Posts by foxfeeder

Quote from Beef

Though a huge fan of Steve, unfortunately you could play his last three albums back to back and not know where one finishes and the next starts.” Light” provides the same ”out of the box” wall of sounds, over processed multi layered vocals, the arrangements are the same, slow start, big drums, manic solo, big ending, and of course the now customary ethnic track, with sitar and tabla loops.

Personally,I wonder if the motivation is waning, he now makes his money recreating his Genesis past, and although I understand the financial reasons for that, since he did Revisited 2, solo wise for me, it’s been all downhill ( I predict Revisited 3 sometime soon).Its not all bad,on “ Fallen Walls”, “Beasts” and “Peace”,there’s the odd glimpse of light through the clouds of his past greatness, but they are coming less frequently now, and unfortunately he’s even dropped the classical nylon tracks now that used to provide much needed light and shade...so overall, not for me.😞

I could pretty much have written this post, bar the choice of tracks as favourites (Descent is the only decent ('pun my soul!) track) plus I think even Steve would baulk at GR3!

Quote from DecomposingMan

"Turn This Island Earth" makes an impact??

Anyway, I've ordered the Japanese edition of LIGHT, so I'll have to wait a bit to get it.

You listened to "Turn This Island Earth" and thought "ho-hum, I've heard lots of stuff like that"?

Quote from Noni

Got it from his web site

So did I. They post it so it arrives on release date.

I've posted about this on the "what are you listening to now" thread yesterday. Possibly an improvement over the last album (lets hope so) but all pretty much in the same style, except Descent, which is based on the intro to Can't Let Go, and finally uses it successfully.

Those Golden Wings is about as long as Turn This Island Earth, but doesn't make the same impact. To me, anyway.

Quote from Noni

Just picked this up the other day.. Not bad at all

? This was only released yesterday.

So, probably a bit better then Night Siren, but it's only 1 first listen, so...…………….

One very good track though, Descent, is basically finally doing a proper job with the intro of Can't Let Go!

Steve Hackett - At The Edge Of Light, 5.1 surround. Currently on track 4, and as 3 of the first 4 are tracks that have been on YouTube, I've heard most of this before. Track 1 started in the "World Music" rut but moved on and improved. So far, maybe an improvement over Night Siren, lets hope it keeps it up. Will let you know.

Quote from Backdrifter

Looking at the forum dashboard the letters XTC shone out like a beacon, so in I came. I agree Black Sea is one of their very best and also that Big Express is another contender. O&Ls I'm less enthused about as for me it's not as consistent as those others but it still has some great stuff. I have a real soft spot for Mummer as well.

Interesting stuff about the origins of Black Sea's title, not sure I knew that so thanks for sharing. I think they are still legally bound to not speak publicly about what happened with that manager, Ian Reid - "Reid with a silent G" as Andy Partridge once said.

Black Sea remains in my top 10 favourite albums. It might not be their absolute best but it has a special place for me.

I like Mummer too, but while both it and O&L have weak tracks, the good one's on O&L just edge it ahead for me, despite the excessive lows of President Kill and Pink Thing!

Quote from Backdrifter

I don't bother to complain about those Acolyte tracks but mainly because I simply dislike them. Ironically for someone saying "Well why shouldn't he have vocal tracks!" the only VOTA track I actually like is Tower.

I wasn't aware the guest singers issue was a common complaint regarding Touch. But again, in a sense a moot point as it's an album I struggle with. I'm not sure I even like anything at all on it.

You're right in what you say about his voice in that it's not bad but definitely not that good. It's a bit characterless. But it's obviously bad enough to make you wish he'd either hire guest singers or just do instrumentals!

I think he's long produced his definitive album, which in my view would be Spectral Mornings. I don't think there's anything left in the tank to enable anything on that level, guest or no vocal.

Side note - SM and Defector feel like definitive albums to me, partly due to their featuring the same band and singer, and with SH's voice there in the mix. I liked that brief phase of consistency and stability, and it yielded good material.

