TotW 11/7/2022 - 11/13/2022: GENESIS - Dodo

A great example of the harder 80s sound of Genesis. Fantastic drumming from Collins and enough twists and turns to keep interest, with enough hooks to be easy to remember. I like the obscure lyrics. One of the best from the trio in my opinion

Cue all the conspiracy theories concerning the Lurker riddle...

Best track on ABACAB in my opinion.

Listed as 2 separate tracks on ABACAB even though it's really one track.

Listed as simply "Dodo" on THREE SIDES LIVE even though both parts are included.

An 80s version of Squonk.

Looks like Rutherford's stuff.

A fantastic song live. Lucky to see it with Genesis on the Abacab tour. Wonderful show opener on next tour as well. Also saw it played this year by the Visible touch tribute band in Brighton. They did a fine job. Catch them if you can.

often overlooked in the catalogue, but for me a great song from early 80's period. Came over strong as a live track with a heavier edge to it

Anybody who saw this live is a very lucky person. Magnificent.

I really like Dodo. Lurker is a bit meh but they are a piece obviously. I love the darker edge to Dodo compared to a lot of non-CAS Genesis. The band sound great but none more so than Phil.

One of their key tracks for me! 15 pt

This is my favourite song created by the trio. From the first listen I was amazed, the composition, the sound, the drumming, the lyrics (story of snowman and fish is my favourite part). My nickname on this group speaks for itself - this song is in my top 5 of all Genesis songs.

As we know, the Dodo/Lurker suite was also supposed to consist of Naminanu and Submariner (the latter title, some say, was supposed to be an answer to Lurker-Riddle, although I think Tony Banks said he wasn't thinking of any specific answer). There is someone's attempt on YouTube to combine all four pieces into one suite. In my opinion, however, Dodo/Lurker, the two-part version, is the best; the other two parts add little to the whole, and probably even dilute its impact. As for the Lurker part itself - in my opinion it is superb, doing an excellent job as a coda to the whole piece. Then there's the matter of Tony's odd solo in Lurker - I know many people don't like it. For me it's perfect, considering it's lurker's speaking, quite funny.

Quote from RaphusDodo

This is my favourite song created by the trio. From the first listen I was amazed, the composition, the sound, the drumming, the lyrics (story of snowman and fish is my favourite part). My nickname on this group speaks for itself - this song is in my top 5 of all Genesis songs.

As we know, the Dodo/Lurker suite was also supposed to consist of Naminanu and Submariner (the latter title, some say, was supposed to be an answer to Lurker-Riddle, although I think Tony Banks said he wasn't thinking of any specific answer). There is someone's attempt on YouTube to combine all four pieces into one suite. In my opinion, however, Dodo/Lurker, the two-part version, is the best; the other two parts add little to the whole, and probably even dilute its impact. As for the Lurker part itself - in my opinion it is superb, doing an excellent job as a coda to the whole piece. Then there's the matter of Tony's odd solo in Lurker - I know many people don't like it. For me it's perfect, considering it's lurker's speaking, quite funny.

Funnily enough, for me, Submarine is the only really good part of it all, though the Lurker keyboard solo is good, mainly as it sounds like something from the second half of the Lamb album.

I share the generally positive thoughts about Dodo/Lurker already expressed, and that it was a nice one to see being played live. As mentioned elsewhere, it has a special place in my Genesis gig-going experience partly because of that stunning moment of seeing the varilites sweep in one collective move for the first time - as was their wont with the visuals, very cleverly kept until a few songs into the show.

As far as listening to it is concerned though I always default to the original as I feel it's better served by the taut, sharp drumming rather than Thompson's looser style. Overall it's a good balancing of the newer 'spacier' sound and their earlier textures.

I too like the keyboard line in Lurker, and the switch to the big chords of the 'clothes of brass' bit. Never thought of it in terms of similarities to 2nd half of The Lamb - a bit like Scree perhaps?

Re the proposed 'suite', as with Duke and the Moonlit/Cinema Show ones it's as well they abandoned it. They were wise to avoid suites post-Suppers - it's one of the things I always admired about them among the prog bands, that they didn't go down that road again. I suppose they sort of nudged towards it with Domino but only really by giving the two parts names. I like both Naminanu and Submarine, they're very different from each other and both in line with the newer, fresher approach they were taking at the time. Naminanu sounds a bit Brand X-ish which makes me think it might've been PC-led, while Submarine is something of a personal favourite of mine - I like its simplicity and it has a nice atmosphere, with a dreamy feel yet there's also a bit of tension in there too, an interesting mix.

Quote from RaphusDodo

Tony's odd solo in Lurker - I know many people don't like it.

Is it disliked by many? Also, I personally don't find it odd. In fact it's a typically vertically melodic Banks 'solo' (I don't really think of it as a solo as such myself)

Yeah, LOVE this one!! One of the songs that made me a Genesis fan. I've also found that the Lurker solo hearkens to The Lamb - reminds me a bit of "Raven".

Absolutely my favorite song on Abacab, and maybe in my top 10 all-time for Genesis songs. A perfect mix of prog and rock. And as others have mentioned, the light show at the live performances was astounding. If you listen to recordings on YouTube from the 1981-84 era you can hear audible gasps and loud cheers from the audience in response to the vari-lites.

For me, this is one of their standout stracks from the trio period. It has power, edge, atmosphere, it's somewhat aggressive, strange, different. Just wonderful! They should have done that during their last tour ...