Posts by DecomposingMan

I recall reading that Genesis were considering having a suite on SELLING ENGLAND consisting of Moonlit Knight, Cinema Show & Aisle of Plenty... but wanted to avoid comparisons to "Supper's Ready."

Then they considered having the "Duke suite" on DUKE (Behind / Duchess / Guide / Turn / Travel's / End)... but wanted to avoid comparisons to "Supper's Ready."

I guess they were really afraid to have anything get compared to "Supper's Ready," huh?

Of course, Mike's SMALLCREEP'S DAY did have that sidelong title suite... and of course it got compared to "Supper's Ready" (one reviewer said it sounded like "'Supper's Ready' warmed over").

"Little Nemo rubbed his eyes and got out of bed" (Scenes From a Night's Dream)

I first bought PDT in the early to mid-80s. I don't consider it a perfect album by any means but I like it quite a lot. Favorite track is probably "Narnia."

A few comments about the review linked to:

[Carry On Up The Vicarage:] "a female voice says something unintelligible"

I think that's actually a male "character" voice, apparently recorded from an arcade machine (as shown in some of the photos on the original vinyl inner sleeve), saying something like "I'm Bimbo the Clown. All you do to make me dance is push my buttons down."

[Carry On Up The Vicarage:] "he distorted his voice with a 'laughing gnome' effect (the voice is simultaneously pitched higher and lower)."

One of the vocals is pitched higher. The other one he apparently tries to make sound "lower" although it actually doesn't seem to be pitched artificially.

"One could almost think that Kim was one of Satie’s famous Gymnopédies."

Most certainly. I remember the first time I heard one of those Satie pieces (which I now have on SKETCHES OF SATIE); I was amazed by the stylistic resemblance to "Kim."

"Tony Banks praised the song [Hoping Love Will Last] in Chapter & Verse. He felt that it would have been good on A Trick Of The Tail."

He really said that??? Wow!

If any of you have made contributions to Wikipedia, I’m sure you’ve had all kinds of experiences. And I’m sure many of those have been negative ones. I’ve had some too, but for the most part I’ve managed to deal with them.

I find it fun to read Wikipedia, and to throw in tidbits of information that others have missed, particularly on the subject of music. I’m generally good about including citations, but at any rate I avoid posting anything that anyone should have a reason to question. Sometimes something I’ve posted will get removed, but if there’s a good reason for it I’ll accept that.

But some experiences I’ve had recently have taken all of the fun out of it for me. It seems that some Wikipedia pages have self-appointed “guardians” who, with all good intentions, go a little too far in dealing with what they see as “violations.”

The following isn’t a real-life example, but it sums up (without much of any exaggeration) what kinds of things I’ve been running into.

Let’s say the page for NURSERY CRYME gives an explanation for “The Fountain of Salmacis” that’s rather confusing and misleading. Being a stickler for accuracy, I change the entry to point out that the song is about the myth of Hermaphroditus. I include a link to the “Hermaphroditus” page.

Then someone comes along and undoes my change, saying that I need to give a citation for my claim.

ME: Um, why does this need a citation? The song mentions Hermaphroditus by name and recounts the myth in detail.

HIM: It may be obvious to YOU that the song is about Hermaphroditus. But then it’s “obvious” to some people that “In The Air Tonight” is about Phil Collins seeing someone refuse to save a person from drowning, which of course is wrong!

ME: Um… that’s not the same thing at all. “Fountain” is clearly about Hermaphroditus. It’s not like that “In The Air Tonight” legend. It’s more like how, say, “Return to Pooh Corner” by Kenny Loggins is about Winnie-The-Pooh.

HIM: And how do you know that song is actually about Winnie-The-Pooh?? It could be about something else called “Pooh”!

ME: Um…

Here’s another odd thing I’ve run into. On a page about a certain album I added a short paragraph, regarding a CD reissue, that (1) was clearly and objectively observable by any listener; (2) involved things that fans might want to know about; and (3) was not something the artist or label was likely to call attention to.

Well, some guy added the big “This section needs citations or it may be removed!” header to this. I disagreed, so I removed the header. He put it back.

