Your favorite GENESIS studio albums (pick three)

Quote from seven-eight

That's a good one! For me it's Selling England/Lamb/Trick

Same here!

Duke/Abacab/Genesis because I don't think Lamb is consistent enough over its length, but it's a good sequence.

Quote from HaroldTB

How about best 3 consecutive studio albums?

Well, statistics: that limits the chances for the first and last 1-2 albums

Without being influenced by reading the many previous posts, my 3 selections are:

Selling England by the pound - The Lamb lies down on Broadway - Duke

Hands down. Although I was fortunate to have seen all three album tours live, I also am passionately driven by their musical excellence. In fact for me, these are among my most fervishing and highly loved records of all time.

Hard to pick 3 when you like them all, but I will select:

Foxtrot

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway

A Trick of the Tail

Quote from thewatcher

Now, checking back in on this thread I'm glad I missed out on the live discussion. It looks ugly, with the source of all the ugliness being senor Lazlor. Not a wind up merchant at all, as someone suggested, and not provocative either since the presented argument is a blank wall shutting down discussion on the basis that only one opinion has any merit.

All opinions have merit.

At least inasmuch as they warrant critical assessment - and yer welcome to finding ugliness where it suits ya

Understand me well: I am not saying the rest of the discography doesn't have its moments. I do find merit in a number of tunes on those later albums, but they undoubtedly are on another, so much lower level as compared to what made Genesis so precious in the first place.

Again, supposing the band won't just be forgotten with all the rest of the Sixties/Seventies+ rock by new generations more interested in/directed to bland soundtracks (hey, there's a thought!) to their increasingly virtual lives, there is one period and one period only for which Genesis will be remembered as one of the premier prog bands ever, and that goes from Trespass to The Lamb, with an honourable mention to TotT and W&W, which more than hint to the er... humdrum future of the trio's music.

Now, if your idea of a discussion is a neverending list of indiscriminate stuff on a dying forum, then have at it

Quote from Lazlor

All opinions have merit.

Now, if your idea of a discussion is a neverending list of indiscriminate stuff on a dying forum, then have at it

Are you capable of seeing how you have contradicted yourself there? You don't believe all opinions have merit. At all.

I have picked Selling England and The Lamb - and I quite like Abacab more and more, the older I get ...

Quote from Zaar

I have picked Selling England and The Lamb - and I quite like Abacab more and more, the older I get ...

Abacab is a great grower isn't it? There's something about it that keeps me coming back. I think it's more exploratory than the albums either side of it, the production is sparser and there's an energy in the musicianship that isn't always present in Genesis. For example, WCD which I very much like hasn't got the same punch throughout.

Quote from thewatcher

Abacab is a great grower isn't it? There's something about it that keeps me coming back. I think it's more exploratory than the albums either side of it, the production is sparser and there's an energy in the musicianship that isn't always present in Genesis. For example, WCD which I very much like hasn't got the same punch throughout.

I feel exactly the same about Abacab, only I get to a different conclusion. Ever once in a while I give the album a chance, something draws to it: the energy, the novelty, the production, the crisp sound. It is imo, together with Shapes, Phil's absolute vocal peak, I've always maintained that at the time he was one of the best vocalists around, including much more celebrated figures like Bono and Sting. I saw them live and he was a force of nature, not always the case before and after that period. Anyway, when I'm done listening to Abacab and I break it down, I inevitably have to conclude that I'm spite of all its redeeming qualities the material is quite weak when compared to all previous albums with the only possible exception of ATTW3. Very few songs stood, imo the test of time and have particular significance in their songbook.

Quote from Fabrizio

I feel exactly the same about Abacab, only I get to a different conclusion. Ever once in a while I give the album a chance, something draws to it: the energy, the novelty, the production, the crisp sound. It is imo, together with Shapes, Phil's absolute vocal peak, I've always maintained that at the time he was one of the best vocalists around, including much more celebrated figures like Bono and Sting. I saw them live and he was a force of nature, not always the case before and after that period. Anyway, when I'm done listening to Abacab and I break it down, I inevitably have to conclude that I'm spite of all its redeeming qualities the material is quite weak when compared to all previous albums with the only possible exception of ATTW3. Very few songs stood, imo the test of time and have particular significance in their songbook.

