TotW 05/27/2024 - 06/02/2024: GENESIS - Not About Us

    Your rating for "Not About Us" by GENESIS 26

    1. 15 points - outstanding (1) 4%
    2. 14 points - very good (1) 4%
    3. 13 points - very good - (2) 8%
    4. 12 points - good + (3) 12%
    5. 11 points - good (12) 46%
    6. 10 points - good - (2) 8%
    7. 09 points - satisfactory + (1) 4%
    8. 08 points - satisfactory (2) 8%
    9. 07 points - satisfactory - (1) 4%
    10. 06 points - sufficient + (1) 4%
    11. 05 points - sufficient (0) 0%
    12. 04 points - sufficient - (0) 0%
    13. 03 points - poor + (0) 0%
    14. 02 points - poor (0) 0%
    15. 01 points - poor - (0) 0%
    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 - Not About Us

    Year: 1997
    Album: Calling All Stations
    Working title: Acoustic EMI
    Credits: Banks, Rutherford, Wilson
    Lyrics: Yes
    Length: 4:46
    Musicians: Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, Ray Wilson, Nir Z.
    Played Live: 1997, 1998
    Cover versions: RPWL

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    Notes: This track was the last single from their last ever studio album. A radio-friends-type-of-song, yet for some too close to what Mike did with his Mechanics a couple of years earlier. What do you think?

    cheers

    Christian


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    I like the CAS album well enough, but I don't consider "Not About Us" to be one of the better tracks on it. It's OK, but I feel like a lot could have been done lyrically with the concept of "it's not about us anymore" that the lyricist (whoever it was) didn't even begin to explore.

    It’s an ok song, but it’s lacking something - Phil would have put in a key change or a proper middle eight which would have taken it to another level. Instead it just plods on and then fades out. It’s competent but uninspiring. Sadly not the only song on the album to suffer that fate.

    It's one of the best songs on Destroying All Credibility, but nonetheless extremely vanilla. And it's yet another track on this album that is undermined by Tony's uncharacteristically unimaginative keyboards. I'm referring to the 3 minute mark. So many examples of that sort of thing on Destroying.

    It's not an exciting one but it just about has something that keeps me interested.


    EDIT - but yes, it's an exemplar of how Banks seems be running out of steam and losing interest across this album.

    Abandon all reason

    Like 1
    Quote from DecomposingMan

    I guess we can refer to the CAS tour as "Canceling American Shows."

    Other possible album options:


    Coming Apart Suddenly (what happened after the album & tour)

    Confused, Angry, Shrugging (some fans' reactions)

    C'mon, Actually Satisfying (other fans' reactions)

    Completely Atrophied Synths (what might have happened to Banks's keyboards)

    Abandon all reason

    Like 1
    Quote from DecomposingMan

    Hmm, interesting nickname for the album.


    And, while we're at it, I guess we can refer to the CAS tour as "Canceling American Shows."

    I can’t hide it (and never have on this forum): I think that album is a musical travesty and a stain on the band’s great history. The failures to (a) properly integrate Ray, (b) show some musical bravery for a new beginning, (c) lower Tony’s uncharacteristically bad keyboard sounds in the mix and (d) give the whole thing more time and a second album were huge mistakes to me. Marillion reinvented themselves in the 90s but Genesis became caricatures; lost in some no man’s land where they wanted to show they were fine without Phil and could be ballsier, but failing at both. This is off topic though and I won’t say more!


    Back on topic, I think this song is a contender for best on the album even if I could be damning with faint praise.

    Yes! Except the “satisfying” one in my case!


    I think this is one of the better songs on the album - it actually feels thought out and arranged. Ray does well.


    It's funny. I've always thought that CAS has been unfairly dismissed. I think there are some really good songs on there, especially One Man's Fool, which I think is one of their best late period songs.


    But I've revisited the album recently and it now just feels like a midtempo, badly arranged, slightly dirgey set of tracks. Ive realised that the good songs are horribly outnumbered.


    For the first time I'm really start to wonder what they were thinking. And it potentially illustrates just what Phil took with him - not just the voice and drumming of course. But a sense of what the song is supposed to be doing and where it is going. That is sadly lacking on this album.