Posts by Dr. John

  • The Thread Of Complete Randomness

    Quote from thewatcher

    That does sound lovely.


    To add to my somewhat miserable commentary above though, a couple of people I work with had stories of driving to the path of totality, which sounded fine, the totality itself which sounded amazing, and then driving back which sounded nightmarish. 12 hours to cover a 3-4 hour distance, 4+ hours of not moving at all on an interstate where the exits have all been blocked off to prevent detours through little towns. People wandering into the woods to relieve themselves. Sounds kind of dangerous actually. I'm profoundly grateful I didn't chance it with the kids, it would have been disastrous. I wonder if any Teslas died halfway home!

    The path of totality was only about 1.5 hours from our place, so we went the day before and had a mini-vacation, since it is in our local wine-growing area. We visited some wineries, did some hiking, and then had little traffic to contend with on the day of. Driving back was definitely slow, but only 2.5 hours.

  • The Thread Of Complete Randomness

    Undeterred by the bah humbug mode above, we had a great eclipse experience, driving frantically around the Niagara Escarpment until we found an open patch of sky just minutes before totality. Seeing the sun getting fully blocked out with the surrounding corona, seeing sunset effects on every horizon, feeling the temperature fall and the birds suddenly quiet, and then experiencing everything reawaken minutes later was magical.

  • Favourite Tony Banks keyboard moments in Genesis

    There are so many fantastic keyboard moments, that I am going to restrict myself to my absolute favourites:


    The main solo in Fountain of Salmacis - driving, urgent, and dramatic when the rest of the instruments cut out.


    The opening and closing mellotron chords sections of Watcher of the Skies - I don't care for the main song, but these sections are arresting.


    The piano intro of Firth of Firth (and the reprise on synth) - the keyboard part that got me into Genesis.


    The main refrain melody in The Cinema Show, especially the repeat with the mellotron choir - soaring and beautiful.


    The entire piano/keyboard part for The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway - I'm still at a loss for how he composed this.


    The mellotron part for Fly On a Windshield - ever shifting and mesmerizing.


    The piano part for Anyway - achingly poignant, it could work as a solo piece.


    The synth solo in In That Quiet Earth - edgy, angular, and yet with a great sense of melody.


    The whole of Duke's Travel's/Duke's End - covering a whole range of moods and emotions.


    The solo in Fading Lights - triumphant, then moody, then back to triumphant.

  • Tony's keyboard sounds on We Can't Dance

    What I don't understand is how Tony went many years picking really great keyboard sounds and then lost his touch in later years. For the first 15 years, he wasn't just sticking with old equipment. He would get new keyboards and then use some really nice new sounds. While the sounds he used on the IT album were very much of the moment, I think they were good choices and fit those songs (e.g., on The Brazilian).


    On WCD I liked some sounds, e.g., the "elephant" and the backing chords in No Son of Mine, all of Fading Lights. And then he picked very underwhelming ones, like the whole instrumental for Living Forever. His picks for sounds on the 2007 tour were also questionnable.

  • TotW 03/25/2024 - 03/31/2024: GENESIS - On The Shoreline

    This is one of those Genesis songs that when I listen to it, I think "That's pretty good" and then I don't listen to it ever again until the next time I am prompted. It's got a great vocal, great drumming, some chiming 12-string. OK, I don't like some of Tony's keyboard sound choices. It definitely could have been on WCD instead of Since I Lost You. And yet it somehow never lodges in my mind enough to want to return to it

  • Food and Drink

    Quote from Bluedemon25

    Can't help but think of smoked salmon most frequently as what I like on bagels. I wonder if since you say that combination works well the spruce tips would go well on a bagel. Sounds at least interesting. By any chance have you tried such a combination?

    Yes, we basically use them in place of capers for smoked salmon on cream cheese and bagels. In Toronto, Canada, there is a company called Forbes Wild Foods that sells pickled spruce tips. The also sell various other pickled wild vegetables that go well with smoked salmon.

  • Food and Drink

    Spruce tips are lovely for tea (same with cedar).


    We also buy them pickled and they go great with smoked salmon and other smoked seafood.

  • Random bits of Genesis stuff.

    Quote from Schrottrocker

    Thanks Backdrifter, I wanted to start this topic for quite a while.

    It is interesting that Supper's Ready and Carpet Crawlers kept the fade-out even in live versions! Or at least what an emulation of a fade-out becomes when played live. These songs cannot have a better ending, the fading is like the main hero riding into the distance at the end of a movie.

    I don't have a problem with fading down in a live performance. Genesis have always been great with dynamics. In these cases, they fade down to a true ending.

  • Random bits of Genesis stuff.

    I think fadeouts are a bit of a lazy way to end a song. Prior to recordings, music was only live and all songs and musical pieces had to end.


    Genesis can end songs well without a fadeout. The Knife, The Musical Box, Watcher of the Skies, etc. all ended just fine.


    Genesis can also create totally fine live endings for songs that originally had fadeouts. Firth of Fifth just took the repeated sequence to resolution. Ripples ended the repeated choruses the way they naturally end in the rest of the song. Los Endos has a perfectly good ending. Abacab has a great ending. Carpet Crawlers is fine with a gentle ritard. Afterglow has a majestic ending. It makes me wonder why they didn't try a little harder to end the songs for the studio versions.


    Genesis can also create pretty dire live endings for songs that originally had fadeouts. The ending for Cinema Show on Seconds Out makes me cringe every time. The ending for Mama is so weak compared to the power of the rest of the song.

  • re-issues in the near future?

    Quote from Wayne

    It’s interesting as currently Genesis is are the number one selling item on acoustic sounds , both of the recent re issues have both sold out. Plus there is an incredible demand now for high resolution re issues. You also have to consider why Genesis are selling out on Acoustic Sounds?. I myself think there is demand they have got a lot of new fans since 2007. I think it would be worth a shot?. Plus as you say the work has already been done.

    That is interesting. My question is how big a reach does Acoustic Sounds have? What does selling out mean in terms of numbers? Dozens? Thousands?


    We live in an era where owning physical music is not really a thing, except for maybe vinyl and for us crotchety old dinosaurs. Most people stream and aren't looking to own CDs and blu-rays. While there is an audiophile market, is it enough to motivate Genesis management to work on more releases?

  • "Get Phil voted in" - Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

    It is totally a private enterprise, with no aspirations to serve anyone but themselves. That said, for the longest time they favoured American-based artists and artists that have had a big impact on the American music landscape. However, that bias has shifted in the past decade or so, hence the admission of artists such as Genesis, Yes, Rush, heck even The Cure. If anything, Phil has more mainstream acceptability in the U.S. than some of these other artists I mentioned. So I do expect that at some point he will get in.