I hate Many To Many. Really. I can`t stand it. I always skip it, when I listen to And Then There Were Three.
And also Say It`s Alright, Joe.
These really suck.
Honest question: How do you really feel about these two songs?
Say It's Alright Joe is another one that gets a fair amount of love that I could have added to my list.
The lady lies. I know it's Tony's and it is supposed to be one of the proggish songs on the album but it is imo one of the weakest tunes Tony has come up with and the lyrics…..Oh god, the lyrics…..
Honest question: How do you really feel about these two songs?
Say It's Alright Joe is another one that gets a fair amount of love that I could have added to my list.
I find them annoying. Boring and flat. They just don`t fit on the album. More Fool Me is another example. It is not, that I don`t like ballads, But these particular ones really get me started. Please Don`t Ask, for instance, is a song I really love. Open Door as well.
One for the Vine is a song that many seem to view as one of Tony's better compositions. I just can't get into it. The lyric/story for me is kind of obvious and does nothing for me. Musically it just seems to wander aimless, particularly the melody of the verses. There are a couple of bits I like, particularly the outro. But a lot the rest of it feels stitched together rather than flowing organically.
This is actually a perfect example. A song that we could probably say an overwhelming majority of the fan base loves. If I shared your opinion on OFTV, which I don't, I'd probably be afraid to admit it.
I don’t think Snowbound will surprise anyone. It is widely viewed as a bit, well, saccharin
I love it 
One for the Vine is a song that many seem to view as one of Tony's better compositions. I just can't get into it. The lyric/story for me is kind of obvious
Maybe I'm a bit slow, but it honestly took me 20 odd years to understand the story properly - that at the end of the song the protagonist is supposed to be viewing himself disappearing, becoming everything he is running away from. Like in an endless loop. I think it's quite clever, certainly one of their best fantasy lyrics. Was interested to read that Tony was inspired by a Michael Moorcock novel - and it certainly feels very Moorcockian.
Still have no idea why it's called One for the Vine though! Anybody?
Also wanted to stick up for Man of Our Times (which I think is generally not well liked, so perhaps doesn't fit this discussion anyway).
Phil's performance is incredible. It's the first time on record he matches the strident power of Gabriel for me. The repetitive/hypnotic/head-banging synthesizer riff also makes me think of Back in NYC. I think it's classy art-rock, and I wouldn't have Duke without it.
Also wanted to stick up for Man of Our Times (which I think is generally not well liked, so perhaps doesn't fit this discussion anyway).
Phil's performance is incredible. It's the first time on record he matches the strident power of Gabriel for me. The repetitive/hypnotic/head-banging synthesizer riff also makes me think of Back in NYC. I think it's classy art-rock, and I wouldn't have Duke without it.
Agreed. It's one of my all-time favourites.
The lady lies. I know it's Tony's and it is supposed to be one of the proggish songs on the album but it is imo one of the weakest tunes Tony has come up with and the lyrics…..Oh god, the lyrics…..
I heard it the other day & at the risk of sounding unbearably pretentious, the lyrics are like something from Spenser's The Faerie Queen. I think it's OK, no more than that.
the lyrics are like something from Spenser's The Faerie Queen.
I have a copy of that book which is as yet unread. Is it any good?
Maybe I'm a bit slow, but it honestly took me 20 odd years to understand the story properly - that at the end of the song the protagonist is supposed to be viewing himself disappearing, becoming everything he is running away from. Like in an endless loop. I think it's quite clever, certainly one of their best fantasy lyrics. Was interested to read that Tony was inspired by a Michael Moorcock novel - and it certainly feels very Moorcockian.
Still have no idea why it's called One for the Vine though! Anybody?
Yes, it the whole idea of becoming that which you rebelled against and the time loop issue. Perhaps it was never done in a song before, but it still didn't feel fresh to me.
I vaguely remember that people have explanations for the title. The vine in the song seems to represent him drinking wine and reflecting (talking with the vine), but I am not sure how this then translates to the wording of the title.
The Knife: I know it's supposed to be the highlight of the album, an album I love btw. but it is the classical song that grabs for 20 seconds, the first time and then bores me forever.
It: a poor and anti-climatic closer of an epic album. After all the build-up I would have wished something better. I really find it subpar and I cannot imagine it on any of their previous albums. One of those songs that only makes the final cut on a double album.
I don`t like The Knife, either. The first part is great, but it all dissolves into a complete mess. They should have thought of a proper ending. The keyboard riff on which the song is built apparently was inspired by Rondo by The Nice.
If I shared your opinion on OFTV, which I don't, I'd probably be afraid to admit it.
That's very honest, well done.
OK well I'm going to go further than most here.
A lot of Genesis I just don't like. Yep you read it right.
Each album has tracks I need to skip because they proper suck, except possibly Trespass and ATTW3. Examples : RAB on Trick, Wardrobe and Epping on England, Harold the flipping Barrel, everything on I.T. and lots else post Duke.
There are further tracks I'm neutral to and won't skip but wouldn't make a general playlist.
