• How do you feel about "It"? 16

    1. I like it a lot (7) 44%
    2. I don't particularly like or dislike it (9) 56%
    3. I don't like it (0) 0%

    This is the third poll about what I would call "Genesis's Most Hated Songs."


    It seems that the only comments I've ever heard about "It" are along the lines of "it's an unsatisfying ending to TLLDOB."


    Well, this is another one for my list of songs (like "Misunderstanding," "Your Own Special Way," and even "Who Dunnit?") that I never knew were bad until someone told me they were!


    I always thought this song was a fine ending to TLLDOB. Sure, it doesn't make it clear how the album's story ends. But if you're depending on the songs alone to make the plot clear, without reading Peter's story that comes with the album, you're going to get confused anyway.


    For the record, I think the music on LAMB is consistently amazing, but I never cared that much for the story (as creepily imaginative as a lot of it is).

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


    ...crows simply drank at home.

  • Side 4 generally runs out of steam, even more noticeable to me as side 3 is my favourite (making me a minority I'm sure), and "It" certainly doesn't turn the heat back up! Not hateable, but not a good ending.

    Ian


    Putting the old-fashioned Staffordshire plate in the dishwasher!

  • I never cared much about the Lamb album in the first place, 'it' is not particularly bad but it doesn't stand out either. The album version is quite lifeless imho. However the Three Sides Live version improves that song by 100%, I really like that live version.

  • Although I love Side 1, the rest of Lamb doesn't do much for me. I'd say it's my second-least favorite of the 70s albums (beating out ATTWT).


    I rarely listen to Three Sides Live. I'll have to check out that version of "It." I don't remember it.

  • I like the song. I've never had issues with It.

    But then I like the album in its entirety.

    There are tracks on sides 3 and 4, that I've occasionally seen others dismiss as filler, that I find exhilarating.

  • I picked the middle one but I'd say I'm probably somewhere between that and liking it. Agreed that the TSL version is much better than the studio. I also agree with some of the sentiment on the Lamb. It's always been this outlier album for me-very different from the previous 4 and obviously different from what followed. The music is amazing (granted a couple clunkers in there) but I always felt like there was this story (that I don't really like or understand) hanging over the music causing me to feel like I was missing something and not getting the full experience.

  • Lyrically the song doesn't engage me. Musically I find it quite enjoyable, if not hitting the peaks of the rest of the album.


    Although I wish Peter hadn't done so much vocal repair work on Archive 1, I do like his new vocal on this track.

  • I always take "It" as a sort of "closing credits" kind of song. The Lamb is a story that's almost a movie plot, so I always thought of "It" as being the song that would be playing as the credits roll and, typically, "credits" songs are never really memorable. It's at that moment that everybody gets up and leave the theater. I don't think that song was ever conceived to be the climax of that particular album.

  • It is a great song. And it also has an this-is-the-end-of-the-album-feel, if you know,what I mean.

    First we learned to walk on water.

    Then we tried something harder.

    - Red Seven -

    • Official Post

    it. is crucial for The Lamb. It is a silly little pun ("This is it, then"). It is the end of the story of Rael, the moment of dénouement (which does not really happen).

    Incidentally, it. offers 32 definitions of what it is, mirroring The Chamber Of 32 Doors. Which adds another twist to Rael's story, for if we can choose from those 32 definitions we may have not have chosen the right door in the aforementioned chamber, so perhaps there is no real ending.


    The music is a bit more loose than on the rest of the album, as if they thought "we're on the home stretch now, hooray, almost finished!"


    My vote? Somewhere between "I like it a lot" and "I don't particularly like or dislike it". It never stays in one place, but it's not a passing phase...

    ...cried a voice in the crowd.


  • ...the Three Sides Live version improves that song by 100%, I really like that live version.

    I find that an interesting statement. To me, the 3SL version sounds very casually tossed out, besides being incomplete; in other words, there just doesn't seem to be much to it. The best part is how it segues into WOTS.

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


    ...crows simply drank at home.

    Edited once, last by DecomposingMan ().

  • On an album full of curious entries into Gabriel-era Genesis, it's one of the more curious.


    But, to quote the song, perhaps It's only knock and knowall, but I like it!



    ...or am I quoting the Stones?

  • I didn't know It was the last song. But there is a get-out clause here in the hidden track (remember them?). Example, Nirvana's Nevermind had one way after the final song, Something In The Way. So you would fast-forward on the CD player until it located it. FWIW the hidden track was rubbish though as I recall. :D

    My cat is named Duchess.

  • I didn't know It was the last song. But there is a get-out clause here in the hidden track (remember them?). Example, Nirvana's Nevermind had one way after the final song, Something In The Way. So you would fast-forward on the CD player until it located it. FWIW the hidden track was rubbish though as I recall. :D

    Aren't they always rubbish? ;)

    There are other types too, David Gray's White Ladder has a hidden track BEFORE the first track, which some CD players (my Nad C521 BEE) will play but others, like my 1985 Philips CD104, can't see.

    Ian


    Putting the old-fashioned Staffordshire plate in the dishwasher!

  • David Gray's White Ladder has a hidden track BEFORE the first track

    Good grief. I had White Ladder on CD and may be fortunate never to have known about or heard the hidden track. Otherwise, I thought the album was a decent listen.

    My cat is named Duchess.

  • Theres one on Green Day's Dookie as well. Not a long pause between it and the last track, maybe a minute or so. Kind of a crappy song musically, but humorous none the less. If I remember the Nirvana track had a 10+ minute pause.

  • If I remember the Nirvana track had a 10+ minute pause.

    It was at least that wasn't it AND hardly worth waiting for. Instead of a list of things you can do in ten minutes, I wondered if Wiki had a 'record' of pregap tracks...


    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…acks_hidden_in_the_pregap


    It seems there aren't many huge names that have done this although I see Melt Banana do a version of Neat Neat Neat which is hidden on Charlie and that there is a

    34 second reversed clip of "Fire On High" on ELO's Face The Music (1975) which made me think, okay, that can't be a hidden track on vinyl - that simply wouldn't be possible!

    My cat is named Duchess.