Posts by hofflalu

I got the chance to do another interview with Steve, about "The Circus And The Nightwhale." Give it a listen:

Got Time For A Quick Story?...About Steve Hackett & "The Circus And The Nightwhale"

I'm listening to this week's edition of "Casey Kasem's American Top 40: The '80s," featuring a countdown from the week ending February 6, 1982. "Abacab" was moving up the chart, and the album version was used (with a bit of an early fadeout).

What does anyone recall of hearing "Abacab" on the radio around the time it was a current single? The album version? The single edit (U.S. or U.K.)? A mix? FWIW, I know "American Top 40" would play different versions of songs over the years -- sometimes album versions, sometimes single/radio edits, sometimes switching partway through a song's chart run. And, sometimes, they would create their own edits (likely to cut down song lengths to fit everything into a 3- or 4-hour show).

Quote from man from the BBC

Thanks for posting Hofflalu, really interesting. Would you be okay with me sharing your post on the Steve Hoffman forum?

Absolutely!

The other day, a high-quality set of unreleased (or previously lower-quality) demos and radio recordings of Duran Duran from 1980/81 was posted online. Big Duran Duran fan that I am, this was quite the revelation. And, also as a big Genesis fan, I was surprised to hear that one of the interview snippets included included a discussion by Simon LeBon and John Taylor about Genesis, as well as Peter Gabriel and a bit on Phil Collins. Because this hasn't been posted to someplace widely public, I transcribed the Genesis-relevant part of the interview. This was recorded June 19, 1981, on BBC Radio 1 with Richard Skinner, when Duran Duran was on to promote their just-released debut album. For context in the interview, this was a year after PG3 had arrived, and after all the "Face Value" singles had been released in the U.K., and a couple months before the song "Abacab" came out.

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Richard Skinner: Influences quoted (for Duran Duran) appear to be things like Talking Heads and Peter Gabriel. One of the things that I'm constantly fascinated by is that people keep talking about Peter Gabriel, but nobody ever mentions Genesis. And there are some similarities between your music and that of Genesis, I would say.

John Taylor: I think we got quoted as that, once being a techno rock thing. Genesis, I love. I mean, I'd never deny it. I think if...

Simon LeBon: For me, actually, I think, I don't know, I think Genesis actually lost a hell of a lot when Peter Gabriel left. I mean, I do think of Peter Gabriel as one of the main sources of inspiration for the whole of the rest of the group, Genesis. And when he left, I think he left a big gap.

John Taylor: I think of all the people who sort of pretend to dislike Genesis now admitted, owned up to themselves, they'd probably find they've all got a copy of "Foxtrot" in there. I mean, "Foxtrot" is one of the greatest albums ever made. I mean, I saw "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" show. It was the last gig they ever did with Gabriel (in the U.K.) at Birmingham Hippodrome, and it was just amazing. I mean, I think the show is so important. I think they have lost it since then. I still think they make good music. But, I think I prefer Collins's solo stuff now, actually.

Richard Skinner: Hasn't made 'em any less popular.

Simon LeBon: In fact, I think the popularity sort of, actually sort of gained so much in the years after...

John Taylor: I think there was something about Gabriel that was just...a lot of people couldn't handle in Genesis and sort of suddenly they took out that element and they became totally acceptable, which was a shame, really. But, obviously, it's been good because you've got Genesis catering for Genesis fans and now Peter Gabriel catering for a totally different thing.

Simon LeBon: It's taken Peter Gabriel, what, sort of three albums to make any sort of success, really. I mean, the first two albums, I think, were good (crosstalk to end of segment).

Stumbled into this on YouTube: Alex Ball recently uploaded a video to his channel playing through recently acquired E-mu SP-12 floppy discs from Phil Collins & Mike Rutherford, circa early-1986:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOLSMIB1JCw E-mu SP-12E-mu SP-12E-mu SP-12

I did a Zoom interview this morning for my radio station (Greatest Hits 98.1 in Eau Claire, WI) to chat about "Foxtrot At Fifty":

A new long read from "Rolling Stone," part of their "Unknown Legends" series, is on Marilyn Martin. It's behind their subscription wall, but there are some quotes in there about Phil Collins. Interestingly, I happened to be in the audience for the show she references towards the end of the quotes, and after I heard that she was there that night, I had wondered why she didn't come out on stage to do the duet.

Marilyn Martin Scored a Number One Hit. Then Her Life Took Some Very Unexpected Turns

Quote

Tell me how “Separate Lives” happened.

We were recording Rock a Little. The head of Atlantic, Doug Morris, came in quite often to visit Stevie. One time we were on a break and he came over since he’d head me sing with Stevie. He said, “Do you sing any songs on your own? Do you write?” I said, “Oh, sure. I’ve got all kinds.”

What I had was a cassette of ideas. I mean, literally it was just a chorus idea or a verse idea. I didn’t tell him that. I said, “I’ve got tapes.” He said, “Send them to me.”

And I did. [Laughs.] How naive! People go to studios and record their songs to have the best demos in the world. But I sent him this stupid, little cassette. He must have thought, “Well, if she has the nerve to do this, I need to sign her.”

He signed me. And before we finished the Stevie album, Doug had…I don’t know how this came about. But he was friends with [director] Taylor Hackford, who was working on [the film] White Knights. I guess Taylor might have said, “I need a song for this.”