I'll come right out and say I don't find much on the Lamb I like.
Here's the big one: not massive on Supper's Ready either (has my membership been rescinded yet?). Salmacis no, Watcher of the Skies not really, Hogweed sorry.
What's left? Well I estimate that there is about 200 minutes of Genesis music I really love. Five full albums? I don't have a lot else in my general collection that matches that. Floyd probably, no one else.
Display MoreOK well I'm going to go further than most here.
A lot of Genesis I just don't like. Yep you read it right.
Each album has tracks I need to skip because they proper suck, except possibly Trespass and ATTW3. Examples : RAB on Trick, Wardrobe and Epping on England, Harold the flipping Barrel, everything on I.T. and lots else post Duke.
There are further tracks I'm neutral to and won't skip but wouldn't make a general playlist.
I'll come right out and say I don't find much on the Lamb I like.
Here's the big one: not massive on Supper's Ready either (has my membership been rescinded yet?). Salmacis no, Watcher of the Skies not really, Hogweed sorry.
What's left? Well I estimate that there is about 200 minutes of Genesis music I really love. Five full albums? I don't have a lot else in my general collection that matches that. Floyd probably, no one else.
My man. Thank you.
When I was recently revisiting Genesis I've noticed some songs or albums I used to like just don't do it for me anymore. Why put out Duke if it's not going to have Evidence of Autumn or Open Door, one of which is possibly my favorite Genesis song? The biggest surprise for me was my most recent, and first critical listen of "shapes," only to find out I liked it better than "Trick" or SEBtP. That's almost sacrilege within some circles in the Genesis fandom, but I really don't care.
And I don't really care for Firth of Fifth. I don't get how it's so revered among fans. It's nice, and starts out promising, but after all nine and a half minutes I feel something was missing. The song, and most of SEBtP in general, remind me of King Crimson's Lizard album, which is not only an album that I've heard first before Selling England, but came out an almost good three years before. It may not be as politically-minded as Selling England, but in my opinion, Lizard, and its titular suite in particular, has more engaging music and a better fleshed-out fantasy world. Why listen to Firth of Fifth when the Lizard suite, or to be streamlined, Cirkus exists?
Which brings me to this. I think Selling England by the Pound is overrated. Trespass to Foxtrot are superior albums, and I find Selling England to be just about as good as Calling All Stations, which, to me, means they're both mediocre-to-slightly-decent. Maybe because I am an American born in the 1990s, I simply won't "get" Selling England unless I researched political affairs of early-1970s Britain, and I don't find that particularly fun.
And here's a controversial opinion. Trespass is my favorite Genesis album, and my runner-up is, wait for it... We Can't Dance.
I have a copy of that book which is as yet unread. Is it any good?
If you are familiar on some level with 16th century literature, it's OK, but it's not Shakespeare. It's a long hard slog, with tales of knights & fair ladies pretty much repeated in slightly varying formats for 700 pages. It's meant to be an allegory about Elizabethan England but I don't have the skills or patience to comb through all the footnotes & work it out.
As Rael, We Can't Dance is my favourite Genesis album. There you go. To try & stay on topic, I'm not the biggest fan of Los Endos either.
I don't really care for Firth of Fifth. I don't get how it's so revered among fans. It's nice, and starts out promising, but after all nine and a half minutes I feel something was missing. The song, and most of SEBtP in general, remind me of King Crimson's Lizard album, which is not only an album that I've heard first before Selling England, but came out an almost good three years before. It may not be as politically-minded as Selling England, but in my opinion, Lizard, and its titular suite in particular, has more engaging music and a better fleshed-out fantasy world. Why listen to Firth of Fifth when the Lizard suite, or to be streamlined, Cirkus exists?
I must check this Lizard album out. If it’s anything like ‘England’, which I adore, I’m in for a treat!
Much of the stuff I don't like would be from the early days.
Pretty much all of Trespass is fey and insubstantial.
For Absent Friends, Harlequin and Seven Stones fail to excite me.
After The Ordeal is a below par instrumental while Aisle Of Plenty is tedious.
Robbery, Assault And Battery seems a failed attempt to repeat what Peter did with Battle Of Epping Forest but, where that song eventually won me over with its too-busy-by-far approach, Robbery is just too contrived to be genuinely appealing.
Your Own Special Way. A love song about a mermaid with a lacklustre keyboard solo. No thanks.
Alone Tonight and Open Door. Some of the Genesis tunes for which Mike has been responsible are truly classic but these two are not amongst them.
And that's my list. Nothing too controversial in there (no Supper's Ready, Musical Box or Cinema Show).
A lot of Genesis I just don't like. Yep you read it right.
Well, if we are going there, as of Abacab it is easier for me to make a list of the songs I don't like which is the overwhelming majority. On WCD for instance I really like 3 and I am OK with another one, out of 12 I believe. Same with Abacab, 3 top 4, and Shapes 4 to 5. Quite a lot, considering we are talking about my favorite band. In the spirit of the thread though, I try to focus on the one I am supposed to be liking but I actually don't. YOSW is one of those, for instance.