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As promised, I've come back to guests: PDT is one of my top 5 SH albums, it's the one that got me into him, and thus into Genesis. The guest vocalists are a highlight on this album, but even if he, or Pete Hicks, had sung them, I'm sure I'd still love it, it was so diverse yet accomplished in every area, something he is sadly missing on the recent stuff. SM is another, but Defector, I feel, was a bit of a step down. Another top 5er for me is Darktown, which includes a guest vocalist, the "marmite" Jim Diamond, but then I like him, I have the Ph.D album, and it's a good 'un!

Quote from Backdrifter

I haven't heard this yet but generally have no problem with his vocals. And I think it's misleading to try thinking about the difference between "good and bad singers". There are plenty of supposedly "good" ones whose voices I can't bear, Annie Lennox and Adele among them. Similarly with eg Clapton aka "God" being a brilliant guitarist. I can see he is, of course, but that makes no difference to the fact I find his work really dull.

Ultimately, we all like what we like and where the artist sits in the Official Global Ranking Of How Good Artists Are shouldn't have any bearing on that. So yeah Hackett will be low on the singers category of that listing, I totally get that. Does that mean I'd rather someone else had done the vocals on Camino Royale or whatever? Nah, not really. In fact I'd go further and say that I don't like when there are a load of guest singers, I think it detracts from the album's identity.

Personally I can see why he includes lyrics - he's a creative person who likes to express his ideas through both music and words.

I could pretty much have written this post myself, except the bit about not liking loads of guest singers (more later). Yes, Annie Lennox is over rated IMO, and as a real highlighter about singers, good or bad: Katherine Jenkins, hailed as one of the great voices, yet to me, totally devoid of any feeling or character, dull, dull, dull. In fact, I remember seeing a 13 year old girl on Britain's Got Talent (I was unlucky enough to catch it that night! ) who idolised KJ and sang in her style, but who, IMO, was head and shoulders better!

To accompany my pre-order of Greenslade's "Time & Tide" (and thus qualify for free delivery a la amazon!) I've just got XTC's Black Sea in surround sound. A Steven Wilson mix, it's very good (as it should be, given it's one of XTC's 3 best albums IMO, the other 2 being The Big Express and Oranges and Lemons) and comes with LOTS of extra stuff, inc. one of my favourite songs of theirs, "Take This Town" which was recorded for a film soundtrack (the forgotten & forgetable if anyone even saw it "Times Square").

Among the notes in the booklet, they explain the title of the album, which has always puzzled me. Inspired by the song Towers of London, about the "navvies" (Navigational Engineers) who built so much during the Victorian era, they opted to depict the ones who often had to work underwater, and came up with an album title, "Work under Pressure", hence the divers suits.

Sadly, after the photo shoot had taken place, their manager said the title made him look like a slave driver, and he banned them from using it. Black Sea was the best substitute they could come up with to link to the photo.

Of course, their manager was slave driving them, and after they split, Andy wrote "I bought myself a liarbird"!

Other recent purchases: BJH's XII in surround, Nova Lepidoptera is sensational, as I expected it to be.

Quote from DecomposingMan

Not a fan, huh? I'll bet you don't like "Who Dunnit?" either!

Good guess! I nearly mentioned myself.

How did it come to this?

Yes, once again a bit derivative, and also unnecessarily pessimistic given the write up under the video (Click "Show More" to see it)

The clown appears to be a direct lift from the Mute Gods (Nick Beggs/Roger King) video for Feed the Troll.

Quote from Chessman

Not sure if that one's been remastered yet, though it can only be a matter of time...;)

Due out around Feb 23rd, and preordered by me yesterday!

Quote from Chessman

Been listening to the Greenslade remasters lately via spotify. They sound very good so methinks I'll be getting them at some point, which leads me to my five most played bands currently:

Greenslade

Starcastle

Spock's Beard

Show Ya

Sally Oldfield

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I certainly intend getting Time & Tide, easily their best, IMO.

