I find Island quite emotional and powerful. It certainly does have a sort of meat-and-potatoes rock sound but it rises above it quite admirably in my opinion. I've never really enjoyed Another Murder that much - it just seems to hang around not doing very much while Fish strangles the life out of the lyrics. I don't mind One Man's Fool but it's not a favourite.
Posts by raelway siding
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The battle between good and evil. It’s ongoing. That’s why the song fades out.
Yeah.. I guess. Seems like a bit of a stretch but could be the intention. I suppose it is meant to refer to the song fading out, but it still seems odd to me. It doesn't fade out on a repeated vocal refrain, so not sure why it's signposted in the lyrics.
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Just had a play and I hear it as it should be, ‘He is you’ but I could be wrong
Listening to it closely it sounds more like "He is hu-ahhhh" so now I'm not sure! I always heard it as human and thought Phil had made a mistake.
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Strictly Inc. is pretty good on the whole. "Charity Balls" I can really imagine Phil singing - could easily be a well-regarded late Genesis song. "Only Seventeen" is a very contemporary-sounding pop song, I'm surprised it wasn't a minor hit at least. Conversely, the album kicks off with the odd and clunky "Don't Turn Your Back On Me" and follows this with IMO one of Tony's worst ever songs, the soporific "Walls of Sound" (there's a clip of them performing it on Pebble Mill or something, and it's the dreariest thing you'll ever see). I can well imagine anyone giving the album a chance back in '95 not getting past those two tracks, and missing out on one of the highlights of Tony's career ("An Island in the Darkness")
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Here's another lyrical question I've wondered about for a long time - the lyrics "He's been stamped human bacon, by some butchery tool (he is you)" - I'm sure I hear this sung as "he is human" on the Seconds Out version - just a mistake on Phil's part?
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I have noticed this before, I just put it down to some kind of idiosyncratic decision of Gabriel. But as martinus points out, it does feel like a sort of transitional verse that doesn't really fit in either part.
Here's something else I've wondered about - why, at the end of the lyrics is "(CONTINUED)" printed? What's continued?
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Yeah that was very interesting. Funny how when talking about the early days of Genesis it all seems quite fresh in his mind - only a few years back of course! Do we have anything earlier than this, in terms of a full and frank interview? I'm sure we don't. I liked the piano improvisation (kept expecting to maybe hear a Genesis or early solo song in there, but no!). The tape is more like a fly on the wall recording so its fascinating for that alone - a snapshot of Genesis on tour in the early 70s. I do think he sounded quite bored and slightly uncomfortable though!
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I love it all! From ‘When the Sour Turns to Sweet’ to ‘One Man’s Fool’. It’s all good! As I said the other day, there are some songs that just don’t do it for me, but I’ll still listen to their entire discography without hesitation.
Or indeed, from 'The Silent Sun' to 'Run Out of Time'!
(BTW am I right in thinking that the Not About Us single was the final release by Genesis as an ongoing band? I like the idea that 'Run Out of Time' is the "last" Genesis track, with regard to the lyrics. Did they know, or guess?)
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Shepherd
It's Yourself
Evidence of Autumn
You Might Recall
Do the Neurotic
Anything Now
But could happily have voted for many others. Some of my favourite G tracks are in this list. Evidence of Autumn and You Might Recall are favourite *songs* of mine, by any artist
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Did anyone pick this up? Obviously we know the content pretty well, but how's the sound quality etc?
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I have to mention that And Then There Were Three deserves honorable mention for being an especially atrocious album cover. I love the songs within; god knows what is going on on the cover. I know that it has been explained on Wikipedia and stuff, I can’t see any of that though when I look at it.
Well it's a fairly standard Hipgnosis cover in that it's abstract and ambiguous. Don't know if it's really meant to mean anything. However, I do like it. It's atmospheric (that beautiful sky!) and suits the album well.
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Looking For Someone is actually my favourite Trespass song. This is the song with the most hermetic and obscure lyrics pre-Lamb. Peter's acapella vocals deserve a special mention.
I find Looking For Someone fascinating for this exact reason. It's the only Gabriel-era track I can think of that seems to be written from the point of view of the singer, if you see what I mean. Other first person lyrics are in character. It's definitely more reminiscent of the Lamb lyrics, but again they're in character. It really feels a lot more like a Gabriel solo lyric. I'd love someone to ask him about it - why did he not write another song like that until he left Genesis? Etc.
This is assuming of course that he actually wrote the lyrics! I'd be very surprised if it wasn't him though.
