TotW 07/17/2023 - 07/23/2023: GENESIS - One Man's Fool

1st Official Post
    • Official Post

    Your rating for "One Man's Fool" by GENESIS 17

    1. 15 points - outstanding (0) 0%
    2. 14 points - very good (2) 12%
    3. 13 points - very good - (5) 29%
    4. 12 points - good + (3) 18%
    5. 11 points - good (3) 18%
    6. 10 points - good - (0) 0%
    7. 09 points - satisfactory + (0) 0%
    8. 08 points - satisfactory (1) 6%
    9. 07 points - satisfactory - (0) 0%
    10. 06 points - sufficient + (1) 6%
    11. 05 points - sufficient (0) 0%
    12. 04 points - sufficient - (1) 6%
    13. 03 points - poor + (0) 0%
    14. 02 points - poor (0) 0%
    15. 01 point - poor - (1) 6%
    16. 00 points - abysmal (0) 0%

    We invite you to share interesting facts and tidbits about this track. Let's look at the track in the context of the band's / the artist's history, at the music, the songwriting and all other aspects that are relevant for this track. Please do stick to the discussion of the track above. Comparisons to other tracks are okay, but remember that the other track you may be keen to talk about has or will have its own Track Of The Week thread. If you spot a mistake or if you can close a gap in the fact sheet above please feel free to contact martinus or Christian about it; we will gladly add and improve!


    GENESIS - One Man's Fool
    Year: 1997
    Album: Calling All Stations
    Working title: Breathless
    Credits: Banks/Rutherford
    Lyrics: Yes
    Length: 8:58
    Musicians: Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, Ray Wilson, Nir Z.
    Played live: ---
    Cover versions: ?

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    Notes: The 1997 comeback may have been unfortunate in many ways, but Ruthrford and Banks managed here and there to mix the old magic with new brilliance. The result was more prog-heavy tracks and one of them was the album's finale, One Man's Fool.

    cheers

    Christian


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    Only a four from me I’m afraid. Beautifully sung but to me it’s boring and never gets anywhere. In a longer song I’d be looking for more drama or a complete change of pace, more light and shade etc.

    It's not only my favourite song on the album, I'd place this among my top 2 or 3 favourite tracks of Genesis from their last three studio albums.

    It has a dark, ominous tone and I always quite liked the transition midway through where the bass builds up and Ray sings, "There are only dreams one like any other."

    Much has been said of the lyrics having a certain prophetic quality, post-911, though I'm well aware Tony had the Manchester bombing of '96 in mind when he wrote them.

    14 for me.

    Aha, I mentioned this song in a post recently. Excellent timing.


    For me, easily the best song on the album, and one of the best tracks they did in the later years, with or without Phil.


    Great atmospheric first half, which leads into the great second half.


    Tony isn't doing anything spectacular, but his chords are all over it, and I think Ray does well too.


    It's not an album I listen to all that much, but I think this song deserves a lot of love.

    Quote from Christian
    Musicians: Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford, Nir Z.

    I never knew Phil was involved in this one. Are these messed up credits for all the tracks of the week intentional, like a running gag? ;)


    I always liked this song a lot, my only complaint would be it takes a little to get going. By any means, the second half is really strong, particularly when the drums switch to double-time. This is one of the rare moments on this album the drummer seems to be off the leash for once.

    It's a very decent finale to the too-brief and underrated Wilson era. CAS is one of my favorite Genesis albums, and I remember OMF not hitting home quite the same way much of the rest of the album did. There are a lot of strong elements to the song, but it doesn't all hang together as well as it should, for me. The lyrics are a bit preachy and saddled with a relatively modest amount of TB's characteristic clunkiness. Wilson does the best job he possibly could, and the drumming is great. I like the darker parts of the production. I gave it 12 or 13, I've already forgotten 😃.

    Quote from Thelawnmower

    Only a four from me I’m afraid. Beautifully sung but to me it’s boring and never gets anywhere. In a longer song I’d be looking for more drama or a complete change of pace, more light and shade etc.

    Well put, I agree. I'd have been less polite about it but fundamentally I agree with you.

    This is an interesting one. I know there's usually a bit of variation in peoples' views on tracks, but this one really does divide opinion. Just look at the poll results