Posts by Thelawnmower

That’s really generous and kind of you,

Thanks very much. I may well be in Chester sometime over the summer Foxfeeder, if so I’ll get in touch.

Thanks again

Having updated my turntable I’ve been buying some heavyweight vinyl to enjoy. I’m

not intending to replicate all my old vinyl but to build a small collection of my favourites. So far I’ve bought all Genesis albums including FGTR box set, all Beatles albums including Past Masters, the Moody Blues core 7, Miles Davies Kind of Blue and Karajan’s ‘63 Beethoven cycle. I’m now picking up occasional bits, Hackett’s recent issues, a bit of Yes, some McCartney etc. I like the sound of them and enjoy the old feeling of handling an album But I agree with others that the odd pop and crackle is frustrating (but worth it in the end)

Quote from Backdrifter

Would it be fair to say probably most rock bands don't tend to have cover versions on their albums? I'm not really basing that on anything other than a gut feeling. On stage, I suspect it'd be a different matter in that a few covers would creep in.

But yeah with Genesis, apart from as mentioned the TIOA medley on two tours and a couple of covers at the 'Balmes dance', nothing.

yes I think so, especially for the bigger bands where there may be some covers early on but less so as their songwriting develops. I think as Genesis set out to be songwriters it makes sense that they started as they meant to go on

Actually I think Fish has a writing credit on Shortcut to Somewhere

Quote from thefarmer

I had a recent thought. Genesis were one of worlds biggest ever bands with a huge back catalogue. As far as I can think , they wrote every song themselves , not a single cover version or co writers. That must very rare. At most they did a medley on the mama tour just for a bit of fun and believe that's it. Oh and a nod to the drifters on the Lamb, it hardly a cover. This is really quite something when you think of it. Sure there must be other comparable bands out there who have achieved the same bit I can't think of any. I'm sure plenty of you will tell. ( Maybe I should have put this in other bands section.) Thoughts?

a really good point. Phil and Peter have done cover versions, Steve has done some blues stuff and played with other bands, Mike I think has covered stuff live with the Mechanics but Tony never had covered anyone as far as I know. I suppose they had such a wealth of material and so many writers in the ranks. The Beatles did a lot of covers early on, so did the Stones and the Who did, especially live. Led Zep incorporated bits of blues classics. Floyd drafted people in later on.

Quote from Simon1967

i have seen Steve on several old solo tours and a few of the new Genesis shows. Don't have an issue with him doing them, but for me i struggle to get into Nad' s voice and also the fact that he is not center stage. He tends to stay fairly static while Steve takes center stage.

Guess i am used to seeing either Peter or Phil taking charge of the show and the same with some tribute bands for the vocalist

Musically can't complain at all, just that the visual aspect doesn't grab me...but that is just my opinion!

I love the tours and I did struggle with Nad’s voice a little - although in recent tours I think he has become stronger and the sound has improved so I enjoy him now. But I completely agree about the visuals. Even though Steve is the ‘star’ it’s odd to have the singer to one side and slightly to the rear. This is coupled with a lack of chat from the stage. Nad doesn’t speak and Steve doesn’t speak much. When he does he’s good at speaking to the crowd and it creates a much warmer and stronger atmosphere. We have also lost the charisma of Gary O’Toole on the drums. Now he is doing whole Genesis albums he sometimes

plays the whole thing without saying a word. All this leads to the atmosphere of a recital, rather than a concert. It’s a shame because he is very good when he tries because he is witty and a nice bloke with an interesting story to tell. Having worked with Phil and Peter he must know how important those bits of chat are.

Looking forward to this one.

I like the Genesis stuff he does, For me I’d prefer 50/50 Spilt with his solo stuff but for the audiences he wants/needs to pull in I think he has it about right. I followed him through the small gigs in hideaway places and loved it but I say good luck to him with the comfortable road life he has now. I think he has done enough over the years to split into three phases, The Charisma years, a loose middle period and the more recent clutch of albums and I’d like him to play one or two tracks from each ‘phase’ each tour. But the last few tours have been stunning so no complaints from me either way!

I love Abacab, even though I generally prefer earlier stuff. At the time I thought it was a good move to change the sound and production. It's very punchy, everything is loud and clear and the drumming is superb. All the Genesis ingredients are there, good tunes, great rhythms, fabulous chords, but a less clutter. I don't know why it was overlooked on later tours, maybe the fact that most of songs on there require powerful and often fast vocals ( if that makes sense, I'm no singer but it sounds like a lots of words per minute on the better songs) ruled out the last tour and they wanted to play so much of WCD that it was pushed out of that tour, can't really explain 2007 though. But I like every track on it except I could leave off Man on the Corner and Like it or Not is a bit of an also ran. I even like Another Record, the drum signature just appeals to me. Whodunnit is fine, a bit of fun with and some great sounds. I'd put the rest up there with the best of their work.

