I see what you mean. I have just come home from a cataract operation. But every time, I start moaning about my age and the physical reduction it brings, I think of Keith Richards, who is still there and on stage in spite of all the substances he used all his life. It is all rock and roll, you know.
I read somewhere that Keith says the only reason he’s still alive is that he was rich enough to afford the pure stuff!
4,000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire....
Indeed! I was always proud of that musical connection, though never noticed any potholes whilst growing up there. They’d obviously fixed them by the time I became familiar with this song. Funnily enough, I remember a teacher at school misquoting the song during one of the ‘sermons’ we used to have to endure during morning Assemby. He thought the lyric said ‘4000 whores..’ and then went on a rant to try and mould our moral character. I still smile at that to this day. 😂
The second stage was collecting the bootlegs and being introduced to the "live" world of Genesis. I'm now in my third stage, which is revisiting the albums with which I am so familiar and making my own fan-edits of certain tunes (a whimsical and indulgent past-time, no doubt, but an enjoyable one all the same).
Good stuff! I’m at the stage of seeking out interesting medleys. Perhaps you could start a thread with links to live medleys you’ve come across and any fan-edits you’ve created. I’d love to follow that!!! I posted a couple of medleys on my Genesis Top 10 Countdown thread. You’d make a great contributor so please consider joining us. We’re counting down from 10 to 1 by naming 1 track per week. We’re currently on number 9 so it’s easy to catch up. And nothing’s set in stone so if you later wish to re-jig the order of your listing, I can amend for you, no problem.
Excuse me, this is one of these myths that shows very nicely what problems we're facing here: if I'm not mistaken, Tony said one singular time in his lifetime in some interview that "Mick Barnard laid out the guitar lines for The Musical Box". Given how vague this statement is and that neither Tony nor anybody else from the band ever mentioned anything close to this ever again I can't understand how this could become such a gospel-like factoid among fans. From all we can know for sure, Mick was only part of the live lineup for a couple months and the song was already worked out when they performed it; if you listen to Ant's "F#" track on his Archive Vol. 1 you can hear he had finished nearly the entire song, all that was missing were some elaborate chord changes in the first half, the vocal lines, the solos and the outro. For whatever Tony was trying to say when he uttered that statement, I doubt we will ever get behind it.
This ‘Mick Barnard’ claim for the guitar lines sounds dubious to me. I wonder if TB was talking of the lead guitar solo. It’s the blistering centrepiece of the song and clearly absent from Ant’s acoustic instrumental ‘F sharp’ that TMB developed from and which was later released under the title ‘Manipulation’ on the box set remaster.
So..lyrics: PG, music: AP et al
Here’s a link to ‘F sharp’ where TMB’s origins are clearly heard.
And to ‘Manipulation’ where the TMB really begins to take form
I’m a Lancashire lad. There’s an old wardrobe stuffed with fur coats near Corporation park, Blackburn. I’m still found in there from time to time 😂
I totally love this story Witchwood. You refused to follow the pack and found your own musical path and at an age when we are all so desperate to be accepted as part of ‘the gang.’ ✊ RESPECT!
I’d like to invite you to join me in counting down our top 10 Genesis tracks (1 track per week to give occasional visitors to the site time to respond) I’ll tally up the results as we go. You can say as much or as little about your favourite tracks as you like, though in your case, I’m sure you’ll have some interesting stories to tell. And don’t worry about changing your mind at any time. If during the next few weeks you want to change the order of what you’ve listed, then just ask me and I’ll amend your listing! It’s a fun way of deepening our appreciation of this great music.
Here’s the link to the thread, we’re now on #9 so not too late to catch up.
Hope you join in the fun.
35 years! Impressive! I had a long break in between when I was seduced by other musical trends of the day. The prodigal son has now returned to the fold, I am happy to say.
Ahh, I think I’ve got it now. The ‘quote’ button does repeat the whole post which you can then edit by deleting the extraneous stuff. How long has it taken me to work that out? 40+ posts. Doh!
Can’t seem to get the ‘quote’ to work on my iPhone as it just re-posts your whole post again (I must be doing something wrong) so I’ve copied and pasted the relevant bit.
“Just how long had these girls of your been in the sixth form?!“
Ha ha! Nice one! Oh, I didn’t concern myself too much with the overall lyrical content back then. I seized on a line or two that reflected my feelings and allowed the mournful melody to sweep me away.
Concerning C60s, I could get 50% more out of a C90 and on 50p per week this wasn’t to be sniffed at. Even tried C120s but the tape always used to break with those. ☹️
Still got that wonder-of-wonders, a twin cassette recorder upstairs. Copying from 1 cassette to another eh? Cool or what!
I’m originally from ‘oop norff’. Now in London, UK but I travel a lot...and I mean...a lot. So don’t be surprised if you find me in your wardrobe. I’m getting better in there! 😂
I first discovered Genesis back in the 70s. It was probably 1977 as I was already a fan when Attw3 was released and Trick was already old news. Trick quickly became an early fave of mine. It was during my spotty teenage years when my only source of comfort was the five-knuckle-shuffle as I crooned to Ripples in my back- bedroom and fantasied about those sixth form goddesses that, true to the song, sailed away and never came back or if they did, it was only to look scornfully down their noses at me which just made me rush back to my bedroom again in seek of...erm...more of the same. But I digress... 'England' was also an early fave.
