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I have always liked Way of the World and thought it gets too much flak. It was.one of my early favorites on the album so I still enjoy it very much.
"Way of the World" is a contender for favorite song on the album for me, possibly even more than "Spike." One could complain about the lyrics in some way but I find it a very musically satisfying piece.
Not directly a Genesis item, but: I've had IS THERE ANYTHING ABOUT? by Brand X since at least the mid-'80s, and I only noticed yesterday that there is no silence between "Ipanaemia" and "A Longer April"; rather, the two tracks are connected by a short stretch of (not especially quiet) white noise. The chimes ending the first track fade out into it, and the bass line of the second track fades in from it.
I mainly missed this little detail due to only listening to the album via a so-so vinyl transfer with the track order rearranged.
Definitely one of the better later tracks, and approximately my favorite piece from WCD. I rank it far above other popular tracks from the album like "No Son of Mine," "I Can't Dance," "Jesus He Knows Me," "Dreaming While You Sleep" and "Fading Lights." The way it starts taking off around the 6 minute mark is a favorite Genesis moment of mine.
NOIR just might be the Hackett album with his best singing.
My favorite track is "In the Heart of the City."
BTW, I've never had the "revised" version with all the bonus tracks; I only have the U.S. original (with "Cassandra" as a hidden track).
Backdrifter breaks down the song a lot better than I could, but I'll go ahead and toss in my own similar (and much shorter) assessment: I always found it interesting how the song moves in linear fashion through various sections, never returning to any part after leaving it, except at the very end.
On that tour the song (introduced by him as just "151" at the gig I went to) ran on for a couple of minutes longer than the then album version, with no further vocals and just some guitar noodling. Is that what the longer one is like on the cd?
There are no further vocals in the longer ending but whether one would call it "just some guitar noodling" is up to them. Personally, it kind of reminds me of the long ending on Genesis's "Abacab."
I guess you'll just have to listen to it yourself; look it up on YouTube or something.
It is indeed true. The vinyl copy had the short version. After it looked about to chart, Charisma asked for an extended version, so Steve went back in the studio and let them have it!
Is there anything of interest about the short version, or is it just the same as the longer version except for fading out sooner? I'm guessing the latter since it's never shown up as a bonus track anywhere.
I've heard something to the effect that "Cell 151" was originally released as a shorter song before being lengthened into the 6.5-minute version we know now. Is this true? I've never come across a shorter version, but I notice that some releases of HIGHLY STRUNG on Discogs have a length of 3:30 listed for the track.
This album has one of the ugliest covers of any Hackett album. In fact, I saw it listed somewhere as one of the worst covers of 1983.
Steve does a good job singing throughout, noticeably better than on CURED. Note that he doesn't play any guitar on "India Rubber Man."
I originally heard the album in its U.S. LP version; I've never listened to it in its "official" configuration. I only listen to it on a CDR copy arranged like the U.S. version (Cell 151, Give It Away, Camino Royale, Always Somewhere Else, Walking Through Walls [long version], Weightless, Group Therapy, India Rubber Man, Hackett to Pieces), with the short version of "Walking" as a "bonus track."
BTW, what the review calls "chewing noises" on "Walking" are most likely meant to be the sound of someone jogging through leaves or over gravel.
My favorite track on WIND other than "Blood on the Rooftops." Phil gives it a magic that I don't think any other singer could. My favorite part is the quiet "middle" section (although it actually starts well past the halfway point of the song). Some great melody lines overall (i.e., "one wave of his funny old stick") as well.
I've heard one live version of this, from the WIND tour. The chords in the quiet section didn't sound quite right, as if they couldn't be duplicated live, and Phil had to omit all the phrases containing the title because of how they had to be overdubbed in the original.
for a little song I’ve always liked Wind Tales at the start of The Geese and the Ghost.
You realize that "Wind Tales" is actually a snippet of "Sleepfall: The Geese Fly West" played backwards, right?
I love bonsai songs, unfortunately the only one I know from Ant is Ocho Pomelos Con Pimienta...Prestame Un Mango, Pibe! from The Meadows of Englewood.
I'd call that more of a fictitious song!
Ant has released a lot of songs that we'll probably never see as "Tracks of the Week." He's made a lot of solo albums, and a lot of those have large numbers of tracks on them, many of which are quite short.
I just wanted to comment on a few of those "small" songs that are buried in the middle of long track listings, but which have really stood out for me.
