No.
you have such a convincing turn of phrase..
Posts by mdepps
-
-
If the song were to end here it would probably still make my top 10, as it is we're only a 1/3 of the way through.
An eloquent review as usual but surely the above is an exaggeration..
-
At #5 Mad Man Moon from Trick.
Entangled - Ripples - Mad Man Moon, the triumvirate of epics in this midpoint album. What's between them? I've already listed Ripples, Entangled is just outside, banging on the door. But at this stage it's neck and neck, nip and tuck. MMM shades its stablemates by the sheer beauty of its contrasting phases, with that keyboard bridge the highlight.
-
Number 6: Firth of Fifth
I love the original for Bank's piano intro and Gabriel's brilliant vocal performance and I love the live Seconds Out version for its sheer majesty, driven by the drum performance and of course Hacketts beautiful guitar solo, which dspite being somewhat down in the mix, manages to stand proud amid the thundering percussion and waves of keyboards.
Classic symphonic prog rock from Genesis.
I just can't see how the Seconds Out version can justify itself without that piano intro. Neither can I understand why Banks felt he couldn't do it justice on set. I've heard several renditions of this by other people online, seen it done once live. Hackett doesn't have a problem getting it done. What was the issue? Technology at the time? Just do it on a frigging piano with a microphone in front of it, like this talented lady:
External Content youtu.beContent embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.
-
I’ve never really liked The Musical Box. I don’t think it’s very interesting until the final “she’s a lady” section. And even then, I prefer when Collins did it during the Old Medley on The Way We Walk.
That's some confession!
Makes me feel better about not being massive on Supper's Ready - though having seen G2 do it live last week I see more in it.
-
We've been ODing on Trick, now it looks like England will get a look-in.
At #6 I have Dancing with the Moonlit Knight from the same album.
Genesis seem to have a particular genius for starting albums strongly, and for picking a track which "heralds" what is to follow. Volcano, Mar and Down and Out provide that strong opening statement on their mid era trio. Here the acapello opening is a clarion call, opening up what many consider to be their strongest album. The title itself is an unforgettable choice, inspired by a reference to a Labour Party campaigning slogan, though I've never been able to get closer to the source of that story.
The theme of the song is a nostalgic harkback to an England disappearing under the avalanche of modernism and Americanism. According to the Wiki resource on this album, Genesis were already conscious of criticism from the music press that they were trying too hard to appeal to an American audience, and this work, with its references to Green Shield stamps and Wimpey is an attempt to counter this. Did Genesis themselves "sell England by the pound" by abandoning the theme for a totally American based one in the Lamb, their next album?
The lyrics are complex and inspire some in the fanbase to great feats of analysis, such as this one:
http://starling.rinet.ru/music/song1.htm
In such a poetically rich piece we should guard perhaps against projecting more meaning into the lyrics than the author intended at the time or can remember now. Sometimes I feel that PG disappeared a little up his own rear end, but I'd say the same too about Leonard Cohen, and even Roger Waters, also lyric-led artists and favourites of mine. The music is stupendous and that's what counts.
-
Ha! Ha! That’s conveniently broad brush enough to avoid any come back. 😂
Y'see if someone was having trouble with The Wall I'd be able to help. Here's a great bit of lyricism, there's a great guitar piece. And we could guide you in.
But the Lamb remains unpenetrable, to me at least. I know, let's put Counting Out Time on again. Now we have an irritating verse as well. To the chorus: Erogenous zones I luuurve you. Where's the sick bag?
-
The Lamia and Chamber of 32 Doors are among Gabriel's finest vocal performances IMO.
Right, just putting Chamber32 on again.
Brilliant intro. That bass just rattles through me. Excitement builds. PG starts, yes doing a nice job building it up, this is going to be good. Ooh did I miss this before. Yeah keep going Peter.
Arrrrrghhhh he's ruined it with that banal town man country man chorus!!!! I'm gutted. It was going so well. Massive disappointment. Nope, Chamber32 - back in the bin.
-
The sheer amount of good music on it [the Lamb] is astonishing
Give me three tracks please. I got Fly and the one straight after (4 mins total). I'll give you Cage and if you insist Back in NYC. Hairless Heart. Then what?
-
Wrong.
Oh how articulate! Thanks for that explanation. I stand gratefully corrected.
-
I'll come right out and say I don't find much on the Lamb I like.
So far no one has responded to this attack on this most sacred of cows.
My disappointment stems not from a love of trolling but from the hope that someone might respond by naming what they consider to be a brilliant Lamb track and challenging me to reassess.
The album is consistently ranked highly by the Genesis cognoscenti and I'd really like to know why.
Floyd fans wouldn't elevate a workshop piece like Ummagumma above Dark Side or The Wall so I'd like to know what's different.
-
Me And Virgil is a good example of a non-typical Genesis song.
How can you have a good example of an atypical song?
Atypical means one of a kind, implying there are no good examples.
-
And I don't really care for Firth of Fifth.
Which brings me to this. I think Selling England by the Pound is overrated. .
And here's a controversial opinion. Trespass is my favorite Genesis album, and my runner-up is, wait for it... We Can't Dance.
This is a fascinating thread. People are swallowing hard and coming out with it! Fantastic.