In the meantime, Phil Collins had turned in his No Jacket Required album to Doug. He said, “There’s a song that didn’t fit with this album, but it’s a great song. Maybe you can find a home for it.” It was “Separate Lives.” And so when Taylor Hackford wanted a song for the soundtrack, Doug, in his brilliance, said, “Let’s make this a duet with Phil Collins and this new girl I just signed. What a great setup for a new career.”

Before I even finished Stevie’s album, I was being flown to London to put my parts down. We used Phil’s original recording and just took out his vocals on the second verse and put me in. Then I sang some harmonies. I’ve never gotten to sing it with him live. I only sang it with him in the recording process.

Was he there?

He was. That was nerve-racking, but incredible. It was the first time I met him, probably just to make sure I could do it. Arif Mardin was the producer. [Sighs.] He was incredible. He would come in wearing a suit, so classy. Just so amazing. He walks in and it’s like, “This is serious.”

How many takes did it take before you got it?

That’s another story. It took a couple of days because I was giving it my all. Like I said, I’m from Kentucky. I found out many years later that Arif had called up Doug Morris and went, “I don’t know if it’s going to work. She sounds very country.” Apparently Doug said, “You gotta keep at it. It’ll kill her if she loses this.”

I remember being a little confused because Arif would have me straighten out a lot of lines that I thought were just killer. But what he did made a lot of sense.

Tell me about making the video.

I flew back to London and just showed up. I wish I had a stylist or someone at that point. I just wore what I showed up in. I thought somebody would have something for me to put on, some options. But no. I just showed up and we did it. The only difficult thing was the director told me not to look at Phil. It’s tough since I’m playing to Phil. I’m singing the song to him. He’d stop and go, “Don’t look at Phil.” [Laughs.] That was hard.

I was amazed that every time we took a break from the video taping, Phil would be over here doing a photo shoot or an interview. He just never stopped.

The song shot to Number One.

For a week. “Broken Wings” knocked us out in the second week, but we got there for a week.

...................

It’s so much pressure. Even when you have a hit, everyone just starts focusing on finding the next one and keeping the gravy train going.

Yeah. And this is an interesting story: Atlantic didn’t actually drop me. I asked to get off the label because I decided not to renew my contract with my manager, Tony Smith, who was also Phil’s manager. I needed more hands to help with different aspects. They worked fabulously with Phil, but that’s because he doesn’t need much. He’s Phil Collins. He does his thing, and that’s it.

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You don’t have regrets? You don’t think, “Gee, if I’d gone in a slightly different direction after ‘Separate Lives’ I could have been a solo star?'”

It wasn’t meant to happen. I do have one regret. When “Separate Lives” was nominated for an Academy Award, they asked Phil to sing it. He said no. I don’t know why. It might have been since the year before, they asked Ann Reinking to dance to “Against All Odds.” And then [“Separate Lives” songwriter] Stephen Bishop said to me, “Why don’t you sing it with me at the Academy Awards?” I was like, “I’m there! OK!”

But my manager, who was also Phil’s manager, said, “If you do this, we have a real problem.” That’s because Phil was there. And if I was onstage and he was in the audience, people might question Phil. It would have looked bad. I said, “OK.” And now I think, “What an idiot! Why didn’t I say, ‘It’s the Academy Awards, for Pete’s sake. Why hold me down when your other artist doesn’t want to?” That’s my one regret. I still think of it with some pain.

How do you feel now if you hear “Separate Lives” on the radio or in the grocery store or something?

Grateful. [Laughs.] Just grateful. I love it. I’m proud of it. I’m grateful to have been a part of it.

Phil has sung it in concert with so many different background singers. It’s crazy he hasn’t once called you up to do it.

No. Never. I even went to go see him in concert a few years ago. We went backstage and he was very kind. He stood there for about half an hour. We talked the whole time. By that point, he was on his cane. He shouldn’t have been standing for that long. I was very touched that he did. But he never said, “Hey, why don’t you come out and sing it?” But I understand. When you’ve got a show, you can’t just throw in a monkey wrench like that.

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Quote from Christian

In the meantime, the track was played on German radio several times. Any airplay elewhere?

I gave it an airing last week on my radio station in Eau Claire, WI (Greatest Hits 98.1) on our "Latest From The Greatest" segment.

I interviewed Steve Hackett today about "Genesis Revisited Live: Seconds Out & More" -- as always, a good chat:

Yesterday, I did another interview with Steve Hackett, this time to preview "Surrender Of Silence." We broke down most of the tracks before we ran out of time and he had to jump to another interview! It was a really good chat -- here's the YouTube video (uploaded through the radio station where I work, Greatest Hits 98.1 in Eau Claire, WI):

I recently got to interview him for my radio station in Eau Claire, WI (Greatest Hits 98.1), and also posted it to my podcast (which covers interviews with musicians). It's about 23 minutes in length -- he was a good chat! (It's actually the second time I interviewed him -- the first was after the release of "At The Edge Of Light.")

https://www.buzzsprout.com/282…ckett-a-genesis-in-my-bed

I work at a radio station in Eau Claire, WI (Greatest Hits 98.1), and also happen to be a big Genesis fan, so I was fortunate to be able to secure an interview with Steve about the new album and the coming tour. I conducted it earlier today; it's about 25-minutes long:

http://greatesthits981.com/2019/03/06/steve-hackett/

(I've actually been able to interview three of the main Genesis-related guitarists in the past few years through my station: Steve, Mike Rutherford, and a couple Daryl Stuermer chats!)