I agree about Phil's vocals here, 81 - 83 I think was his peak both vocals and drumming. I was born in 1981 so I have no direct experience unfortunately!

As for Abacab, it has an oddly anonymous quality in that it is sandwiched between albums with more celebrated tracks like Behind The Lines and Turn It On Again on one side and Mama, That's All and Home By The Sea on the other, than anything on Abacab. Maybe that keeps it a little fresher in my mind. I enjoy the off-kilter nature of Keep It Dark and Another Record.

Quote from thewatcher

I agree about Phil's vocals here, 81 - 83 I think was his peak both vocals and drumming. I was born in 1981 so I have no direct experience unfortunately!

As for Abacab, it has an oddly anonymous quality in that it is sandwiched between albums with more celebrated tracks like Behind The Lines and Turn It On Again on one side and Mama, That's All and Home By The Sea on the other, than anything on Abacab. Maybe that keeps it a little fresher in my mind. I enjoy the off-kilter nature of Keep It Dark and Another Record.

KID stands out imo, so do MASJ and Dodo, I think MOC is a pleasant listen but nothing more than that, the rest is forgettable in my book, even the title track that should be a highlight, at least live but the band dropped altogether. It's probably the only modern era album whose songs never get performed live and personally I can understand why.

Quote from Fabrizio

KID stands out imo, so do MASJ and Dodo, I think MOC is a pleasant listen but nothing more than that, the rest is forgettable in my book, even the title track that should be a highlight, at least live but the band dropped altogether. It's probably the only modern era album whose songs never get performed live and personally I can understand why.

I absolutely love the title track, it's one of the most 'live' sounding studio tracks they have. Phil's vocals are almost snarling and the pulsing interplay between the instruments is like a knife thrusting in and out. Very energetic and inventive.

Bigger issue... the scope of what different fans love is a *huge* draw for me in Genesis. There are very few big bands that cover the range of tastes they do.

Quote from thewatcher

I absolutely love the title track, it's one of the most 'live' sounding studio tracks they have. Phil's vocals are almost snarling and the pulsing interplay between the instruments is like a knife thrusting in and out. Very energetic and inventive.

Bigger issue... the scope of what different fans love is a *huge* draw for me in Genesis. There are very few big bands that cover the range of tastes they do.

Yet, for some reason they don't play it live, by the WCD tour they had already dropped it from the setlist, just like the rest of the album and unlike some recent or newer era Genesis stuff it gets absolutely no playtime on the radio. I think with that song they tried to recreate something a-la TIOA and for my money they didn't succeed. As I always said fans like what they like and it's a good thing but time puts songs and albums in perspective. As I said Phil was vocally on fire on that album and tried hard to infuse some energy into filler stuff like AR and LION. Another one I have problems with is No reply at all and obviously Paperlate. I love Tony, he's the soul, backbone and cornerstone of the band but he is a purely British, quite stiff, classical music influenced player and songwriter. EW&F, another band I adore and Tony have really nothing in common, to me it just sounds cringeworthy but again lots of energy there.

Quote from Fabrizio

Yet, for some reason they don't play it live, by the WCD tour they had already dropped it from the setlist, just like the rest of the album and unlike some recent or newer era Genesis stuff it gets absolutely no playtime on the radio.

I guess these things aren't really an important metric for me. The radio part is a little sensitive to geography - it's not uncommon to hear the Abacab title track on where I am, always gets a big smile out of me. In fact I told a little anecdote on another thread. I was sitting outside a restaurant with my daughter's friend's father when Abacab came on and sparked a discussion between us, as we found out we were both fans!