Thanks for sharing your review OneForTheVine ! For this project we were going for a mix of the studio & TSL live versions of the songs - usually taking the TSL live ending, but bringing as much of the studio arrangement as possible.
Those “di-di-di-di” sounds (I voice them as “chit-chit-chit-chit”) are made with a vocoder. I use a Behringer VC340, which is a clone of the old Roland VP-330 model that Tony used in the 1980s. That unit replaced Tony’s mellotron - in addition to the vocoding it also has circuits to generate “human voice” and “string synth” sounds at different registers and combinations. I used the strings on “In the Cage” and the voice in the first two bridges of “Afterglow”.
Genesis have always been very creative sonically, and the approach to vocoding is no exception. The “wo-oa-AH!” following all the “di-di-di-di”s (when they do it, when they show it, Abacab) is also the vocoder - hold down a G7sus4 chord and make odd sounds into the mic! A similar effect comes at the start of the 1st “reggae verse” in Dodo. Tony ad-libbed vocoder syllables during the final chorus of Duchess, too. “Me and Sarah Jane” has "more typical" vocoder use, echoing the lyrics in a few places during the “swirly bit”.
I absolutely love all of the percussion overdubs on Abacab, so was very happy our group had the instruments to bring them to the stage! Our percussionist, Jill, has an amazing array of noise-making gizmos - she was actually striking a cookie tray for some of the "Keep It Dark" sections! Joe used the "ratchet" on KID (and Another Record) and Chris used another percussion tool that looks like a cross between a "Rubik's snake" and a DNA molecule to great effect in Lurker - hold it in both hands and give a quick wrist snap, and all the wooden slats clack together in succession to make a wonderful sound! Chris plays additional keyboard parts on a few songs and that brings even more of the studio overdubs to a live setting.
This was the first time we played this show live. It's always fun to move to "the big stage”, and while that brings a number of upgrades vs our rehearsal space, it can also bring a few unexpected issues… such as the lead vocal mic going dead during “Behind the Lines”, or me accidentally knocking one keyboard off its stand when I tried to move my vocoder mic-stand out of the way! In moments like that we try to keep eye contact and keep playing, trusting that things will fall back into place!
MoonlitKnight I'm afraid the stage at Milton isn't big enough to bring the horns with us, but we still plan to keep those two songs in the set.
Puma02uk the show was recorded, so I hope we will eventually have some good videos to share, but it's likely some months down the road. In the meantime there's a decent audience video from "No Reply At All" - I'll see if we can get it up on YouTube to share.
This was in my walkman era, and the original cassette I had bit the dust a long time ago. "I don't recall" listening to side 4 all that much other than Paperlate, which was a popular radio staple at the time. It was nice to get the "4th SL" when I bought it on CD many years later. Does anyone have a CD version where the tracking isn't all screwed up on "side 4"?
Wish we had some more shows lined up, so fun to play these songs!