Songs I'm Afraid to Admit I Don't Like

    Quote from Fabrizio

    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.

    Really? We’re supposed to like that awful sugar ballad from Mike.

    ~ My talents may not be obvious but they are always...always...delicious! ~

    Quote from Gabble Ratchet

    I must check this Lizard album out. If it’s anything like ‘England’, which I adore, I’m in for a treat!

    It's not too much like "Selling England," both share a medieval aesthetic and some other aspects but are totally different albums in the end. It's not that easy to find, you know how Robert Fripp is with protecting his music. I blindly bought my copy, the 40th anniversary CD+DVD pack, at a now-closed Borders in Sterling, VA back in 2010. And I'll give you this sampler from DGM's official YouTube channel itself, from the Lizard suite. If you like this, you might like the album overall.

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    Quote from Gabble Ratchet

    Really? We’re supposed to like that awful sugar ballad from Mike.

    I think we should have a thread titled "Songs I'm Afraid to Admit I Like" thread, because I don't find Your Own Special Way terrible. It's inoffensive, and a nice breather after One for the Vine. And to be honest, I wouldn't miss it if the song was taken out of W&W in favor of Inside and Out, though I wouldn't know where I'd place that song in the album's sequence.

    Quote from AsRael

    I don't find Your Own Special Way terrible. It's inoffensive, and a nice breather after One for the Vine.

    Ahh, you mean like a burger is a nice change from a steak? 😜

    ~ My talents may not be obvious but they are always...always...delicious! ~

    Quote from AsRael

    It's not too much like "Selling England," both share a medieval aesthetic and some other aspects but are totally different albums in the end. It's not that easy to find, you know how Robert Fripp is with protecting his music. I blindly bought my copy, the 40th anniversary CD+DVD pack, at a now-closed Borders in Sterling, VA back in 2010. And I'll give you this sampler from DGM's official YouTube channel itself, from the Lizard suite. If you like this, you might like the album overall.

    ....

    Agreed. To my ears, Lizard has a cacophonous and occasional carnival-like quality that I certainly don't hear in SEBTP.

    It is arguably the most divisive album among KC fans. Some hail Lizard as a complex work of genius. Others think it's one of their weakest or worst albums.

    I'm firmly in the latter camp, though I'll concede there are a few fleeting bits on it I do like.

    Quote from AsRael

    And I don't really care for Firth of Fifth.


    Which brings me to this. I think Selling England by the Pound is overrated. .


    And here's a controversial opinion. Trespass is my favorite Genesis album, and my runner-up is, wait for it... We Can't Dance.

    This is a fascinating thread. People are swallowing hard and coming out with it! Fantastic.


    Happen to love Firth myself, and most of England but this does not diminish the respect for slaying your dragons in front of your peers.

    Quote from Witchwood

    Agreed. To my ears, Lizard has a cacophonous and occasional carnival-like quality that I certainly don't hear in SEBTP.

    It is arguably the most divisive album among KC fans. Some hail Lizard as a complex work of genius. Others think it's one of their weakest or worst albums.

    I'm firmly in the latter camp, though I'll concede there are a few fleeting bits on it I do like.

    Lizard is one of my most cherished albums (it reminds me a lot more of Foxtrot by the way). It isn't perfect - the Lizard suite doesn't build up to anything much after the wonderful bolero section, and Cirkus is no match for 21st Century Schizoid Man - but overall I love the feel of it - so strange, wonderful and dreamy.

    Quote from AsRael

    It's not too much like "Selling England," both share a medieval aesthetic and some other aspects but are totally different albums in the end. It's not that easy to find, you know how Robert Fripp is with protecting his music. I blindly bought my copy, the 40th anniversary CD+DVD pack, at a now-closed Borders in Sterling, VA back in 2010. And I'll give you this sampler from DGM's official YouTube channel itself, from the Lizard suite. If you like this, you might like the album overall.

    External Content www.youtube.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    I think we should have a thread titled "Songs I'm Afraid to Admit I Like" thread, because I don't find Your Own Special Way terrible. It's inoffensive, and a nice breather after One for the Vine. And to be honest, I wouldn't miss it if the song was taken out of W&W in favor of Inside and Out, though I wouldn't know where I'd place that song in the album's sequence.

    This King Crimson is interesting stuff. I can definitely hear an early influence on Genesis although this extract is much darker musically. I’ll have to explore this in more depth but thanks for this.

    ~ My talents may not be obvious but they are always...always...delicious! ~

    Quote from slowdancer

    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.

    It's funny, isn't it? Many Too Many is, for me, easily the best thing on the album. Mike even manages a half-decent solo...….

    Ian


    Putting the old-fashioned Staffordshire plate in the dishwasher!

    Like 1
    Quote from Gabble Ratchet

    Ahh, you mean like a burger is a nice change from a steak? 😜

    I see YOSW as some homemade salad your significant other who doesn't know too much about cooking made after the gourmet steak that was OftV. It's not very good, but it's still charming, and that's what matters.

    Quote from foxfeeder

    It's funny, isn't it? Many Too Many is, for me, easily the best thing on the album. Mike even manages a half-decent solo...….

    Really? I must re-listen. The only bit of guitar on that album that I remember is the solo in Burning Rope.

    ~ My talents may not be obvious but they are always...always...delicious! ~

    Excellent idea for a thread but instead of the rather timid apologetic title it should be called "I Don't Like These Songs and I Don't Care!" No-one should ever be "afraid" of naming songs they don't (or for that matter do) like. It's on the same spectrum as the absurd notion of "guilty pleasures", a silly media thing loads of people bought into.


