Posts by Fabrizio

Quote from CountingOutTime

Sorry to hear you guys don't like Nad Sylvan's persona or vocal style. I've grown to appreciate the man and his many talents. Have any of you heard his Unifaun album where he and one other artist, Bonamici, play every instrument? It's a tribute to all eras of Genesis via Nad's own compositions. Fabulous stuff. He was recruited by Roine Stolt of Flower Kings fame to be the vocalist in Agents Of Mercy. They released a few good albums. Nad's two solo albums are very good as well. I met Nad at an Agents Of Mercy gig. He was staying at the same hotel my wife and I were staying at. We talked over breakfast the day after the gig. The man is very timid, but very intelligent as well. He loves Genesis' music as much as we do, even more since he has dedicated a big chunk of his life to re-creating it with none other than Steve Hackett himself. I don't believe Steve would have chosen Nad out of who knows how many potential Gabriel/Collins sound-alikes to go on tour with him if he didn't think he was up to the task. Even Collins and Gabriel found it difficult to sing live without straining their voices each night. Regarding the Wind And Wuthering album - I'm not sure of you guys' ages, but for those of us who bought the album when it first came out, it was a special time in our lives and a special album. Anyway, that's my bit of a rant. Carry on...

To be clear: I personally don't care about the persona, I realize that I am in the minority but I really don't care much for instance about showmanship. As an artist you can wear whatever you want, have back-up dancers or less, an amazing lightshow but I truly only focus on the music. I don't know Nad's work and I am sure he is talented and delivers his songs extremely well. I find Genesis' songs simply too big for him.

Quote from DecomposingMan

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.

I personally feel that the choice of the singer is crucial in this kind of projects and you are right, Phil's shoes are hard to fill and in most of the cases no other singer will do. With that in mind, I strongly believe Steve could have done better than Nad. There are loads of unknown kids out there, with amazing voices, who would die to have the chance to sing those songs on a stage with Steve. Nad's voice is really anonymous and that is strictly my opinion, what is however a fact is that his singing is rather pitchy, his voice too weak for most of the songs and he fails to hit the notes on more than one occasion. Phil would be missed anyway, we all have his versions in mind but Nad is simply too much to take for me.

Quote from Backdrifter

I really can't stand Nad Sylvan.

I think he literally butchers the songs. He simply doesn't hit the notes. 11th Earl of Mar was appalling.

Quote from Backdrifter

it was his latest way of extending the Genesis Revisited theme.

More like milking it but hey, why not? It was long ago.......

My take on Duke:

Behind the Lines

Duchess

Guide Vocal

Cul-de-Sac

Man of our Times

Open Door

Turn it on again

Evidence Of Autumn

Alone Tonight

Heathaze

Duke’s Travels

Duke’s End

This would definitely be my third favorite album, after Trick and SEBTP.

I've been part of several forums throughout the years and took part in several similar polls. Trick and SEBTP always seem to have an edge. Deservedly so imo.

Quote from Witchwood

"I kinda like some of Phil’s intros , down to earth and in my opinion always sort of just like the average Joe would do , but each to his own."

Don't get me wrong, I liked some of Phil's intros too, particularly around the start of the 3-man era.

His intro to Fountain of Salmacis where he explains what a hermaphrodite is were usually amusing. I enjoy listening to his banter with UK audiences during the Duke tour. He was very good on his feet, very spontaneous and able to respond to different audience reactions. I sort of liked his Duke suite story, and I liked some of the audience participation things he did such as his intro to The Lady Lies.

it's just some of his storytelling earlier on, most notably during the 4-man era, comes across to me as a bit crass and awkward.

But we can attribute that to Phil needing a couple of tours to get comfortable with the new role as frontman and developing his own on-stage persona.

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Just my opinion but while I won't fret over intros to live songs, to me they are just that, intros, and worthy getting upset over, I never thought that Phil's humor, or lyrics for that matter were very suited for Genesis, at least not the kind of Genesis I got on board with. I am sure he is a fantastic bloke to have a beer with and I have plenty of respect and love for the drummer, singer and musician but this whole idea to try to infuse some sort of humor into the band didn't do much for me. They had their humor, it was just different.

Quote from Noni

Seems like you enjoy travelling !!......

Less than it looks but glad I had the chance

Italy, living in the Dominican Republic after having lived in the UK, Austria and the US.