I was an early playlister back then and tended to fillet out the indigestible bones. Besides, the albums are so long, I couldn’t get them on 1 side of a C90 cassette which was always a b*gger for those of us who had to make copies from the odd kid at school who had the LP. £5 (£25 in today’s money) was a lot for a spotty teenager to cough up back in the mid/late 70s. With 50p per week pocket money, it was birthdays and Christmas’ only, for me, I’m sorry to say!
“Kids today, huh? They don’t know how lucky they are! Now, hurry up with that tripe and onions, woman!”
So any track unfortunate enough to end up on the flip side, more than likely sat amongst the one-hit wonders and those cautious nibbles from other bands with which I was reluctant to fill the belly of a C90. As a result, they didn’t get listened to much.
One album I did shell out for was Foxtrot. I was probably about 13 or 14 at the time. But I was far too young for it. Distraught at a lot of the pastoral, folksy, developmental arrangements I rushed it back to the shop for something more readily digestible to my teenage ear.
It took me until 3 months ago, when reminiscing with a good friend, that I finally listened to it again. This was a band from my teenage years that I literally hadn’t listened to for decades. The old faves from yesteryear I suddenly recognised. OK, some had lost a lot of their former flavour but many had matured like a vintage cheese. In fact the more I gorged myself on the back catalogue, the more my appreciation grew. I was old enough now to look beyond the 'sugar ballads' (many of which remain ruined for me by disastrous love affairs at the time) for something with more complex flavours. Foxtrot, that album I just didn't get as a tender 13 year old, is now like fresh meat to me and has displaced Trick as a favourite album, as has Nursery Cryme of which I always, always loved 'The Musical Box', but found the rest of the album, well, a bit 'strange'. Not that I would have done anything but vigorously defend it to my mates back in the day. Naw, I was one of the cool kids, or at least I liked to think I was. "No 'Boney M', for me", I would announce with a swagger as I queued for a packet of Chewits from the school tuck shop with my pack of Top Trumps in hand....
All I get is a black screen
Here’s another great clip of my #9 choice, “I know what I like”. Recorded in ‘92 at Knebworth, this one segues into That’sAll/FollowYou/Stagnation.
I even found myself smiling at Phil’s tambourine antics at one point. Obviously, I’m not quite the grumpy old fart I thought I was.
Where is this chat/conversation option? I can’t find it
Also how do I delete erroneous posts that are clogging up my thread?
still no one willing to tax that grey matter?
Squonk! YES!!! A real powerhouse of a song, inspired by Led Zeppelin’s ‘Kashmir’, though I also read somewhere that it was trying to sound like ’When the Levee breaks.’ Whatever; that throbbing base gets my core like musical yoga. Not sure what it is - doesn’t sound like any sort of bass guitar I’ve heard before - must be some sort of synth. My only tiny gripe is that I just wish there was more contrast within the song itself. Yes, there's a gentle refrain at 5.50 but that simply marks the petering out of the song and considering the track was inspired by Led Zeppelin, who often wrote songs that ebbed and flowed like a storm at sea, I kinda hoped for a bolder approach to the song's structure. Having said that, it’s definitely up there and although I may not appreciate Phil’s drumming to the same extent as StillCan’tDance, his powerful drumming here is unrivalled throughout their catalogue, with the possible exception of that 7/8 drum shuffle at the end of The Cinema Show that I’ve previously mentioned. John Bonham certainly gets a decent tribute here. Respect, Phil!
Number Nine:
Squonk - just an amazing song from my favorite album. Wish I could have been a fly on the wall when Phil first sang this one in the studio. Love how the song starts off so powerful and ends real laid back. When I want to show anyone Genesis, this is usually the song I play them first.
Here’s a snapshot of our poll so far. There are 4 of us involved. I’d love it if you could encourage a few other carpet-crawlers to join in. It’s not too late to catch up with only a couple of votes cast so far. As our musical journey is a long one I’d like to reassure you all that if at any time you find yourselves evolving in a different way to that already recorded, then I am happy to tinker with your DNA profile to reflect your new musical pulse. Respect, squonks!
will check out that drumming when I get a moment. I’m not naturally a ‘drummer boy’ so unless it’s something exceptional like his drum shuffle in 7/8 time on ‘Cinema’, then I’ll likely as not I’ll miss it. 🥁
Great comments here SCD and welcome to the ‘Top 10 Countdown’ Your insightful comments are very welcome here but can I ask you also to make a weekly nomination In respect of the thread’s overall objective. No need to sweat the small stuff, your choices need not be set in stone and simply be how you feel at the moment. I’ve just posted #9 so it’s a quick job to catch up. So far, there are 4 of us making regular postings. I was kinda hoping that with a dedicated fan-forum like this, more carpet-crawlers would emerge to make their voices heard. Hopefully, it will gain momentum over the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, I’ll be keeping a tally of votes cast, though I’m struggling to sift through far too many erroneous posts (you know, the usual 1 line ‘yup, i agree’ type thing, unlike your insightful one here) which I can’t seem to delete
