Sad news about Stanley Donen too, speaking of films.
Posts by Backdrifter
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Oh yes, I think Prodnose had had a few when he made that comment about Queen. I always liked them, myself.
Well yes he probably had, although he's often mentioned them fairly dismissively on his radio show.
He said they came into One Stop Records when he worked there, before they were known (when they were still Princess?!) to give out some promotional stuff for their 1st album.
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As for the reviews, whoever it was who was commissioned to cover Invisible Touch really ought not to give up the day job because I've never read such ill-informed rubbish in all my days.
Doesn't that in fact mean they should give up the day job?!
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I saw A Private War today. It tells the story of Marie Colvin's work as a war correspondent for the Sunday Times, working in some of the most dangerous war zones. She and her photographer Paul Conroy broke the story confirming Assad was massacring his own citizens. It's not comfortable viewing at times but very compelling and really tense in a few scenes. Great performances from Rosamund Pike, Tom Hollander and Jamie Dornan.
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Neil Finn/Crowded House/Split Enz
Good choice. Neil Finn is such a great songwriter.
Two of my favourite lines from any song ever:
Don't stand around like friends at a funeral
and
The guilty get no sleep
In the last slow hours of morning
Brilliantly evocative. I saw Crowded House a few times, their comic banter was a joy.
I don't know Frightened Rabbit, what are they like?
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PT/SW
I'm probably being really slow-witted here but.....?
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All I can conclude from this thread so far is that I'm lagging very far behind others here when it comes to Hackett fandom. The most I can muster in answer to the question is
VOYAGE - Tower, and that's not even a favourite it's the only one I actually like at all
PLEASE - (scratching my head and can't come up with anything)
SPECTRAL - title track but Tigermoth runs it a close second
DEFECTOR - Steppes
CURED - probably Nightmare but I have a soft spot for Overnight
HIGHLY - (more head scratching... and some thoughtful frowning....) probably Camino but quite like 151
FACES - (yet more head scratching.... the frowning's now quite fierce and there's a fair bit of sighing.....)
and after that it's one big shrug, but to be fair I stopped regularly listening by then so I'm not familiar enough with the albums to pick any favourites. About 10-15 years ago when I occasionally went to his gigs and he was still focused on his solo output, there were ones I really liked from the post-Faces stuff but I don't know what they were. I think I recall Mechanical Bride and Vampire With etc.
In fact - I may have asked this before, apologies if so - but maybe I can get some recommendations for albums between Faces and Wolflight. The above favourites give a clue as to what I prefer, I tend to go for the starker more off-piste stuff (love Tower, can't stand Hierophant).
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From that list, I was torn between Close and Plague, voted for Close. I couldn't be bothered trying to think of one not on the list. I don't think I'm all that interested in 'epics'. There are a few pretty good ones on the list, I quite like Thick but while something of a Rush fan I never much liked their long tracks. I know 2112 is meant to be this great classic but once it gets past the 'Overture' (!) that's me done.
^^^ Awaken is possibly my favourite Yes song. It has everything a Yes-head could want. It's overblown, mostrously pretentious, earth shaking, speaker blowing, brilliant and beautiful. Love it! I like that album too. Some moan about the muddy production, but apart from the title track, every song is belter IMO.
Awaken is kind of all the things people who don't like prog, and always dismiss it, think it is. But while it's nowhere near being my favourite Yes track I do quite like it and partly for the same reasons as you! I almost admire the way it seems to be saying "So you think this is what prog is? Well okay, yeah!" and just defiantly wallows in it. In particular the second part, and the way it goes from a tiny little triangle tinging, to power chords, resounding demented-genius cathedral organ and a choir... none more prog! For all the same reasons it comes across as cartoonishly prog, but I still like it.
On balance yes I'd probably "moan" about the production on GFTO, on the basis that it is pretty bad and in fact I think it ill-serves the grandiosity of Awaken. Better, sharper production would have made it even more impressive. Ditto Parallels. Turn is okay and Stories is like having super-sweet glittery cake icing rubbed into my eardrums. Unlike you, I like the title track. After Tales and Relayer it was good to have a relatively short stripped-back opener to the new album, mirrored in the simpler starker cover imagery which was a relief following a long run of fantastical Dean stuff that became very formulaic.
