another position in my list, but on its own it still commands a place. I just love the keyboard riff going over the top of Phil's "Sit down, sit down". On the live sets he delivers the vocal first half, then retires behind the drums for the instrumental playout - as if to say to poor old Chester - you're not really up to this. What I do find irritating and unnecessary is the little gap between the two parts on the album, as if they needed to physically separate them. But forgiving them this, here we have their last great song.
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At #9 I have Home by the Sea from the Genesis album.
I struggle to find much after ATTW3 that interests me. Their best seller - Invisible Touch - contains literally nothing, and it's mainly a case of scratching around for a couple of acceptable singles - Turn It On Again, I Can't Dance, Abacab. But the eponymous album has a stellar Side One with the haunting Mama (complete with the evil laugh Collins ripped off from Grandmaster Flash), the foot-tapping That's All, and this late classic. Together with Second Home it forms an eleven minute suite. If I were allowed to pair them I might even push it up another position in my list, but on its own it still commands a place. I just love the keyboard riff going over the top of Phil's "Sit down, sit down". On the live sets he delivers the vocal first half, then retires behind the drums for the instrumental playout - as if to say to poor old Chester - you're not really up to this. What I do find irritating and unnecessary is the little gap between the two parts on the album, as if they needed to physically separate them. But forgiving them this, here we have their last great song.
Although I'm not a big an of their pop era, they could still pull some gems out of the bag. I agree Mama is superb, and was a surprisingly big hit here in the UK. It's pretty quirky and very dark! That whole first side is realy good, with the 'Home by the sea' suite rounding it off perfectly. The second side is relatively weak, but I always had a soft spot for Silver Rainbow.
Their best best post W&W songs, IMO: Turn it on again, Mama, That's all, Tonight, tonight, tonight, Domino, No son of Mine, Driving the last spike, Fading lights.
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On the live sets he delivers the vocal first half, then retires behind the drums for the instrumental playout - as if to say to poor old Chester - you're not really up to this.
Really? The same Chester Thompson who played for Frank Zappa and Weather Report?
There were a few moments during the second classic five-man era (that's how I view the period 78-92) where Chester left the stage. Some songs didn't need the double drums and it was always nice to see the three core members of the band playing together (as with Fading Lights on the We Can't Dance tour).
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10. Back In New York City
Certainly one of my favourite tracks on The Lamb. In a 'live' setting both Peter and Phil struggled with the vocal but the performances from the Duke tour, with Daryl playing a sublime variation on the "porcupine" vocal line were a real treat.
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At #9 I have Home by the Sea from the Genesis album.
What I do find irritating and unnecessary is the little gap between the two parts on the album, as if they needed to physically separate them. But forgiving them this, here we have their last great song.
They probably split the track to stick with the smaller stepping stones from which their musical pathway was now formed. Remember, long 'proggy' tracks were well out of fashion by this date. It started back in 1980. They'd originally planned to release 'Behind the Lines - Duchess - Guide Vocal - Turn it on again - Duke's Travels - Duke's End' as one epic 27 min piece of music on the whole first side of the DUKE album. These were the tracks they'd all collaborated on together. The other side would have been where their solo stuff sat. It made so much sense, but then they changed their minds and cut it up into bite-sided chunks, allegedly out of fear that it would not stand comparison with 'Supper's Ready'. To me, this was a travesty and the point when music finally got 'dumbed down' for the masses; but understandable nonetheless. The music press of the day were hounding prog rock. It was deemed pretentious and 'yesterday's music' after the explosion of punk and New Wave. Then when Phil had his smash hit with Face Value the following year, there was definitely no turning back!
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9. Stagnation
I imagine "The Knife" would have been very exhilarating to hear in a live setting (sadly I can't speak from experience), but for me "Stagnation" was by far the most appealing track on Trespass and the one most likely to cause goosebumps to rise.
'Stagnation' is my Trespass fave too, Witchwood. I especially like it when it kicks off at 5.55 with Gabriel yelling 'I wanna sit down' before .... a gentle flute refrain which the rest of the band then take over and build up into a glorious crescendo.Goosebumps? You bet!
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'Stagnation' is my Trespass fave too, Witchwood. I especially like it when it kicks off at 5.55 with Gabriel yelling 'I wanna sit down' before .... a gentle flute refrain which the rest of the band then take over and build up into a glorious crescendo.Goosebumps? You bet!
Wonderful song. It's the song that gave us an insight into where the band were heading next, more so than any other track on Trespass IMO. Classic prog rock.
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Then when Phil had his smash hit with Face Value the following year, there was definitely no turning back!
The only inference that can be made from this comment is that Phil's success as a solo artist dictated the direction in which Genesis went during the eighties. Could you be more wrong? No, you couldn't.
