"If you doze much longer then life turns to dreaming.... then dreams turn to nightmares" - Sir John Johns
Posts by Backdrifter
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Maybe I saw Genesis' mythical "Black (and Red) Album"?
Bloody hell... imagine a Genesis equivalent of Bob George.
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the Genesis one looked kind of like ABACAB and began with a 7-minute song called "The Snake"
I love that sort of detail! The only time that's happened to me is on a couple of occasions I dreamed about Radiohead, another favourite band of mine. In each of these dreams they were doing a new song, one was called White Chocolate Hat (which sounds more like it should be by either Prince or REM) and the other was called The Interrogator, and I even recalled a line from it - "I don't care about the money, I don't care about the money."
An impossibility I know, but I now really want to hear The Snake! Something tells me I'd like it.
Does 'snake' appear in any Genesis songs other than Supper's Ready and The Lamia? (I don't think it's mentioned in The Serpent is it?).
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Yes, quite a few times over the years, and always the same kind of thing, involving (like yours) being at a live performance. It's always the Collins-fronted line-up, and always in a weird outdoor setting, often involving my having difficulty getting into a decent spot. There's often trees in the way of the stage, and in one dream it was both this and the fact they were playing in what looked like a mostly demolished building and I was on top of a high hill looking almost vertically down on it (through those pesky trees). I can never recall any specific tracks though.
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Thanks Dr. John those are much more what I look for in a cover. I always thought That's All was crying out to be covered. The I Can't Dance one is spoiled a bit by the guy behind that lovely couch overdoing the attempted comedy, it would have been much more effective if he'd just kept to the hands coming up to ting the glass. But it's a pretty good version.
I've also often thought Throwing It All Away was ripe for covering. Who is the a capella guy? (I'm assuming they're all the same bloke).
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I listened to the Geneses, Lettieri Down & Out, Stone Key and Hydria ones. I'm not really interested in ones that are essentially tribute acts, I'm more intrigued by bands that do their own thing but might throw in a cover, and even then I find it frustrating when they just do a straight, faithful cover. What's the point of that? I like a cover to be something that retains the spirit of the original, but enables the cover artist to put their individual stamp on it, or goes even further and takes a starkly different approach. I don't really want to hear a faithful recreation. For that reason, Hydria's Entangled was at least interesting in their heavy interpretation of the 'chorus' sections but they wimped out otherwise, just sticking to the original. (Their singer is very cute). Stone Key's choice of MFM was interesting, and hearing it in a soulful female voice was good, and showed there are things that can be coaxed out of a minimalist song that I've always liked but which is often dismissed by Genesis fans.
Building on the heavy metal Entangled, aren't there any more radical covers of Genesis than these out there? No minimalist electro-pop versions of Firth of Fifth? An industrial death metal Mad Man Moon? A dub reggae Follow You Follow Me? Katy Perry doing Invisible Touch or Lady Gaga giving us her Turn It On Again? Or is it the case, as I've long suspected it is, that outside the mega-faithful note-perfect tribute acts, bands just aren't interested in doing Genesis covers?
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Not a TV show, a film, but was on BBC2 this afternoon, the absolutely brilliant "A Matter Of Life & Death" with David Niven. Always worth watching.
It is an enjoyable film. David Niven was a likeable and watchable actor. One of my favourite moments from Parkinson was Parky's hysterical reaction to Niven's wartime story of he and a friend gatecrashing a senior officers fancy dress ball. "What's this - Trubshaw, Niven, goats? Bad show. Damn bad show!"
I like Marius Goring's Conductor character.
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Never seen Veep, but used to watch the UK show it span off, The Think of It. I believe Will Smith (the Jersey/UK comedian, brother of wine critic Ollie Smith, not the fresh prince) is responsible for some of the writing (he also wrote and starred in later episodes of the UK show) so no surprise it's good. He is very funny, if you get the chance, listen to his BBC radio 4 Show "The Tao of Bergerec" 4 half hour episodes of brilliant humour, with guest appearances by John Nettles.
Yes Smith co-wrote some Veep eps and there is writing/directing involvement ftom other Thick Of It alumni such as Simon Blackwell, Tony Roche and Chris Addison. Another former Ianucci compatriot Christopher Morris directs some eps too.
If you enjoyed The Thick Of It you will very likely enjoy Veep, it has very much the same dynamic. I certainly loved The Thick Of It, I think it's one of the best ever British sitcoms. The two 1-hour specials The Rise of the Nutters and Spinners & Losers are its pinnacle. James Smith's performance as Glen having a meltdown is a thing of beauty. Will Smith's character Phil was very good. I'll track down the radio show you mentioned.
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This is one of my two favourite ever Gabriel songs - the other being San Jacinto.
Good man, excellent opinion well-stated.
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I often come to things late. I have only just been devouring the Veep seasons 1-4 dvd boxset. It might be close to overtaking Seinfeld and the Larry Sanders Show as my favourite US sitcom. It's become an addiction, with me watching entire discs in one go. However, the discs are now 600 miles away from me for the next 4 weeks so I'm having withdrawal symptoms. I can't wait to be reunited with them.
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Most popular will depend who you ask: most popular with a general audience would most likely be Invisible Touch or I Can't Dance; most popular with fans will be Supper's Ready.
Hmmmm..... I feel like there's all sorts of stuff I want to respond in those couple of lines but don't currently have the inclination. For now, I have to say I don't share your confident assertion that SR will be the most popular with 'fans'.
Admittedly, I'm not sure what would be. It's all to do with this notion of FANS. There are plenty who consider themselves as such but who wouldn't plump for SR as their favourite.
