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

    I also rated this a 15. I love the intricacy of the acoustic 12-string parts, the acoustic grand piano, Steve's hypnotic solo, the poignant lyrics, and Phil's soaring, seemingly effortless vocal.


    Although the live versions are good, they are a little more rough and ready than sublime, so I mainly prefer the studio version. The 2007 live version, even with the key change, actually comes closer in feel to the studio version than the late 70s and early 80s versions.

    Quote from Dr. John

    I also rated this a 15. I love the intricacy of the acoustic 12-string parts, the acoustic grand piano, Steve's hypnotic solo, the poignant lyrics, and Phil's soaring, seemingly effortless vocal.


    Although the live versions are good, they are a little more rough and ready than sublime, so I mainly prefer the studio version. The 2007 live version, even with the key change, actually comes closer in feel to the studio version than the late 70s and early 80s versions.

    I might start a thread/poll about which tracks the community feels were better live, and which were worse, just for fun.


    I agree with you about this one. And I think the studio version of Squonk is better, but I prefer the live DOAV and Los Endos (Seconds Out era at least).

    Quote from Mozo

    At this point, Ripples must have one of the highest average scores for TOTW?

    Yes, joint top with The Cinema Show based on my hurried analysis of average scores which makes the top 10 as:


    14.6 Cinema

    14.6 Ripples

    14.3 Solsbury Hill

    14.2 Moonlit Knight

    14.2 In The Cage

    14.0 Fly On A Windshield

    13.9 Red Rain

    13.9 Eleventh Earl

    13.8 Behind The Lines

    13.7 Duchess


    Below that comes the next 20 which are:


    13.6 Abacab

    13.6 Secret World

    13.5 Mama

    13.5 Driving The Last Spike

    13.5 Heathaze

    13.3 In Your Eyes

    13.3 Squonk (average of 2 sets of votes as it was entered twice)

    13.2 Lamia

    13.2 Hogweed

    13.2 Sledgehammer

    13.1 Family Snapshot

    13.0 Mercy Street

    12.9 Dodo

    12.9 Fountain

    12.9 Horizons

    12.9 Me & SJ

    12.8 Tonight

    12.8 Inside & Out

    12.7 Land of Confusion

    12.7 Undertow


    I must point out this was done purely by inspection so it's subject to error and there may be one or two tracks excluded as a result. Taking it as it is, it's interesting. In these top 30 tracks PG is the only solo artist to feature, getting 7 slots. But I didn't look at how many TOTW entries each member has had (I think that's in another thread). If you take PG's two entries out of the top 10 to focus on Genesis only, Mama and Abacab get bumped into the top 10. That gives us a top 10 of four 5-man, two 4-man and 4 trio.


    For some reason I'm fascinated by the grouping of Dodo, Salmacis, Horizons and Sarah Jane all ranked equally. Two quite taut yet very different ones from the trio album that was a major turning point, a prog classic from the first album of the iconic lineup, and an elegant solo acoustic guitar piece. I'm not sure why I like that cluster so much but maybe it somehow sums up both the band and its core fanbase, if the latter can be represented by the membership here.


    Each track seems to get 20 to 30 votes, by the way.

    Abandon all reason

    Quote from Backdrifter

    In these top 30 tracks PG is the only solo artist to feature, getting 7 slots. But I didn't look at how many TOTW entries each member has had (I think that's in another thread).

    Just checked this, it's listed here as of January. PG leads just ahead of PC on number of TOTW selections. Even allowing for that, the top 30 seems to reflect the great liking here for his work over that of the others.

    Abandon all reason

    That is a solid collection of great tunes! Good job collating the data, I do wonder about this kind of stuff from time to time. I'm most surprised (and personally quite happy) to see Heathaze so high.


    Thanks for this. Really interesting stuff.


    I have to go a long way down that list to find the first song that I wouldn't put so high (Land of Confusion).

    I'm pleasantly surprised to see Fly in the top 10, and happy that BTL and Duchess are appropriately paired up in there. I'm also pleased to see Abacab so high up along with two others from that album.


    Obviously there are other factors that need to be taken into account as the list is drawn from the selections so far in this particular forum which are from a huge number of possible tracks across all Genesis and solo/related albums and other sources. An intriguing test would be what membership here thought of just the Genesis tracks from across the whole of each album, which I suppose could be gleaned from the 'top 3 tracks' threads.


    Getting back to Ripples, while I thought it would score high I wouldn't have expected it to be joint top.


    Quote from Mozo

    I have to go a long way down that list to find the first song that I wouldn't put so high (Land of Confusion).

    For me the equivalent is Earl which is in the top 10, but while I'm not keen on it I'm not surprised it's popular.

    Abandon all reason

    Like 1
    Quote from Mozo

    At this point, Ripples must have one of the highest average scores for TOTW?


    You missed out on Blood On The Rooftops:


    15 outstanding - 23

    14 very good - 5

    13 very good (-) - 1

    no other votes

    I did. Which I think puts it top. It was on my list but I somehow missed it out in the above post.


    For me it's more deserving of the top spot.

    Abandon all reason