Perhaps someone could list the tracks they do sing harmony on (post Peter). I would be interested to know this.
10th track?
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As for Mike... I've always gotten a sort of Pete Townsend vibe from his vocals. The trick is I like his singing in smaller doses but in one song you hear pretty much everything Mike's voice is capable of. Having him sing Just A Job To Do would have been interesting, but at the same time Phil absolutely killed it on that one, and it's unfair to even try to compare what the two are capable of...
i totally agree. I think not having mike and Tony step forward for those two songs was a great decision. Phil is too good a vocalist. And he was pretty much on top of his game in the early 80s performance wise. The other two are very limited vocally.
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Perhaps someone could list the tracks they do sing harmony on (post Peter). I would be interested to know this.
Me too. According to liner notes the only post-Peter albums with vocal credits to anyone but Phil were Trick of the Tail, Duke, and Genesis.
I think the ones on Trick are easier to spot but Duke's production is so thick-sounding and Phil double tracked himself a lot on it too, making it harder to spot who might have done what. I think it must be Tony on Silver Rainbow if for no other reason than Genesis doesn't have very many harmony vocals at all so there can't be that many options.
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Me too. According to liner notes the only post-Peter albums with vocal credits to anyone but Phil were Trick of the Tail, Duke, and Genesis.
I think the ones on Trick are easier to spot but Duke's production is so thick-sounding and Phil double tracked himself a lot on it too, making it harder to spot who might have done what. I think it must be Tony on Silver Rainbow if for no other reason than Genesis doesn't have very many harmony vocals at all so there can't be that many options.
Yet there they are in Rome, harmonising on No Son Of Mine. I love watching them.
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Yet there they are in Rome, harmonising on No Son Of Mine. I love watching them.
Well, I didn't bother mentioning the live albums since the videos make it pretty clear when someone else is singing...
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According to liner notes the only post-Peter albums with vocal credits to anyone but Phil were Trick of the Tail, Duke, and Genesis.
On Trick I think I hear Tony on "Mad Man Moon," going "aaaah" behind the "hey man, I'm the sand man" part.
On Duke I'm guessing that Tony and Mike sing along with Phil on the chorus sections of "Duchess."
On Genesis there's Tony on "Silver Rainbow," and I'm guessing that Tony and Mike sing along with Phil at the end of "Illegal Alien."
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On a sidenote: On "Congo", the "aah" in the chorus has to be Mike and Tony but they sound a lot like Phil.
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Well, I didn't bother mentioning the live albums since the videos make it pretty clear when someone else is singing...
Well yes, I know, just musing on the fact that they were prepared to sing harmonies live even if they didn't on the record.
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One of the things that stand out in my memory is a live version of In Too Deep (from the LA Forum maybe) where Mike and Daryl's backing vocals are really high in the mix and it elevated the whole thing for me. Obviously when they mix the official live albums they seem to dial all the backing vocals way down but I don't think they understand how important they are.
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No, it's true. They bounced around the idea of Tony singing silver rainbow and Mike singing just a job to do. I read Tony's comments on the matter and that they decided in the end that Phil was the best singer so it didn't make sense. However, can I remember where I read that? No. Can I link to material supporting the claim? Also... No. I came across it many years ago in a book, or magazine. Or it might even have been a recorded interview as I can remember the comments in Tony's voice.
In Bowler and Dray's excellent biography of the band, the writers mention that it was a shame that Mike and Tony didn't sing any lead vocals on the album. I always thought it was a strange comment to make but in light of what you say it makes a lot of sense now.
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Bowler and Dray's excellent biography of the band
I've not heard of that one. I'll give it a go. I just looked it up on Amazon and one of the reviews is from the most predictable old prog-head "they were crap from Follow You Follow Me onwards" types who refers to the book as a "hardcover fanzine" and drones on about the band selling out. I thought, well if a whinging old git like him doesn't like it, it's worth getting.
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I've not heard of that one. I'll give it a go. I just looked it up on Amazon and one of the reviews is from the most predictable old prog-head "they were crap from Follow You Follow Me onwards" types who refers to the book as a "hardcover fanzine" and drones on about the band selling out. I thought, well if a whinging old git like him doesn't like it, it's worth getting.
It's extremely well-written, quite possibly the best book I've read on the band to be honest and it takes the story up to the We Can't Dance tour and also covers the solo careers of all the members.
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It's extremely well-written, quite possibly the best book I've read on the band to be honest and it takes the story up to the We Can't Dance tour and also covers the solo careers of all the members.
I must check it out.
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It's extremely well-written, quite possibly the best book I've read on the band to be honest and it takes the story up to the We Can't Dance tour and also covers the solo careers of all the members.
Sounds worth a look. With Genesis books I always hope I'll come across some new insight or new information because I sometimes wonder if I'll reach a point when there is simply nothing new to be read about them. Then again I wonder that about the Beatles too but my Beatles book collection just keeps on growing.
I'd love to see a Genesis book in the style of Revolution In The Head.
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Sounds worth a look. With Genesis books I always hope I'll come across some new insight or new information because I sometimes wonder if I'll reach a point when there is simply nothing new to be read about them. Then again I wonder that about the Beatles too but my Beatles book collection just keeps on growing.
I'd love to see a Genesis book in the style of Revolution In The Head.
I assume you know about On Track by Stuart MacFarlane. But it's his personal opinions of each track, not an attempt to link them to the larger society of the time the way Revolution In The Head does.
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This is an interesting one to me. I'm not an OLD OLD Genesis fan by any means - I only discovered them in 1980 with Duke when I was 15. So I'm certainly not one of the "Phil ruined everything" brigade.
But I was a full on Genesis fanatic by the time GENESIS came out, and I was pretty disappointed with at the time. Over time I have revised my opinion, to the point where I now think it was REALLY REALLY disappointing.
I went to see the tour and all that, which was great, but I would class 5 tracks as filler leaving Mama, HBTS/SHBTS and IGGB.
And yet I can tell by listening and reading that a lot of people love this album. I find that refreshing and confusing at the same time!
But for me its the closest they got to being lazy with the songwriting
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I assume you know about On Track by Stuart MacFarlane. But it's his personal opinions of each track, not an attempt to link them to the larger society of the time the way Revolution In The Head does.
I didn't know so thanks for the tip.
Don't forget that while MacDonald does indeed place the Beatles songs in a broader cultural context he is still ultimately offering up personal opinions of them. Also, he lists the songs in chron order of recording rather than just examining singles and album tracks - does MacFarlane do that or does he stick to albums only?
Another approach is that adopted by Neville Farmer in the XTC book Song Stories, in which he goes over every released track but accompanied by the band themselves who offer recollections of the writing and recording of them.
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does MacFarlane do that or does he stick to albums only?
FeelItComing I just looked it up and it appears to be album by album, track by track plus non-album releases
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I assume you know about On Track by Stuart MacFarlane. But it's his personal opinions of each track, not an attempt to link them to the larger society of the time the way Revolution In The Head does.
On Track is a series of books by different authors, detailing the careers of several well known acts, like Gentle Giant, 10cc & Godley& Crème, The Moody Blues and many more. There's an accompanying "On Screen" series like David Tennants Dr Who, Monty Python, etc.
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I assume you know about On Track by Stuart MacFarlane. But it's his personal opinions of each track, not an attempt to link them to the larger society of the time the way Revolution In The Head does.
Never heard of this book. May try and find a copy