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Seriously, you end your previous album where the climax of the song recalls the Revelation of St John and the return of the Almighty, dragons coming out of the sea and all that and then you follow it up by closing your next album with a song about the price of groceries in your local supermarket? Give me a break.
For me, ending the previous album with the Revelation and the return of God is exactly why the next should end with supermarket grocery prices! Everyday prosaic normality is the perfect counterpoint to the melodrama of the previous finale.
I agree it's just there for bookending. I'm not sure about all the stuff regarding the auctioning off of England etc though. I think the track is too slight. And while I don't especially mind the track - the presence of Scenes From A Night's Dream in their canon makes the question of Worst Genesis Track moot - "fine fare discount" and "Tess co-operates" are bloody awful.
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Yes well done, that was interesting. I look forward to his live version of The Waiting Room.
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I must admit I'm curious too but this probably isn't the place for it. Is there a Floyd thread?
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^ Maybe Quantick isn't bothered about how TFC was made and just likes the tracks. I'm not familiar with that album myself.
I prefer Nursery Cryme to Foxtrot too. The NC thread went unloved and unregarded, sadly!
Can Utility is my personal favourite as well, with WOTS close behind.
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The second section -- between the slow beginning and the more dramatic ending -- seems to be over too fast; I wish it took up more of the track.
I know what you mean, but part of the song's strength is that it keeps things brief and just as long as they need to be. I agree with you about the album overall though, for me it's too uneven to rank as one of his best. But it's a young artist feeling his way, having broken away from being a high-profile front man in a band.
I agree with @foxfeeder's comment about 2 being a good one. He's clearly still exploring but in doing so produces a very interesting album that has tended to be somewhat overlooked, including by PG himself who rarely featured it in his live sets.
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Two last week:
The Favourite - set in the court of Queen Anne and partly fact-based in its depiction of the Queen's relationship with courtier Sarah aka Lady Marlborough and servant Abigail. The Queen is shown as ailing and indolent, unable to take decisions which she leaves to Sarah who is also a close friend - maybe a little too close. But when she becomes too busy and elevates Abigail to take her place as the Queen's companion it all starts getting quite messy. Literally, in some ways - it's a quite macabre and sometimes grotesque film (with too much vomiting for my liking!) but it's very enjoyable and the three leads are brilliant. I think it's Rachel Weisz's finest hour, probably Emma Stone's too. Oh and Stone doing an English accent in that beautiful voice of hers.... oh, man.
Stan & Ollie - mainly focuses on the final stage tour Laurel & Hardy did in the 1950s, in the UK and Ireland. They receive a warm welcome but find audiences are sparse and are under pressure by their promoter to publicise the tour more. Laurel, the creative force behind the pair, is shown as a hard taskmaster who Hardy feels is putting him under too much pressure and it creates tension. But it's ultimately a very touching film about friendship. Great performances in the two lead roles from Steve Coogan and John C Reilly (who probably edges it for me), and also from Rufus Jones as promoter Delfont.
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Manhunt, the true story of the hunt for Levi Belfield (I suppose that could be considered a spoiler, as Ep 3 is on tonight, but since he's been serving a full-term life sentence since 2006, with a further full-term added a few years later, I think it's in the public domain!
) - Excellently done so far, and Martin Clunes adds a new, heavyweight tone to his palate. Successfully, IMO.We watched this in one go. It was very compelling, and of course very upsetting too, based as it was on real crimes and pretty horrific ones at that. It conveyed three things very strongly: the depth and extent of Bellfield's sheer nastiness and depravity, the painstaking detail and frustrations/dead-ends involved in investigating a case like this, and the effect on an officer's home life.
The scenes with the parents of Amelie De La Grange were utterly heartbreaking, especially when they visited the site of her death. Probably the thing that most stayed with me was the case of the woman he ran over with his car, then deliberately reversed back over, which gives you an idea of what sort of monster he is. That she survived was astonishing in itself, but despite having her back torn open, her liver split in half, one collapsed and one punctured lung and multiple broken bones (including all her ribs), she dragged herself over to the kerb where her phone had fallen, and called the emergency services, giving a description of the car. She even gave evidence in court when he was on trial. That determination and strength of spirit is unbelievable, and I find it very humbling.
I agree that Clunes handled his role well, indeed I think this is his best work. It's early but I think it's going to be hard to see a better drama series this year.
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I like Humdrum a lot, it's my favourite track from this album. Short, sweet and with two very distinct sections - the second part with its big dramatic landscapey chords is one of the very rare moments when PG solo sounds a bit Genesis-y. I like that the lyric shoves together the words stethoscope, amoeba and hard-boiled egg. Others will be irritated by that, but I like that too.
Like Genesis with Duchess, this is a track that unfortunately lost most of its vitality on stage.
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I had always just assumed that it derived from the word “real” with the vowels reversed, thus reinforcing the altered reality of the Lamb world just from the rearranged spelling.
I think you answered your own question. I'm sure this is the reason, succinctly put. The only other thing I'd add is that, given the name needed to scan nicely in lyrics, a one-syllable name with vocally 'safe' sound was required and Rael served that purpose.
Even if they were Trek viewers I find it highly unlikely he'd remember a detail like that let alone seize on it for the central role in his rock opus.
Re Shakespeare - it's certainly entertaining to imagine professional obsessives mentally contorting themselves and coming up with some rickety Lear connection. Lear carrying Cordelia's corpse becomes Rael carrying John from the river?! Maybe that's a rubber bone for them to chew on.