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The Beatles come top of the pile, then jostling about on the next level down along with Genesis are Radiohead, XTC, Magazine, King Crimson, Bowie, PG, Madonna (hopefully no-one will be picky enough to point out the last three aren't bands).
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I got the hardback C&V when it came out. It didn't tell me much I didn't know but what the hell, I'll read pretty much anything about them. I liked the segment on the development of the varilites, and was intrigued by Banks saying he was so upset the band didn't get asked to play at Live Aid he couldn't bring himself to watch it.
There are some pretty basic picture editing mistakes in my edition.
I've always loved the idea of a Genesis book giving them the same treatment as Ian McDonald gave The Beatles in the superb and forensically detailed Revolution in the Head.
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Support Act for Bergen (Norway) will be Mike + The Mechanics!
We're all thinking: potential for guest appearance action...
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Oh my...
I am quite saddened over this passing. He was a wonderful actor. I can think of so many films where I loved his performances: Wings Of Desire, Faraway So Close, Unknown, the modern remake of The Manchurian Candidate, among many others. I even loved the way he spoke English with his Swiss/German accent.
Oh, a very sad day for cinema. R.I.P., Bruno - if it turns out that angels can visit with human beings like you did in the first two films I mentioned, you have my permission to pop around sometime.
Beautifully put. Those films you listed, especially Wings, are wonderful. And let's not forget the way he handled the ultimate difficult role in Downfall.
The American Friend is another favourite.
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I saw that link on Danny Baker's Twitter feed last night. I have the Headley Grange tapes, courtesy of The Movement site, and had tried to incorporate some of the stuff into my own mix of The Lamb but the quality is too poor to be usable. Still, as you say, a great insight into what could have been.
Ah another Prodnoser, eh? I didn't notice it on his, maybe he picked it up from Eno's. I did respond on DB's one about Queen not actually being all that good, to say I agreed, and got fewer annoyed-Queen-fan replies than I expected.
Yeah I can imagine it'd be hard to incorporate the HG tapes. Are you equipped to do any polishing up and did you try any?
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Via Brian Eno's twitter feed: Lamb rehearsal tapes, Headley Grange.
I love 307. I'd heard it before on Glickton's YouTube channel. Yes it's rough but I love the fuzz bass and often imagine what a great finished track this could've been. It gives a glimpse of what I've suspected before, that they could be a dirty band in rehearsal but never had the nerve to stay that way and always polished everything to a high shine, sometimes too high.
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It has two of my absolute favourite Genesis tracks, Down & Out and Many Too Many. And the worst track they ever did, Scenes From A Night's Dream. Snowbound is pretty bad too. That best and worst combination sums up what an uneven mess this album is for me.
I do like Undertow but as with Burning Rope the lyric is Banks at his most embarrassingly overblown.
Follow You Follow Me is good. That completes the 4 tracks I ever bother with on this album.
Definitely a transitional album and while I don't like it as a whole piece of work, if it enabled them to move on to the two infinitely better albums to follow then it served its purpose.
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Yeah I read that, it and the album review are a bit lickspittle. They make the album sound like the Second Coming.
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Bruno Ganz, a fine actor. A sad loss.
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For when we come across Genesis stuff, band or solo, in media outlets - on screen, on radio, in print, online.
Uncut magazine have a Genesis special, promoted here https://www.uncut.co.uk/blog/i…timate-music-guide-109277
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I'm not sure about 'awkward' or that your EP suggestion would be any more preferable. But it doesn't sound especially enticing. It's a fairly classic example of an artist with little left in the tank. They've managed to knock together 3 new songs and decided that if they redo some old ones as well that'll feel new enough to justify an album to go alongside the tour.
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Two recent ones. Last week, Mary Queen of Scots, telling the story of her feud with her cousin Queen Elizabeth I. Great performances by the two leads Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie and an excellent supporting cast. Today I saw Vice, an enjoyably near-comedic treatment of the machinations of a group of repulsive people centring on former US VP Dick Cheney. There's a mesmerising lead performance from an almost unrecognisable Christian Bale and some terrific supporting cast including two of my favourite actors, Amy Adams and Sam Rockwell as Cheney's wife and George W Bush. Steve Carrell is also great as Donald Rumsfeld.
I'm hoping to see A Private War next.