Well, no word or supportive evidence as yet from Smallcrep so I think we can draw our own conclusions

Sadly they never played Trick live

Quote from Smallcrep

I am sure Gary left because after 20 years he wanted a little more money. Steve is notorious for being tight with money and paranoid about his finances. Nick Magnus left for the same reason. Steve is tight with money. Which is why the band does not contribute to his studio albums, Steve does not want to pay them. I believe that is the reason Steve's studio work sounds cold to me. No collaboration.

according to Nick in recent interview- this is why he left

NM I didn’t actually leave the band – it dissolved by default when we stopped touring in 1984. I continued working with Steve in the studio right up until 1989. When he decided to resume touring in 1990, I was already deeply involved in doing production work. I felt I couldn’t do both, so I took a deep breath and opted to go my own way.

I’ve had a quick look and can’t find that reference in his book, do you have the page number please? Is there a source for the Amanda Lehman story? I thought she was working her appearances around child care commitments. I agree the orchestral

album is brilliant. I imagine any orchestra is a costly investment to work with but I don’t know what the relative booking fees are, they certainly sounded good enough to me. Thanks

I miss Gary as well, I liked his humour and he was a superb drummer, taking nothing away from his fantastic replacement. I thought Steve couldn’t release albums for a while because of legal problems with such releases, arguments over ownership etc meaning he would be unwise to do so, not just financial reasons.

I'll take this to mean technically accomplished playing and probably the only thing I feel a little able to comment on is drumming, as a very humble drummer myself. It seems to me that there is playing of a very high level on all instruments on all albums from Genesis, but in terms or drumming, I'd go for Selling England. The range of skills and delicate techniques on display there is hard to find anywhere else. The playing is hard enough, but the composition and development of such work, that is highly technical and complex, yet so perfectly compliments the music, is a high watermark, even for Phil. Of course his drumming is always superb, but to my ears, I am still discovering new things here after forty-odd years of close listening. He plays like an orchestral drummer at times, like a rocker at others, a bit of jazz-fusion here and there and as a sympathetic band member in the background at other times. At all times he drives things along, loosening potentially stiff arrangements, without ever being showy or dominating. Stunning work.

Joy Division ‘Closer’

Sinatra ‘In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning’

I read that they felt it was the first entirely co-written album. I read somewhere they felt Abacab had been equal, in the sense that all tracks were group written, apart from one each from Banks, Collins and Rutherford, so a third each. But 'Genesis' was the first where all titles were by Banks, Collins, Rutherford.

I agree Mama would be a better title, but I suspect that at the marketing stage they had lost some interest/were busy with other things. Certainly the state of the album cover would suggest that....

I’m not aware of any evidence for Steve being tight with money. He seems to be able to attract and keep some top flight musicians and give them a living for a long time. If he was motivated by money he would have stayed in Genesis. I read that Gary left after a difficult time for his family whilst he was away and he felt he needed to be home more.

Excellent news. I’ll be there, when we know where there is.

I’m hoping the ! Rather than a ? after the tour title is enigmatic rather than significant? or indeed !

Haven't played it for ages but I really like it. Nice to hear different versions of classic songs. I don't know who said it first but I think its true that you can tell the quality of a song by how much it tolerates being covered in different styles and i think there's a lot of truth in that. There's not actually much Genesis on it and I think I enjoyed the King Tracks as much as anything. Great musicians working very well together and good to hear Chester working with Steve again.

Genesis Selling England

Genesis Trick

The Who Who’s Next

Fleetwood Mac Rumours

Sinatra Songs for Swinging Lovers

Joy Division Closer

Led Zep 4

Pink Floyd Dark Side

Beethoven Third Fifth and Ninth Karajan 63 DG

Miles Davies Kind of Blue

Beatles Revolver Rubber Soul Sgt Pepper’s & Abbey Road

Vaughan Williams almost any recording of Lark Ascending

Wings Band on the Run

Kate Bush The Hounds of Love

lots of runners up including a few Moody Blues, more Beatles and Genesis, some Sibelius, Radiohead, probably more Sinatra and some Ella Fitzgerald, early Rod Stewart, where do we stop??

These are not necessarily my favourite albums or the ones I play most but I think they represent top flight artists at the top of their game with very high levels of consistency/production/composition etc