In an attempt to compromise, I replaced my paragraph with a single line that glossed over the details but seemed less likely to be questioned. He said “sorry, that’s not good enough”… and put back my original paragraph, along with the “may be removed!” header.

Finally, I just removed my paragraph altogether. Again, he put the whole thing back, still with the notice that it “may be removed!” OK, whatever.

Maybe these guys are right, and I’m not playing by the Wikipedia rules strictly enough. But it doesn’t feel like they’re right.

Quote from StillCan'tDance

as a typical Genesis fan, I probably didn't even have a girlfriend!

Wait, what are you saying about typical Genesis fans?

Anyway...

Unlike you I have been divorced, although I can't say I can relate to much of what Phil has written in that regard. My experience was less like, say, "Please Don't Ask" than it was like some bizarre nightmare. Still, a few lines of "I Don't Care Anymore" have always jumped out at me:

...I don't play the same games you play...

...I remember all the times I tried so hard / And you laughed in my face 'cause you held the cards...

...I won't be there anymore...

...All I want of you is just to let me be...

Quote from A Whorish Ant

it wasn't "cool" to be a fan of either as a teenager

I was never a fan of any band when it was "cool" to be. I guess it would go against my nature.

I'm sure I talked about all of this on the old forum so I'll keep it short here.

1978: First heard of Genesis from hearing "Follow You Follow Me" on the radio. My first impression was that it sounded like Cat Stevens. Didn't think about the song or the band for a while after that.

1980 (a): Saw a poster for the newly released DUKE at a local record store.

1980 (b): Heard "Turn It On Again" on the radio and was blown away. Knew right away that it was connected to that DUKE poster I'd seen. Was also impressed by hearing "Misunderstanding" shortly afterward.

1980 (c): Checked out DUKE from the library and loved most of it.

1980 (d): Came across NURSERY CRYME & FOXTROT in my stepdad's record collection. (These were non-gatefold copies with practically no information on them.) Was mildly surprised at how different the band sounded on these.

1982: Once I had enough money, I bought almost every album (including the live ones) from FGTR through ABACAB, plus Phil's FACE VALUE, at one record store in a single day, and listened to them in order over the next few days. (FOXTROT wasn't available there so I had to get it a little later, but at least I was already familiar with that one.)

In retrospect, I was most blown away on first listen by TRICK, while most of the Gabriel-era stuff took me years to really warm up to. And, of course, I'll never forget that feeling of "there must be some mistake!" when I first put on FGTR (a reissue with the singles tacked on at the beginning and end) and heard "The Silent Sun"...

I hesitated to buy the album after hearing part of the title track, but eventually I picked it up. After just one listen I was glad I did.

Sure, it ranks pretty low on the list of Genesis albums, but only because most of the others are so good!

StillCan'tDance: I'm not surprised that it might take someone a while to warm up to the album. I know a lot of music has taken time for me to warm up to it. For example, it wasn't until I had my third copy of Tony's A CURIOUS FEELING -- about 30 years after I first heard it -- that it finally "clicked" with me.

Quote from Backdrifter

I'd rather keep it than Heathaze, Please Don't Ask or Alone [Tonight].

Interesting how you name one song by each member! All of those, BTW, are songs that really took me some time to warm up to. I still consider "Alone Tonight" to be one of the lesser songs on DUKE, while "Please Don't Ask" represents one of my biggest transitions from disliking a song to liking it a lot.

I should also mention (again) that I consider DUKE to be one of the most perfectly sequenced Genesis albums -- i.e., it's one where I couldn't imagine dropping any track (and/or including one of the associated non-album tracks).

I hear a lot said about this song, and pretty much all of it is negative.

But while I wouldn't claim it to be one of Genesis' best works, I've always liked it. I was brought to Genesis via DUKE, after all. While I was mainly impressed by hearing "Turn It On Again" on the radio, that impression was only added to by my hearing "Misunderstanding" soon after. Sure, it's a simple pop song, but I've always considered it a good pop song. (Of course, Phil ruins it on THREE SIDES LIVE, but that's another story.)

So here's a poll. It is true or not that every Genesis fan but me hates this song?

