TotW 05/13/2024 - 05/19/2024: GENESIS - Ripples

How can it be anything other than a 15?!

At their very peak!

A highlight on Trick, maybe the highlight. A simple tale of relinquishing youth, shimmering verses with a slight hint of darkness, a lovely big chorus that somehow brilliantly sounds both shiny and melancholic, a great instrumental mid-section with some of the best guitar-keyboard interplay they ever did, with everything sounding both at cross-purposes yet slotting neatly together. Running through all of this is a slight feeling of tension which is very effective.

My understanding is that the verse/chorus parts are largely by MR and the mid-section is by TB. Do we know if the lyric is by either or both?

I have a lot of affection for the 1978/80 live renditions of this. The London Lyceum 80 recording is particularly good and for me is one of the best live versions of anything they ever did, they're all on top form and Stuermer is especially incisive in the mid section. It also has an emotional pull for me; it was a favourite of my schoolfriend Ian with whom I attended that Lyceum gig and who died just 10 years later, still only in his mid-20s. I always think of him when I hear this song, particularly that live version.

All the above make this a very special one for me.

Beautifully written and poignantly put Backdrifter. A tough loss.

As for the track, it doesn’t really get any better and is always one of those top marks tracks for me. The writing and performance can’t really be beaten and everyone plays to their very best. If you isolate in your mind each player and then put it all together you can see how much they put into this and complimented each other. For Phil to produce this vocal performance on his first album as the band’s singer must have given everyone so much confidence. It also has the perfect balance of the old sophistication and imagination with a fresh, streamlined approach. I’ve never heard a bad rendition of this by them. Like Backdrifter I saw it in 1980 and again in 2007 and it always sends shivers down the spine. Somewhere I still have a cassette of the ‘From the Mouth of the monster’ live recording and Darryl really brought out the pathos of the solo. I also like Steve’s solo versions of this live. A genuine classic

Lovely track. I particularly like the Lyceum version with the crowd singing along with Phil.

This is one of their finest, without a doubt. I was so happy when they played this in 2007!

As good as it gets. 15/15. No brainer.

It's almost impossible to break down what makes this song great, as the answer is "everything", which isn't great for a discussion.

Quote from willow

This is one of their finest, without a doubt. I was so happy when they played this in 2007

Absolutely.

I don't know whether I'm making this up, but I seem to remember rumours at the time saying they had considered replacing it with Jesus He Knows Me.

Wow. What a change to the feeling of the setlist that would have been.

An excellent song from what I consider to be the band's best album, but I would actually rank the majority of the other tracks above it.

This one of those rare cases where I'd like to change something about a song, and know exactly what I'd change. Specifically, I'd change the last "sail away, away" of the chorus so it's not identical to the first one, with the last "away" going down rather than up from the previous one. (Hard to communicate in writing, I know.)

Fantastic track on a fantastic album. As with others here, for me Trick of the Tail is their best album, and Ripples is representative of the album as a whole. And even though the song is written from the point of view of a woman, doesn’t it apply to us all? We can slow him down, but we can’t stop Father Time, he comes for each of us. The guitar solo by Hackett is fantastic, I heard someone say once it sounds like he’s playing guitar underwater. I think of that when I hear it, unmistakably a Hackett guitar solo. A 15 in my book, deservingly so.

Quote from Liquid Len

The guitar solo by Hackett is fantastic, I heard someone say once it sounds like he’s playing guitar underwater.

The effect on it makes it sound like it's played backwards, but it actually isn't (based on something I read that one of the band members said about it).

Quote from DecomposingMan

The effect on it makes it sound like it's played backwards, but it actually isn't (based on something I read that one of the band members said about it).

Correct. It was done using a device called a "Synthipedal" or something very similar.

Quote from Christian

No, that was In Too Deep - they discussed to play In Too Deep in America instead of Ripples.

Ok, thanks. That is NOT an adequate substitute for Ripples!

Curiously, I played A Trick of the Tail yesterday.

'Ripples' is just a Masterpiece with capital letters!!!!

15 Points without any doubt!!!!

Quote from Rising Sun

How can it be anything other than a 15?!

Hear, hear!!!!

15... Of course. What else can I say ?

Each song on this album gets 15 points, for me anyway. Same for the whole album.

Tough to choose between this and Entangled (if I had to).

Quote from Duke of Earl of Mar

15... Of course. What else can I say ?

Each song on this album gets 15 points, for me anyway. Same for the whole album.

Tough to choose between this and Entangled (if I had to).

Tough call, I got to go with Entangled. But it’s close.

15.