I have a few friends from the USA and I can throw in what I know of their views on Trump.
Quite an interesting range of viewpoints there. I'd say my own position is less pro-Trump per se than it is anti-Democrat.
The reasoning behind my position can perhaps be most succinctly summed up like this: When Fidel Castro died, Trump denounced him as the oppressive tyrant he was. But many Democrat politicians mourned Castro and had nothing but praise for him.
I personally don't watch much news on any channel. I find that I can get a much more complete picture from online sources.
At any rate, I'm not a wholehearted supporter of Trump (or any politician, really). There are clearly many valid criticisms that could be directed at him, as a personality. I'm far more concerned about his political opponents, and frankly can't imagine how any marginally informed person could take their side on anything.
Interesting. This part jumps out at me:
“We were all involved as lyricists on Foxtrot per se,” says Hackett, “but Pete insisted on writing all of the lyrics to Supper’s Ready himself.”
Hmm... makes me wonder who really wrote the lyrics to the other songs... and what Phil might have contributed.
I base my opinions on the state of American politics by watching its president and his cohorts performing on the political stage. Unless those people have been replaced by CGI characters, then I feel that my opinions have some validity.
Given how biased and downright dishonest much of the media is, "replaced by CGI characters" isn't as far from reality as you'd think. There's a reason one American political party consistently gets portrayed in popular media in a much better light than the other, and that reason has everything to do with who owns most of the popular media.
(Not that the president is unlike a CGI character himself, but that's another story...)
I'm genuinely curious to know who/what a typical American is.
Perhaps a better phrase would be "normal American." Still not sure how to define that for you, though.
It took a few listens to grow on me, but now I consider it one of the best Ant tracks.
Arguably, it's the Ant track that sounds the most like a Steve Hackett instrumental!
Quick comment on the review: It doesn't mention that Dan Owen sings lead on "Souvenir," or that the vocals on "Magdalen" are by Dan, Dale & Ant (in that order).
Besides that, I'd just like to mention that "Sisters" and "Nightmare" are two of my favorite Ant tracks ever. I wished he'd done more songs like those -- i.e., dark, progressive full-band instrumentals.
My 2nd favorite Genesis album, after ATOTT. "Blood on the Rooftops" is my favorite Genesis song, and "Eleventh Earl of Mar" is another favorite. I don't rate "One for the Vine" as highly as some do, though; to me it sounds like a smoothly-done medley of song bits from a concept album.
Quick... someone name any music video that actually means something!
The original question had to do with whether there was a place on this board for political threads. I think an equally pertinent question would be, is there a place for political disagreements?
As to the views expressed so far -- at least those relating to American politics -- I can frankly say the following (with all due respect to the people who've posted) as an American:
(1) They're drastically out of sync with what's seen by a large (and growing) segment of typical Americans -- people who can't just be written off as "ignorant," etc.
(2) They're very much in sync with what's reported in popular American media, which many here have observed to be severely biased and not particularly trustworthy.
I'm not interested in getting into any sort of mud-slinging match. I just wanted to point out that there's generally more to the story than one may be getting from popular media.
Just looked at the review and noticed this:
In the Air Tonight (Demo) 04:56
I Missed Again (Demo) 04:05
If Leaving Me Is Easy (Demo) 05:13
In the case of the Face Value demos, the track running times indicate that these are the longer versions that mistakenly ended up on the 7" of If Leaving Me Is Easy instead of the 12".
Many years ago I had the 7" of "If Leaving Me Is Easy." The B-side had the three tracks named above -- to be played at 33 RPM, but still a LOT to cram onto one 7" side -- under the collective title "Drawing Board."
What I find interesting is the statement that these mistakenly ended up on the 7". Does anyone know the story behind this? How does a record company mistakenly release something?
I despise labels when it comes to music. Labels are for the anal retentive.
"It's just music, man... Forget the label!" -- Guillermo Cazenave
Anyway...
My favorite Banks album is STILL.
As I've said elsewhere, I'm also a big fan of THE FUGITIVE. Tony's vocals on that album are a bit strained and inconsistent, but generally I'm OK with them. His later vocals (Big Man, Hero For An Hour) are better -- enough so to make me wonder why he didn't sing more.