Happen to love Firth myself, and most of England but this does not diminish the respect for slaying your dragons in front of your peers.
-
7. The Knife.
An atypical track, unlike anything else in the Genesis canon, I think.
A song that divides opinion. In the Songs I Don't Like thread several people mention it. I actually do, though not as much as Stagnation and White Mountain on that album.
-
OK well I'm going to go further than most here.
A lot of Genesis I just don't like. Yep you read it right.
Each album has tracks I need to skip because they proper suck, except possibly Trespass and ATTW3. Examples : RAB on Trick, Wardrobe and Epping on England, Harold the flipping Barrel, everything on I.T. and lots else post Duke.
There are further tracks I'm neutral to and won't skip but wouldn't make a general playlist.
I'll come right out and say I don't find much on the Lamb I like.
Here's the big one: not massive on Supper's Ready either (has my membership been rescinded yet?). Salmacis no, Watcher of the Skies not really, Hogweed sorry.
What's left? Well I estimate that there is about 200 minutes of Genesis music I really love. Five full albums? I don't have a lot else in my general collection that matches that. Floyd probably, no one else.
-
If I shared your opinion on OFTV, which I don't, I'd probably be afraid to admit it.
That's very honest, well done.
-
For my #7, I nominate The Musical Box.
Only one problem my side with that choice..
Only #7 ??
Like saying Maradona's dribble against England in 86 is the seventh best goal in WC history!
But hey respect anyway. I just look forward to finding out which six tracks can possibly be better!
-
Man, we're in a Trick mood this week.
Yep a classic
-
At #7 Ripples from Trick of the Tail.
This is an album I have always loved, aside from the ugly mess of RAB. But how much better it could have been if Steve Hackett hadn't just pissed all his ideas onto his Acolyte solo album. My feeling is that Gabriel put the nail into Genesis' coffin, not by leaving but by dithering about it so long. Hackett expected the group to break up and thought he needed to branch off, leaving him dry of ideas when Trick rolled round. If Hackett could have established himself as Banks' and Rutherford's creative equal who knows what wonders could have followed? As it is he is only credited with Entangled on this album.
Ripples is obviously a fan favourite and deserves its status. Is it a bit too sugary? Not for me. And that instrumental bridge as we discussed last week..
Where's me cigarette lighter?
-
It’s time to name your number 7
#7. ‘Mad Man Moon’ from A Trick of the Tail (1976) SILVER
A couple of weeks ago this track wasn’t even in my top 10 but then, like all Genesis tracks, it suddenly opened like a flower for me. It’s another beautiful Tony Banks ballad and one which uncharacteristically avoids the lame lyricism that dogs most of his compositions. This time he goes to the opposite extreme, yet, despite their obscure surrealism, the lyrics still manage to exude a poetic imagery that he drapes over the melody in sad, tender colours. This track bears some classic Genesis hallmarks; principally a beautiful piano interlude at 2.39 which swirls in intensity before the cymbals crash in at 4.59 to mark the bridge with the breaking wave of ‘Hey man, I’m the sandman’, before it ebbs away to peaceful nothingness at 5.25 with the gentle repetition of the line ‘Sun and sand.’ The delicate opening of the ensuing verse marks a particularly poignant moment.
I am aware that this is a contentious choice. “Mad Man Moon" is a song that either makes fans swoon or yawn with indifference but that’s not surprising considering that this was the bridge album created in the aftermath of Gabriel’s shock departure from the band. This album attempts to hold onto their old prog rock fans whilst pulling in new fans looking for more readily digestible tracks. Personally, I would have LOVED an entire album of material like this. As it is, I find the album is badly let down by half of its content. Firstly, the jarring time signature of Volcano, that once appealed so much to my teenage ear, I now find grates on me. Also, where ‘Harold the Barrel’ was quaint and excusable in ‘71, the cheeky chappie, ‘Battery’, simply sounds hackneyed by ‘76: likewise, ‘Trick’ is a whimsical sing-a-long ditty that belongs back in the 1960s when it was first penned and the much admired, Los Endos, is simply a medley, re-hashing bits of what has gone before. Yet the album remains one of their most popular and not just with the vast legions of new fans eager for a more consumable product. I can only assume that with the band, still heavily in debt (£1.25 million in today’s money) and with their charismatic leader gone, they seized their chance to achieve a balance between artistic license and commercialism. This ‘something for everyone’ approach obviously worked. They did finally clear their debts and I’ll admit, I do massively enjoy the other 3 tracks not mentioned here. However, in my opinion, they produced far more inspiring albums than this for those who are prepared to forego swaying along to the iconic ‘Ripples’ with a cigarette lighter held high in the air.
I have no prob with the time sig on Dance on a Volcano. You get another one on Down and Out, two albums later. I think they had a phase of opening albums like this because 11th Earl on W&W is also rather jarring. But all three tracks have a certain freshness, an "album opening" quality.
Agree with everything else you say about Trick. I don't know why Los Endos enjoys such status in fanlore. It's a wind-down, and rather a lame one to my ear. Robbery is unlistenable.
But this leaves four classics and you've picked the best here. On a first stab at my top ten it was behind Ripples and Entangled but I've reassessed and it's now my favourite on the album. The work that went into it must have been immense. The intricacies and multiphasing you describe elevate it above its stablemates.
