Your Own Special Way

  • I actually find funny he would say that too but for another reason: he was fighting at the time to have more songs on the album and YOSW is arguably one of the weakest on W&W. It probably cost him one of his songs but hey, he can still like it and decide some audiences are not receptive to it. I see no evil in that.

    Personally, I find it stranger that he prefers Your Own Special Way to Wot Gorilla, but I think this is just a question of taste.

  • It is. I like Wot gorilla better myself but to be clear, neither is imo something to write home about.

    I have to say, I love Wot Gorilla. Phil was surprised that he could persuade Tony into such a collaboration (Tony's good but he's no Joe Zawinul) but he managed it and, to my ears, it's one of the most successful and enjoyable pieces on the record.

  • I have to say, I love Wot Gorilla. Phil was surprised that he could persuade Tony into such a collaboration (Tony's good but he's no Joe Zawinul) but he managed it and, to my ears, it's one of the most successful and enjoyable pieces on the record.

    I like it but I can't think of it like a major track or something Genesis will be remembered by. I see it like a little thing they had fun with, better than YOSW in my book but I much prefer Steve's instrumentals on the B side. Those are imo quite underrated.

  • I like it but I can't think of it like a major track or something Genesis will be remembered by. I see it like a little thing they had fun with, better than YOSW in my book but I much prefer Steve's instrumentals on the B side. Those are imo quite underrated.

    I heard Phil's big band perform it in the late nineties, as arranged by Brad Cole, and I think the tune found its perfect medium there. Forgive me, but when you say "b side" do you mean side two of W&W? If so, then Blood On The Rooftops is, for me, the song for which Hackett should be best remembered. People may rave about Firth Of Fifth (poor Steve sounds like he's suffering from arthritis during that much celebrated solo) but that was Tony's song; Rooftops is the perfect balance between Steve and Phil and is a work of absolute genius.

  • I heard Phil's big band perform it in the late nineties, as arranged by Brad Cole, and I think the tune found its perfect medium there. Forgive me, but when you say "b side" do you mean side two of W&W? If so, then Blood On The Rooftops is, for me, the song for which Hackett should be best remembered. People may rave about Firth Of Fifth (poor Steve sounds like he's suffering from arthritis during that much celebrated solo) but that was Tony's song; Rooftops is the perfect balance between Steve and Phil and is a work of absolute geniu

    Yes, I was referring to side two and I agree: BOTR is absolutely brilliant but so are the instrumentals……..And his solo on FoF;-)

  • Yes, I was referring to side two and I agree: BOTR is absolutely brilliant but so are the instrumentals……..And his solo on FoF;-)

    So you mean Unquiet Slumbers (credited to Mike and Steve only because of Steve's complaint that he wasn't getting enough credits on the albums) and the group composition In That Quiet Earth?

  • So you mean Unquiet Slumbers (credited to Mike and Steve only because of Steve's complaint that he wasn't getting enough credits on the albums) and the group composition In That Quiet Earth?

    I think they were pretty much Steve's babies, the former particularly has Steve written all over it. I am really no fan of Steve the songwriter, no one in the band seemed to be actually, but in this case I think we ought to give credit when it's due.

  • I think they were pretty much Steve's babies, the former particularly has Steve written all over it. I am really no fan of Steve the songwriter, no one in the band seemed to be actually, but in this case I think we ought to give credit when it's due.

    Yes, Unquiet Slumbers is very atmospheric and quite typical of the stuff Steve did on Please Don't Touch but In That Quiet Earth has always sounded like a group composition to me, maybe less Phil than the others. On the subsequent tour, though, Phil and Chester made a real meal out of it whilst Steve seemed to always have a problem capturing the right sound. When they brought it back into the set on the Mama tour Daryl nailed it with no problem.

  • In what way? To me, it sounds like the most desperate bid for commercial success. Ironic, given Steve's sniping reference to "permissive rather than progressive" music in the liner notes. I guess if your favourite band is Chicago then I can understand the claim of Steve's version being "vastly superior". If not, then I think we can safely dismiss your comment as being simple hyperbole.

    In every way. It has some life in it, which frankly, the original never had. If he was interested in a desperate bid for commercial success, I guess he'd have covered "Spirit in the Sky". Chicago do nothing for me, much like most of your posts, where hyperbole would be preferable to contrived disagreement and confrontation.

    Ian


    Putting the old-fashioned Staffordshire plate in the dishwasher!

  • I guess if your favourite band is Chicago then I can understand the claim of Steve's version being "vastly superior".

    That kind of depends on what era of Chicago you're talking about! Post-1974 (and especially post-1980) seems to fit here.

    Little known fact: Before the crowbar was invented...


    ...crows simply drank at home.

  • Hugh Fielder's book was the first one I bought on the band (from Skeleton Record Exchange in Birkenhead - a wonderful haven of second-hand records and merchandise, including a vinyl A Trick Of The Tail signed by none other than Tony Banks). A great read, in my opinion.

  • I think the song is a stand-out pop song on an otherwise non-pop album - like a nod to a decade later. I like it a lot and that's what I voted.

    My cat is named Duchess.

  • Hugh Fielder's book was the first one I bought on the band (from Skeleton Record Exchange in Birkenhead - a wonderful haven of second-hand records and merchandise, including a vinyl A Trick Of The Tail signed by none other than Tony Banks). A great read, in my opinion.

    I agree. A great read. Must have read it cover to cover ten times in my teens. I can't believe how obsessed with some bands I was at the time! Have you ever read From one fan to another by Armando Gallo? It's mostly a collection of AG's photographs of the band over the years. Not so muvch an informative read, but an excellent pictorial history of te band.