"The only members present, next to the "legendary five", were Ant Phillips and John Silver. You'll find a nice photo of those seven here:"

From what I've gathered so far (and made reference to in this thread), the dinner was a separate occasion from the gathering where the photos were taken, with the former involving Stewart and the latter involving Silver. That's assuming the info I've gotten is correct, of course.

I notice that there's a fairly high proportion of compilations named, whether "best of" albums (including my own entry) or various artists' hits. I guess that makes sense in a way.

Here's a question I don't think we ever had before (i.e., on the old forum).

What was the first record (or CD, for you younger folks!) you ever owned, and how old were you?

Mine was the 2-LP compilation THIS IS THE MOODY BLUES, which I got when I was 13. I don't remember what ultimately happened to it (although I do know that I didn't know how to take care of records back then), but many years later I have all of the albums (on CD of course) from the period it represents. In retrospect, there are a few cases where I feel they included or omitted songs that didn't deserve it. I think ON THE THRESHOLD OF A DREAMS was over-represented, and it's too bad EVERY GOOD BOY DESERVES FAVOUR is barely represented at all (even non-album tracks get better representation, in terms of actual song lengths!).

<< John Mayhew, met Ant at the 2006 Genesis convention. >>

Actually, he met Ant in 1969.

<< from all of the above can we say that Mayhew never met any new arrivals post-Trespass >>

I mentioned above that he (first) met Steve at the 2006 convention.

<< Daryl Stuermer has worked with Tony Banks, on Tony's solo albums. >>

<< Chester Thompson has worked with Steve and met Steve. >>

<< Was Barnard at the 98 dinner, if not can we say he never met anyone other than the-then band members? >>

<< Did Bruford ever meet any of the other short-termers? >>

Frankly, I think this is potentially complicated enough without getting into the live-only sidemen and the temporary (and unrecorded) Barnard.

Found an interview with John Mayhew where he said he met Steve ("for the first time" -- implying later meetings?) at the 2006 Genesis convention:

https://www.genesis-news.com/c…ohn-Mayhew-2006-s159.html

He also mentioned that he'd never met John Silver.

I looked for information about Tony's "sack the lot of you" quote and it was from a dinner in 1998 to celebrate ARCHIVE 1. I couldn't find much detail, but one article claims that it involved "all former and present members of Genesis," which can't be true because John Mayhew wouldn't resurface for a few more years after that. I don't get the impression that John S. or Ray were involved either. The article does mention Chris, though, so it seems he got to meet Steve and Phil.

This is one of those "out of curiosity" questions that maybe no one will be able to answer definitively...

I remember back in 1998 coming across those group photos from the promotion for GENESIS ARCHIVE. There were all the familiar G-men... and one guy who initially seemed out of place. It was short-time G-man John Silver, who I'd never seen a decent picture of before.

Anyway, I was wondering. What about the other short-time G-men who weren't there? Did Chris Stewart, John Mayhew or Ray Wilson ever get to meet any of the Genesis members that they weren't actually in the band with?

I recall hearing something about Ray working with Steve on something. Other than that, I have no idea. Anyone?

[Blocked Image: http://www.worldofgenesis.com/genesis_reunited_98.jpg]

I know we're getting off topic now, but... GENESIS REVISITED II is the only Hackett studio album I don't have. I listened to it once and never wanted to hear it again. I was especially bothered by the versions of certain 4-man era songs. It's not so much that I thought the singers were bad; it's just that the magic Phil brought to those songs just can't be replaced. There are reasons that my top 2 Genesis albums (getting back on topic) are Trick & Wind.

Quote from Backdrifter

MR says his... least favourite [is] W&W.

TB... says he's not keen on SEBTP or Duke

Wow, none of that is what I would have expected.

I don't think any of the poll answers really fit my listening habits. I might go for weeks or months without a Genesis album, but then go through several albums (or all of them) in a row.

For the record, I only listen to music in my car, and I keep a stack of CDR copies in the order I plan to listen to them. When I select a disc that I've decided to listen to and put it at the bottom of the stack, it'll be about 2 months before I actually get to it. This means any given album (Genesis or otherwise) will, at most, be listened to once every 2 to 3 months.