    There's been a few mentions of ones I dislike too. It's great seeing The Lady Lies and One For The Vine getting a bit of a kicking from others. I have huge respect for Banks and he wrote a few of my favourite Genesis tracks but my word he could come up with some dreary ponderous twaddle, those two tracks being prime examples. Even some songs of his that I like musically, such as Undertow, have me thinking "yeah yeah, blah-blah-blah" as far as the po-faced lyrics go.


    But keeping in what I see as the intended spirit of the thread, rather than just list the songs I dislike on each album, I'll try to restrict it to the ones that are maybe sacred cows to some degree. The above two kind of are, plus sticking with ATTWT, Burning Rope as mentioned earlier. Obviously there are dedicated prog fans who often prefer the longer tracks on the trio albums and I suppose BR is the proggiest one on that album but it annoys the hell out of me due it being yet another load of Banks droning on about something or other I couldn't give a gnat's yawn about. File alongside Mad Man Moon. Usually with music, I'm able to say that while it's not for me, I can see the appeal for others, but the appeal of MMM completely eludes me.


    Still on ATOTT, I kind of agree about Volcano, but in a qualified way. The first half is sheer brilliance, killer riff, great changes, just generally superb dymanics, especially when they played it live - the energy it could generate was thrilling. The second half is horrible, full of silly oooh-look-at-us stop-starts, ear-drum-grating shrill wobbly keyboards and a referee's whistle. It's a very rare instance of Genesis coming close to Yes at their aren't-we-clever-widdly-diddly worst. Dropping that segment was one of the best live decisions they ever made.


    Not sure about Friday, is it quite a venerated song? I do think it's pretty awful but not sure if it's quite in 'sacred cow' territory. On a Hackett Genesis Revisited tour, it's what he kicked off the Genesis half of the show with. For crying out loud... when you think of the material he had available to him, and that's what he opened with. Supper's Ready is of course the great untouchable religious icon of the Genesis canon. But a lot of it is really just okay. Quite pretty opening segment but which goes on for too long without offering anything especially interesting, rescued by the excellent break into the really nice second section with one of my favourite ascending passages of theirs. Then parts 3, 4 and 5... they're okay-ish. 3 is a bit clunky but a nice guitar break, 4 is a slightly dreary doodle, 5 is ploddingly lightweight and leads into another over-long bridge. Then you get the stupendous bit which really carries the entire track, rounded off with a nice reprise of the other good earlier bit. Yes I get there's an argument for saying, ah but it's how the whole thing hangs together and flows. But the parts are so distinct from each other, I can't help hearing it as 7 songs stitched together, and most of them aren't exactly brilliant.

    Abandon all reason

    Quote from mdepps

    I'll come right out and say I don't find much on the Lamb I like.

    So far no one has responded to this attack on this most sacred of cows.


    My disappointment stems not from a love of trolling but from the hope that someone might respond by naming what they consider to be a brilliant Lamb track and challenging me to reassess.


    The album is consistently ranked highly by the Genesis cognoscenti and I'd really like to know why.


    Floyd fans wouldn't elevate a workshop piece like Ummagumma above Dark Side or The Wall so I'd like to know what's different.

    The lack of response surprised me too, Eppsy. I thought you’d have been lynched by now. My three nominations were quickly pounced upon.

    I can only presume you overwhelmed everyone by the sheer number of sacred cows you were herding to slaughter. In dithering over which to save first, none were and you got to slaughter the lot of them unopposed. Quite an achievement!

    ~ My talents may not be obvious but they are always...always...delicious! ~

    Well for one thing, I disagree that it's the "most sacred of cows". I've always known it to be a quite divisive album and you are far from alone in disliking it. I think that, ironically in a sense, you've elevated it beyond the point most Lamb-admirers place it.


    For me it indeed is my favourite Genesis album, and one of my top 10 albums ever by anyone. But I'm going to disappoint you - I feel no particular need to "challenge" you on your dislike of it! What a peculiar idea. If you regard it as no better or more significant within their output than Ummagumma is within Floyd's, so be it. I regard it as their best album by quite some distance, but it and no album or track by Genesis or any artist is a sacred cow.

    Abandon all reason

    Like 1
    Quote from AsRael

    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.

    This is all good stuff - I love SEBTP but it's good to see such opinions and I relish the thought of outraged rock-heads throwing their arms up and muttering "Why, I oughta...". And no, no, no, a zillion times NO - there is no album that can be rendered more palatable by reading up on early-1970s British politics. And anyway, other than giving the album a kind of English "flavour" and tone, I think the whole thing about the political side has been over-exaggerated.


    I challenge anyone reading your post to explain why your top 2 album choices are in any way "controversial"!

    Abandon all reason

    Quote from AsRael

    I see YOSW as some homemade salad your significant other who doesn't know too much about cooking made after the gourmet steak that was OftV. It's not very good, but it's still charming, and that's what matters.

    For me, OFTV isn't a gourmet steak, it's an underwhelming 5-course meal with too much food that goes on for too long and none of it is especially flavourful and with too much attention given to fiddly-diddly presentation and each course being served on a different silly-shaped plate. And to add to your disappointment, you'd heard the cook was really good. YOSW then becomes like a digestif that is also not that good and maybe slightly too sweet, but by that point you're just relieved no more food is being put in front of you.


    (PS - I've always found steak overrated as a meal, even in restaurants renowned for their steaks).

    Abandon all reason