"Bubble and Squeak" (PP&P VII: Slow Waves, Soft Stars / Archive Collection II) - As I mentioned in another thread, this catchy 1-minute number was the only thing I really liked from PP&P VII when I listened to it for the first time. (For years afterwards, the availability of a basically identical version on ARCHIVE COLLECTION II was enough to convince me not to bother checking out PP&P VII again.)
"Siesta" (Archive Collection II) - For me this has a quality that's hard to describe -- oddly familiar and a bit haunting. It doesn't really sound like an Ant piece to me, but it seems to remind me of some long-forgotten, non-rock piece I might have heard as a kid.
"Tuscan Wedding" (PP&P XI: City of Dreams) - This is longer than the other ones but still just one of 31 short pieces on its disc. When I listened to the album for what must have been at least the 5th time, this one stopped me in my tracks and made my jaw drop. It doesn't make me a picture a wedding, and it's hard to say what it does make me picture; but I found it stunningly haunting and timeless.
Does anyone else have any "small" songs by Ant that have stood out for them?
When the IT album was new and I'd just bought it, but before I listened to it, I tried to imagine what the instrumental track at the end might sound like. I actually came up with a tune in my head (which I didn't try to remember afterward) that was as Genesis-like as I could manage. Of course, once I listened to "The Brazilian," I found that it didn't sound at all like what I imagined!
Thoughts after looking at this:
The line-up of Genesis that recorded the Night Ride session.
I guess the bearded guy on the right is John Mayhew? This doesn't resemble any other photo I've seen of him.
Each of us had to go and be interviewed and introduce a track... I just panicked and thought "I can't do this!"... Each guy went up and was interviewed and I just disappeared. They just introduced each track in a very simple way.
It would be interesting to hear these introductions, even though Ant excluded himself from them.
being released officially for the first time.[4]
There's no actual footnote #4. There's not even a "[3]" anywhere in the text. Oh well.
Not the best song on Ant's solo debut but it seems to fit in well with the very medieval feel of the album. I agree that the female vocals are not especially appealing.
In listening to the lyrics, I can't help but feel that the man in the song is an absolute fool for telling his current lady about his past one. Also, I've long thought (as expressed on the old message board, I think) that "I Saw You Today" (from PP&P II & ARCHIVE COLLECTION II) sounded like it could be a sequel to this song (although I doubt Ant had any such intent).
Note that there is an early demo version on ARCHIVE COLLECTION I with Ant doing the vocals himself. He sings the girl's part solo, and adds harmonies for the guy's part (as is done with Phil's vocals on the final version).
My intro to Genesis came from a hand me down copy of Genesis Live and it does pack more of a punch there than on Foxtrot.
I do like Peter's added emphasis on the LIVE version: "...restriction on humanoid HEIGHT!" When first hearing the studio original, I thought he was saying something about "humanoid hide."
My least favorite track on FOXTROT. Musically there's nothing much to complain about. Lyrically, I'd say that Peter's reach exceeded his grasp. I now know what he was trying to say and why; but before I had that information the song didn't make much sense to me. It's also the kind of song that's hard to follow without the printed lyrics, which make it clear who's saying what, etc.; and I didn't originally have those available to me. (I had similar issues with "All in a Mouse's Night" when first hearing it.)
Trivia (which most of you probably know by now): John Hackett makes an uncredited contribution to the music.
No Reply has a simple and emotional PC-like lyrics, while Paperlate is a confusing sociopolitical text (TB?).
Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the lyrics to "No Reply at All" are Mike's and the lyrics to "Paperlate" are Phil's.
Let's not forget co-founding member Dave Mason is still alive, and after leaving after the first three albums, he returned to perform with Jim Gordon and others on the Welcome To The Canteen album.
Correct, I was referring to a specific lineup that didn't include Mason.
And, for the record, Mason left after the first album, returned for the second, and then left again. The third album was mostly just a compilation of odds & ends where Mason appears only on two short tracks. It also had two new songs, but Mason was gone before either was recorded.
Prolific drummer Jim Gordon died on Monday, March 13 at 77. He appears on many recordings that all of us have heard, and was a member of Derek & The Dominoes, followed by Traffic. His is one of the saddest stories in all of rock history. Under the influence of (then undiagnosed) schizophrenia, he brutally murdered his mother. Subsequently he spent the rest of his life in prison.
I mainly know him from Traffic, one of my favorite bands. This now makes 7 former members of Traffic who have passed. (Steve Winwood is now the sole surviving member of the 6-man "Low Spark of High Heeled Boys" lineup from 1971-72.)
