Posts by Backdrifter

Quote from genesis1964

I would be extremely surprised if the tour went ahead in April.

I have a ticket for Glasgow but if it goes ahead, for health reasons I will not go

I'd be in a quandary as I obviously really want to go, but for similar reasons to yours - in August I had a health scare that puts me in a higher risk category - I'd ought not to. But I think the choice will be made for us. I can't think what miracle will happen between now and Feb/Mar (surely the absolute latest by which another postponement decision could be made) that would suddenly enable thousands of people to be safely crammed together in a venue like before.

Quote from Witchwood

I would have been six.

It would be another eight years before I heard my first Genesis song - or at least heard a song on the radio that piqued my interest enough for me to take note of the band.

Interesting point. I think I first heard something by them that set my antennae twitching in around 1976. Either on the radio, or something I overheard my brother playing. If not recalling exactly when, I do remember the two things that captured my attention - the final section of The Musical Box, and Carpet Crawlers.

Quote from raelway siding

...all of which just goes to prove that sarcasm really is the lowest form of wit

😆

My mind is now racing with all the things the band haven't ruled out.

To my knowledge they haven't ruled out gathering together every living ex-member to perform a 2-hour extended Who Dunnit on gamelan, zither and javanese temple blocks with vocals in medieval plainsong. After all, never say never.

(This is where someone comes in to say that no, there was in fact an interview where they specifically ruled that out).

Quote from YouMightRecall

I was five at the time. I remember thinking that it was a definite improvement on FGTR.

But I also remember thinking that they could probably do with a better drummer.

And then I went back to thinking about Camberwick Green

Yes I was 5 too and thought the same things, realising it was clearly a very interesting development of their sound and feeling intrigued about where it would take them next. "Why" I thought, "if they play their cards right they could potentially establish themselves as a classic band in the history of progressive rock, even though I've never heard that term before and am focused on grappling with my first month in primary school and having as many sweets as possible".

A lovely dinner of slow-cooked beef rendang. Stewing steak, onion, garlic, ginger, chilli, cinnamon, lemongrass, lime leaf, coconut milk. Enhance the coconut flavour by initially frying the meat and onions etc in coconut oil. Then into the oven for 2+hours at 150C. A squeeze of fresh lime, a sprinkle of fresh coriander leaves. Without a carb accompaniment such as rice, it's quite low-fat. We had ours with some kale crisped in the oven for 5 minutes. A gorgeous, luscious, delicious meal.

Quote from seven-eight

I like RAAB from a technical standpoint. Lots of fun keyboard bits and the middle section is great fun in 13/8. This song live with Bill Bruford is always a pleasure to listen to, as is the original.

That said, I like both Duchess and FL more. I can say I get more of a "feeling" from them. The instrumental sections of each are so different but I feel an emotional connection to them. The lyrics mean more to me certainly, especially on FL.

But it's hard to compare such completely different songs. If we are talking purely classic prog sounds here then I get RAAB being higher than these two. It has the big instrumentals, synth solo, mellotron, interesting time signatures, and it tells a story. These aren't all things necessary for a good song but they help in a classic prog poll I would imagine.

Joking aside (not that I was joking that much!) it is indeed a bit meaningless to rank tracks from across such a rich and varied career. And of course it's pretty unsurprising that readers of a magazine called PROG are going to rate Robbery higher than the likes of trio stuff such as Duchess.

Quote from thefarmer

RAAB is a great song. Prog readers do know their stuff. Duchess and FL are clearly great too . In way it's wrong to judge one song against another when it gets gets that standard but also great fun . However RAAB IS better than both of those songs . I scientifically and objectively prooved that RAAB is better than both those songs a long time ago by listening to them in a scientific and objective way. And that's not at all stupid or wrong. So you you need to like it more or you will find yourself all wrong and confused. 😃😃😃

Nah. It's crap. And shouldn't be in a top 40, let alone ranked better than those 2 songs. But I'd happily allow it in a Worst Genesis Tracks chart, no problem.

Quote from thefarmer

Are you talking about Classic Rock magazine or Prog magazine. ? If the readers have chosen RA&B , then they know their stuff.

The special has the Classic Rock logo on the front, but features stuff from both mags. I gather the "40 best" list is from Prog readers. It puts Robbery at 33, ahead of Duchess and Fading Lights among others. Duchess is about 100 zillion times better than Robbery, at a conservative estimate. So no, they don't "know their stuff". Or at least, they do know some stuff but it's stuff that's stupid and wrong.

Quote from MOODYBLUE

The tour is very unlikely to begin as planned in April but happy for a live stream? On a personal level, the feelings you get from seeing and hearing a band live are not comparable to live streams on any level.

It's very much akin to a cookery program where the meal looks delicious and all you have is a guest telling how how fabulous it tastes.

Very true but sadly it's likely all we will get for the foreseeable future.

Another one of those absurdly expensive Genesis magazine specials is out, this time from Classic Rock. The usual collection of old articles and interviews complete with poor proofing, terrible overbaked writing and standard factual errors. Plus in this case, the "40 Greatest Genesis Songs" as nominated by the readers of Prog Magazine, leading to some ridiculous choices such as RA&B but which will please many here.