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I seem to like a lot of the tracks nobody really likes on this album! I always loved Never a Time, I just think it has a beautiful melody and sound. I'm pretty fond of Way of the World and Tell Me Why too. It's really the hit singles I don't like that much. No Son of Mine is a bit stodgy and worthy. Jesus He Knows Me is a bit gimmicky. I Can't Dance is just embarrassing.
Also never really rated Dreaming While You Sleep. Boring and gloomy. Most of the rest of the songs I love though (last spike, living forever, fading lights, hold on my heart)
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This intrigues me, as someone who came to appreciate them in the mid-1970s and experienced their progression as each album came out (having done my own early stuff catch-up, essentially the PG years). I'm interested to hear about those having a different experience and going back from near the end of their recording career to discover their earlier material. I reacted and acclimatised to each new release whereas you time-travelled into the past to get to grips with them in a much shorter time. What was that like? Being a new fan around the time of WCD and then discovering the early 70s stuff which bears practically no resemblance - that must've been quite a wild ride. And how much had you already known of the solo stuff before this?
The first Genesis release I bought was the No Son of Mine single on cassette. The B-side was Living Forever. I was already aware that Genesis had been around since the 70s, and I was already a fan of early Queen and Led Zep, so they were a band I was always going to explore - it just so happened they had a new album out. I remember I quite liked NSOM, but I loved Living Forever with its floating, perfectly constructed instrumental section. Possibly the first (??) "old" album I got on tape was Three Sides Live. It had everything on it. I liked it a lot more than WCD (which I did like a great deal, apart from the cheesy hits like ICD and HOMH). The pop stuff seemed much more sophisticated and dreamy. I really liked the way the album seemed to move back in time, and ended up with the dramatic old material at the end. After that I think it was Foxtrot and/or Nursery Cryme. I remember thinking how creaky and dusty and strange the music seemed. I guess I was expecting something more like Queen II - but this was different. It sounded older and stranger. It seemed like the real thing.
I guess if you followed them from the 70s on it might have been jarring / upsetting to see them transition into a slick stadium pop/rock act. It just seemed natural to me. I didn't expect older men in the 1990s to be doing long fantasy story songs. It would have seemed weird. But I was very much into that myself as a 13 year old! On balance though I think it was Three Sides Live which made me a lifelong Genesis fan (of all eras). I loved the strangeness and drama of the early 70s stuff, but I equally loved the whimsical sophistication of things like Duchess and Behind the Lines. As I kept on filling in the gaps and getting all the old albums I realised that this was some of the best music I'd ever heard...
As for the solo stuff, I definitely would have been aware of Peter Gabriel from Sledgehammer etc but I don't think I knew much about him. Phil Collins of course was a huge star and I had bought his single I Wish It Would Rain Down, which is one of the reasons I was intrigued by Genesis. I think I had the idea that Genesis would be like the "good" Phil Collins stuff with less of the boring stuff (the sappy ballads)
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I have been absolutely knocked out by this video.
The quality is astounding given the source. It really helps to bring alive what it would have been like to see and hear the band at this stage in their career.
Anyone on here who hasn't seen it needs to now!
Absolutely. What struck me is how chaotic, surreal and LOUD it must have been seeing them at this time. There's a strangely homemade feel to the band and the music. Couldn't be more different to the slick arena act they became (although they arguably always maintained a continuity of slight oddness / wrongness even into the 90s).
Also love how confident, relaxed and happy the band look in the interview section. Rightfully proud of what they'd achieved with Foxtrot and the reaction to it?
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odd choice ....
would the current logo make any sense? the recording was before WCD...
Not really, but look at the box sets etc.
Genesis really know how to miss a trick don't they? An RSD release of Lyceum 1980 this year would have got a lot of people talking. Some good publicity for the tour. The three man line-up at the peak of their powers etc. Oh well!
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Define "official". RSD is not known for its bootlegs. It's released by Eagle Rock, who clearly own the rights, judging by the previous editions.
Phil Morris
I guess I meant - how involved or even aware of it the band are. I'd say not judging from the lack of current Genesis logo. I've no doubt it isn't a bootleg.
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I'll probably get it, but it's not the most exciting release. How official is it? It looks like some of the other Knebworth performances are getting a release too (might pick up the Robert Plant one).
But a double or triple LP live at the Lyceum 1980... now THAT would be exciting.
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What song are they playing where there are tons of toilet paper rolls tumbling on the screen behind them?!
I imagine this is for Land of Confusion, which is going to be re-purposed as a song about the pandemic and lockdown etc (don't know if it happened elsewhere but in the UK people were panic-buying toilet paper this time last year)
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So do we know anything else about the reissue yet? Likely bonus tracks? Release date?