Quote from Fabrizio

My first Genesis album, as such I can't help being biased, obviously with time the cracks have become more audible but I would maintain that any album with Supper's Ready on it, is a very good album. I agree that it is poorly produced but that is the case with any Genesis album, up until Trick. A pity, looking back, those are pivotal, very strong albums and they never got the production value they deserved. Watcher is a great opener, I love the intro but I confess the song in itself, after a while wears out its welcome with me. Lyrically interesting but metrically challenging, I believe it was Mike who said the lyrics were a mouthful at places and I agree. The intro is still incredibly strong after all these years. Time Table is just a good pop song, nothing to write home about but also nothing to frown upon, it's very Tony and I'm almost always on board with what Mr, Banks does. Get'em out by Friday never really grabbed me but I never felt the urge to skip it either, very much a period song in my mind. Can-utility is nice, quintessentially Genesis and I find the melodies quite interesting. Horizons in very pretty, lovely. I don't see how anyone can dislike it. I feel there's very little I can say or add about Supper's Ready which hasn't been said already.

I know some fans don't really like it and it might be considered a bit drastic of me but imo disliking SR means really not understanding what Genesis were all about.

It was not only my first Genesis record but also my first prog record, as such a difficult one to crack, accustomed as I was to 3-minutes songs. In retrospective, I guess what I got hooked on and forced me to listen harder were the few melodical hooks, scattered here and there on different songs and the singer's voice which I found different from any other voice, soulful and full of character. Peter's growl on ''Jerusalem'' at the end of Supper's Ready sent shiver down my spine. Still does.

Just curious, but what do feel is wrong with the production on SEBTP, or even more so, the Lamb? I'd agree the predecessors to Foxtrot aren't good, though I'd say Nursery Cryme is slightly better, but can't see any issues with the Lamb.

Quote from Schrottrocker

Oh as for that linked review in the opening post: if anybody enjoys reading that kind of reviews I won't keep them from their pleasure; speaking for me I am glad the internet offers lots of different reviews that don't have this patronising cynical attitude. Back in the days before we had the world wide web I found myself dependent on rock encyclopedias written by exactly this type of journalists whenever I just wanted to find out how many albums a band released and what other interesting facts there are about them, there was no way around these "funny" comments that seem to imply we're supposed to hate on every rock band in history. These days we have wikipedia, masses of customer reviews, forums like this one etc. - I don't know about you but I decided a good time ago to quit wasting my time with these "experts" that seem to jack off on their loathing of any good music.

There's an old saying, "Those who can, do! Those who can't, criticize." It's very true, and I've never taken much notice of critics reviews, almost always, they say more about the writer than the subject.

I'm a bit sad that David Quantick doesn't like it, for I like him. His BBC Radio 2 series "The day the music died" which was a collaboration with John Holmes and Robin Ince was, for the most part, hilarious and bang on target.

Still, Foxtrot is an odd kettle of fish. For a start, I couldn't really listen to it before the 2008 remix. I know the remixes were a mixed bag for many reasons, and while the Foxtrot one has a couple of issues, overall, it makes it listenable. Previously it just sounded "slack" and badly produced.

The intro to Watcher never impressed, and still doesn't. Take a listen to "Watching & Waiting" by the Moody Blues from "To our children's children's children" to hear how a mellotron can sound, and for that matter, where Banks almost certainly got his inspiration. If I'd heard Watcher first, I suppose I might have been more impressed. Watcher is OK, but never really flies, for me. Time Table I like, it doesn't try to be anything it isn't. Lyrically, the story is a nice little parable. Can-utility has never really appealed to me much, Get 'em out I've always liked. Horizons is a nice palette cleanser before the banquet that is Supper's Ready, a track that out-Floyd's Pink Floyd!

Outstanding track from a truly outstanding album. Side 2 is the better side, true, and this has all the drama required to close it. Not a Havens fan either, but he fits this wonderfully, and as for the fade, it's a bit too quick, IMO! The album that got me into Steve, and thus, into Genesis.