And how do I know all this? Because, sucker that I am, I obviously bought the damn thing. More money than sense, me.

Quote from somsom

Forget about any touring for at least a good year, it won't be possible. But, what if, in the meantime, Genesis did something live on You Tube?

I agree, there will have to be a major turnaround in the current situation, bordering on miraculous, for gigs to go ahead in at least the first half of 2021 if not all of it.

Any acts announcing 2021 tours now might possibly be able to plan them as suitably distanced events but the Genesis big arena gigs, substantially booked out, can't go ahead as things currently stand.

I can't imagine them doing video gigs but I'd like them to give it a try.

Not a TV show as such but just watched a live-streamed performance of Mark Thomas's excellent stage show Cuckooed. It tells the story of his involvement with the activist group Campaign Against the Arms Trade, and their discovery that one of their fellow activists, and long-standing friend, was a spy for BAE Systems.

The stream was followed by live interviews and chat. One of the participants was a man who fell foul of a notorious 10-year blacklisting within the UK construction industry. He and over 3000 others were either sacked prematurely from jobs or denied work altogether due to being classified as "domestic extremists" - which in his case resulted from campaigning for greater standards of safety within the industry. Many other safety campaigners suffered the same fate. People lost homes and marriages, and their mental health suffered, as a result. Eventually the construction companies got taken to court, admitted they'd run the blacklist and paid out millions in compensation.

Another speaker described her 5-year relationship with a man who disappeared, then subsequently was revealed as an undercover cop (married, with 3 kids) who'd been spying on her and a group of fellow anti-racism campaigners, and had formed other similar fake long-term relationships. The Met Police later settled out of court when brought to account.

Believe it or not, as usual with Thomas's shows, a serious topic was well presented but with humour.

I'd seen this one on stage when it originally ran a few years ago and it was good to see it again.

Quote from thewatcher

I'm not a stargazer by any means but I read an article a couple weeks ago that Mars is unusually bright these days. I then saw this very bright reddish 'star' that wasn't twinkling, and used a phone app to confirm that it was Mars. It's really striking. I see it every morning walking to the train. What's even cooler is if I turn 180 degrees, there's a very bright white thing in the opposite direction that's not twinkling and it turns out it's Venus. At that time they are both the brightest things in the sky pretty much and they line up fairly perfectly so the earth/I am in the middle. It's a trippy feeling.

Trippy!

A planisphere is a relatively cheap and useful purchase (or a good xmas/birthday list inclusion) and can be carried easily in a pocket. I was a bit of an astronomy enthusiast as a kid and had a telescope, star charts etc. I didn't pursue it beyond that but was given a planisphere for my birthday a while back and have enjoyed using it since.

Quote from Backdrifter

First episode of new BBC political drama Roadkill. Good enough to want to carry on for now at least.

... although 2 eps in now and it's already getting a bit stupid. But I will persist - I can rarely resist a political drama.

The BBC iplayer has all 4 seasons of the rebooted Battlestar Galactica (which I gather ran 2004-10). I randomly started watching it, having never seen the original and have enjoyed the first 2 episodes so far.

I reckon the Wikipedia entry for the surname Anderson was mainly written by an American sports fan. There is a list of people with the name Anderson and at least half of them are American sports players.

Mr.Farmer will no doubt be delighted at the omission of Benny Anderson.

This morning I was still asleep when the radio alarm came on, and I experienced that thing where what's playing was incorporated into a dream. It was White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane, and in the dream I was watching a live gig by Steve Hackett which featured a rendition of the song with members of JA as guests. It had a prelude in which Hackett deftly played a complicated figure finger-picked on a violin, which in the dream was something he was known for. This led into a stonking live rendering of the song, which in reality was of course the actual song playing on the radio right next to me!

I woke up just as the track was back-announced and I felt vaguely disappointed that the dream wasn't real!

Third consecutive day of near-continuous rain.

Quote from Fabrizio

there is a much larger problem which won't go away even if Biden wins, over 30% of the country are behind that orange-tinted, wannabe dictator, con-man.

And there is still no guarantee Biden will win.

Regardless of what happens with this election there is a broader growing problem I predict will become very significant during the rest of this century and which, in a way, is Trump-related as it pertains to certain kinds of thought processes among many of his supporters. I'm talking about conspiracy theories, the Q-Anon movement, anti-vaxxers, covideniers, flat-earthers, the whole post-truth tendency.

Of course, a lot of this stuff has long pre-existed and is not new. And maybe social media amplify it and make it seem more prevalent. To an extent that's probably true but I still think there is a very definite de-evolution of thought, and it's growing and becoming much more vocal. And is being given much more credence - there have already been flat-earthers interviewed on British TV in the supposed interest of "balance".

Trump and his most batshit supporters somehow embody this growing denial of thought and reason. And even if he goes, it will continue to spread. I reckon that by the latter part of this century, the reasonable will be seen as the crazy ones.

Quote from Fabrizio

Lovely, comments reported without a single public objection. It figures....

I just read back through the thread and am struggling to see what's reportable.