A CURIOUS FEELING (as I've also said elsewhere) took me a very long time to warm up to, but I've come to enjoy it quite a bit -- even the long instrumental tracks.
I like all of Tony's rock albums, but I only got halfway through SEVEN before deciding I wasn't interested in his orchestral works (although I've always been OK with side 2 of THE WICKED LADY).
Favorite song on each Tony album:
A CURIOUS FEELING - tough call, but probably Lucky Me
THE WICKED LADY - Barbara
THE FUGITIVE - And The Wheels Keep Turning, followed closely by By You
SOUNDTRACKS - Lion Of Symmetry
BANKSTATEMENT - Queen Of Darkness
STILL - Angel Face, followed closely by Red Day On Blue Street
STRICTLY INC. - Something To Live For, followed closely by Don't Turn Your Back On Me
Isn't that line in fact him alone? With PG then coming in on the next line.
Yes, the line "now can't you see, where the raven flies there's jeopardy" is Phil alone. Pete sang it live, of course -- making it a rare case where Pete took over a lead vocal part from Phil!
Phil also sings with Pete on The Colony Of Slippermen. He's especially notable on the line "Where the raven flies, there's jeopardy".
Correct -- that brief line ("now can't you see, where the raven flies there's jeopardy") is Phil's one definite lead vocal on the album! And I couldn't tell you how many times I heard the song before I noticed that...
He's also very prominent on "The Supernatural Anaesthetist" and could be considered "second lead" on that one as well.
I like the single edit better, but best of all would be if the song went on a little longer and had a real ending, like when it was played live.
BTW, does anyone know what the sampled voices say after "Congo hey Congo?" (Or whose voices they are?)
Turn It On Again (the song that got me into Genesis to begin with)
Duchess
Man of Our Times
They should have gone for a double
That's an interesting idea. The 9 album tracks plus the 5 outtakes add up to about 71 minutes -- probably a song or two short of a double, at least by Genesis standards. And, personally, I can't see "Naminanu," "Submarine" or "Me & Virgil" as anything but outtakes (although I do like "Naminanu").
Actually, as I understand it, the fadeout on "Submarine" on ARCHIVE 2 was due to deterioration of the masters, but the fadeout on "It's Yourself" was simply due to an "artistic" decision on the part of the band. So, on the latter... no, don't let them off!!
Also, as I understand it, the later box set does include the original version of "Submarine," but leaves the same fadeout on "It's Yourself" -- while also (pointlessly, IMO) adding an additional verse to it from an early demo version.
And, in case you missed it, the faded version of "Submarine" on ARCHIVE 2 has some parts repeated, thus giving an "edited" version that's longer than the original.
BTW, something HBTS/SHBTS and Domino have in common, besides being 2-part pieces: The two parts of each one appeared on singles separately from each other.
- HBTS was a single.
- SHBTS was the B-side to That's All.
- In The Glow Of The Night was the B-side to Tonight, Tonight, Tonight.
- The Last Domino was the B-side to Invisible Touch.
In retrospect, it strikes me as odd for SHBTS and The Last Domino to appear on any record out of context without their respective "first" parts. They don't really sound like "standalone" tracks.
On the original vinyl of PRIVATE PARTS & PIECES II: BACK TO THE PAVILION, Side 1 is called "N.O.R. Side" and Side 2 is called "S.O.R. Side". I recently came across something (in an interview that I can't find now) that said this was some kind of joke on the phrase "A.O.R." but didn't explain it further.
Actually... I had always assumed it meant "North of Record" and "South of Record"!
Never understood why they separated HBTS on the record into two parts.
Now there's a question... why is HBTS/SHBTS two tracks on the record & CD, but Domino is only one track?
The CD track division between HBTS/SHBTS always seemed wrong to me as well. It happens at a seemingly random point during the quiet interlude in the middle. I would think it should happen as the drums for SHBTS come in.
In the poll I picked Mama & Just A Job To Do. I guess HBTS/SHBTS would be my third choice, but I would have had to pick just one of them.
As for IGGB... well, I've probably made my feelings about that track clear by now.