I know it's been years now and I should be used to it, besides he had sort of drifted apart from the drums becoming more and more a singer and songwriter but it always saddens me when Phil says in an interview that he can't play drums anymore. Apart from the fact that he was truly brilliant, he was always very proud of his skills as a player. He loved drumming, he loved that role and you could tell that he took pride in his playing. I don't know.....It's just sad.

Quote from FeelItComing

Tony must have changed his mind, because in Chapter & Verse he claims Duke is his favourite, and he's rather negative about Lamb.

That was my recollection of his preferences too but perhaps he did change his mind.

Quote from Backdrifter

^

It definitely worked a lot better when he stopped trying so hard to be blokeishly funny and did stuff like levitating the stadium and demonstrating the domino principle. There probably weren't many, if any, performers at that time who could involve and engage 80,000+ people in a huge stadium in that apparently effortless way.

I agree completely, I think at times he was trying too hard but it's normal. I also would add something that critics of that period gleefully oversaw and overheard, he was one of the best live vocalists around. I remember seeing them on the Abacab tour, they were all on fire but he was absolutely mind-blowing. Better than Sting and better than Bono , to mention two of that most celebrated singers, back in those days.. A pity critics tended to mix up what he sang with how he sang it, particularly with regard to his solo career.

Quote from Witchwood

As much as I enjoy listening to their live recordings from all eras, I can't bear to listen to some of Phil's salacious intros to songs like Cinema Show — I usually skip past it and get right to the song.

I certainly prefer the detached, understated humour of Peter's stories, particularly some of his intros to Firth of Fifth and Supper's Ready.

Not a fan of any lengthy introductions to live songs, I must say. Bono and Springsteen come to mind, although the latter is fun sometimes but I really can live without them in a gig. I understand that they were needed initially, to give Steve and Mike time to tune their 12-strings. Of course Peter and Phil are profoundly different and while I agree with you that some of Phil's jokes imo didn't quite suit the spirit of their early songs, I am inclined to cut him some slack. He said himself that while singing was difficult, communicating with the audience, particularly after Peter was dreadful.

Quote from StillCan'tDance

. I'm not here to give you the definition of left-of-centre, though; surely you can look that up in a dictionary

.

Niiiiiceeee

Quote from StillCan'tDance

I'm surprised. Genuinely.

Okay, soul and r'n'b is a mainstream musical genre and lyrics about sex are pretty commonplace. On the other hand, songs inspired by Millgram's experiments, the assassination of JFK and what Jung got up to in the jungle are not.

Don't be, I am just trying to understand and while I thank you for the examples provided I still don't get how this is cultivating a certain kind of image. He has always been ...'unusual' in the topics he picked and generally tried hard to stay away from common places. IMO successfully. Perhaps, he was cultivating an image, I am not sure why left to centre, this is the bit that really escapes me. I happen to think he was just doing the things he likes. Yes, he was influenced by Otis but let's face it, it's not like soul music was ever an option for a British boarding school kid in the 70s England. He paid a tribute with that song which is a very fine one but I truly don't believe he wasted his time either in Genesis or with his previous releases. Phil loves Motown, look when he got around to record you can't hurry love or even release an album of cover. It happens.

Quote from StillCan'tDance

Do I really need to? You're familiar enough with his material, surely?

Quite, yes but I am not sure what you mean when you say that he spent time cultivating a somewhat left-of-centre image.

Quote from StillCan'tDance

instead of spending so much time cultivating a somewhat left-of-centre image.

Care to elaborate?

Quote from Steve

To me, the Lamb is a musical continuation/progression from SEBTP, incorporating some new technologies and a poppier side already explored in I Know What I Like. What jolts with the Lamb is the change of theme and atmosphere more akin to the Velvet Underground or something, than the classical English mythological landscape of the earlier albums. I'll definitely give Trick another chance.

Personally I find the Lamb highly disruptive musically. I find they really steered away from what had been doing up to that point. It's harder, edgier and much less 'British' than all their previous albums which would make sense, considering it had to provide the musical background to the imaginary adventures of a Puerto Rican in NY. Even the art is a departure from the other albums. Trick and W&W again, just exude Britishness. the music, the lyrics and even the art.

A harmless joke of course but I must say, I never really warmed up to Steve's attempts at humor.

Quote from Backdrifter

Speaking of PC's lyrics, at a Hackett gig last year, introducing Inside & Out SH said Collins wrote the lyrics, "before he started writing songs about ex-wives".