The album seems to have disappeared from radios too, you are more likely to hear Misunderstanding, That's all and obviously several IT tracks than anything from Abacab.
This isn't true of the US. I hear the title track reasonably frequently.
Posts by thewatcher
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That's very like the trajectory of Nobody's Perfect. Excellent fragmented intro and first verse with really nice minor-sounding build and a sort of ominous, slightly tense feel - then bursts into a bright sunny playschool swingy-armed chorus, and all the air goes out of the song.
Gah! That's even worse. Don't know why they shied away from building on the good bit. You start thinking "ooh this might have teeth!" and the dentures fall out. It's like a switch and bait.
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Display MoreJonathan Melvoin, brother of Wendy and Susannah Melvoin.
Wendy was (and is still !) the guitarist of Prince and The Revolution (a.k.a "Purple Rain Era", from 1983 to 1986). The opening chord sequence of Purple Rain ? That's her.
Susannah is a singer and was briefly engaged with Prince in 1985-1986, but they broke up.
Jonathan was a multi-instrumentalist, he played drums and percussion on a few Prince's tracks. For example, this one :
His death led to the recording of a very sad album by Wendy & Lisa (Lisa Coleman was one of the two Prince's keyboardists between 1980 and 1986, the two girls were in a relationship and they formed a duo, "Wendy & Lisa", after the Revolution disbanded). The album is Girl Bros, released in 1998.
And, since we are here on a Genesis related forum, there is actually a thin connection. Wendy Melvoin played bass on this 1991 Peter Gabriel track :
EDIT : Besides Genesis, I'm also a Neil Young and Prince fan. Now you know...
Wow, thanks for all of that, none of which I knew. Really interesting. The Melvoins sound like a very talented family, what a tragedy for them that their brother died.
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I've just given it a spin. It was Par Avion I was thinking of, I quite like that tune.
A call to arms... It might be another 20 years before dust it off. Starts strongly with a mildly threatening verse and good bass line, then dissolves in formless MOR for the chorus.
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The only studio leftover was “A Call To Arms”, which Mike subsequently used on the first Mike & the Mechanics album. Details here (look in the “Background and recording” section) :
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik…he_Mechanics_(1985_album)
There were no studio b-sides; however, there was a lovely live version of “Firth Of Fifth” on the 12” single for “That’s All”.Thanks. I remember liking that song although I haven't heard it in 20 years. Didn't know it was a Genesis leftover.
I know they were all busy with solo projects but it seems a little odd to have exactly the amount of songs needed for the album recorded. I always imagined they'd have a couple extra then leave out the weakest couple and figure out sequencing the remainder. I'm trying to imagine if they finished recording the last track for Genesis and knew "there, it's done".
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Were there any proper B sides for this album, and if not, was it the only Genesis album without any?
Feel like I should know this but I don't.
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Adore by the Smashing Pumpkins. Billy's wife had left him, his mother had died and on the tour for the previous album Mellon Collie, their drummer Jimmy and their touring keyboard player (something Melvoin) overdosed in a hotel leading to the death of Melvoin and Jimmy (Billy's closest friend and ally in the group) being fired.
Result? Heartache and beauty, and a massive change of direction for what was, at the time, a very very big band. It led to them being a rather smaller band.
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"We Are Genesis" is an amusing idea as a bit of retrospective chewing-over but oh my word if they'd actually done that at the time.... (shudders)
1983: We Are Genesis is released.
1984: Genesis (1967-83) were an early purveyor of prog rock who defied the odds, surviving the loss of key personnel and punk rock. Resilient to the end, they found arena level success on the back of front man Phil's solo smash single In The Air of The Night before wrapping up with their final, disappointingly titled album, We Are Genesis. Ironic of course, as shortly after it's release, they were no longer Genesis. Their quirkiness and adaptability shall be missed. Their lamentable inability to name the capstone on their modest career with any sort of nous will not.
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It's been done on every tour since its release, and for the final tour, it would have been nice to have those 10+ minutes devoted to something that hasn't been performed in decades, such as Abacab, One for the Vine, Squonk, White Mountain, or Burning Rope.
If we're doing this 'they could have played one of these songs instead of that song' thing, I'll repeat my own tired old argument that they could have played them all by mixing it up from night to night. Yes they were never that band, it's their decision etc. I was stunned by the show I saw even though there were no setlist changes. But. But but but... It would have been nice to indulge the depth and breadth of their catalogue by swapping out like for like songs here and there.
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You have reminded me that there was a post by Christian I believe toward the end of the European leg where he says "it seems they'll play <spoiler> in the US". I avoided the spoiler thinking they were swapping a song out for Abacab, as it's still heard on the radio here with some regularity. I avoided all the US setlists until I saw them.
Oh well.
It was still a brilliant, mind altering experience I'll have with me to the day I die.
I wasn't able to find the spoiler after the gig - I assume it was misunderstanding for those shows they swapped it in for Duchess?
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Ha ha a random guy just walked by me and said "it got too hot too quick"
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Into the Surf:
This was stuck in my brain for weeks when I first heard it, and it subsequently fell out. It's been there again this week. It's got that indefinable thing that scratches me just where it itches. I'm not sure why it makes me sadder than almost any other song I can think of. It feels to me like an aural version of desperately trying to grab something that's just out of reach
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Weather has done the New England thing of taking an eternity for winter to end, then spring blows through with blue skies and golden sunshine (all along the way) with temperatures of 13 feels like 1 thanks to the wind which has been blowing for weeks, and now tomorrow it's going to be 28c and we need to dust down the AC units.
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I don't care what anyone says, this is one of the most insightful posts I've seen on here in years.
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Got presale tickets to the Smashing Pumpkins in October. First row of the second closest block of seats 😃😃
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In "Abacab", Phil uses maracas live during the "It's an illusion - it's a game..." part of the song. Of course, in the studio, this section has a repeated "di-di-di-di" part. I always preferred the studio version here.
This is one of those "little bits you notice" things. I'm the same, preferring the studio vocal bit that goes behind the main vocal. The maracas weren't quite an adequate replacement.
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Freaking disaster!!
Tottenham 3-1 Burnley
Aston Villa 2-0 Crystal Palace
Leeds 1-1 Brighton
Watford 0-2 Leicester
West Ham 0-1 Man City
Wolves 2-1 Norwich
Everton 1-1 Brentford
Newcastle 1-3 Arsenal
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To add to the above, as recently as December I discovered I worked with closet Genesis fans who went to see them, and they were disappointed that there were no Phil Collins songs played.
Also on the topic of phil as the bad guy in Genesis. I firmly believe the guy is almost a genius musically, and as talented as Tony and Mike are, they are not geniuses really. Phil didn't make them a pop monstrosity, but through his ability he enabled Tony's (and to a lesser extent Mike's) ambitions to be a rock star. To some extent he was a translator for their language to the mainstream. None of us can know how music of today will be judged in 400 years time but I'd like to think that if any artist was labeled "misunderstood" it would be Phil. Popular hack? No. Godlike multivalent talent? Yes.
And to finish, I do much prefer the compositional beefiness that Banks/Rutherford added to Genesis than I do Phil solo. I think they are unbelievably good, as evidenced by CAS being in my top 3 Genesis albums and above any Phil solo album. It's just that IT could have been The Fugitive 2 without Phil. Yes, the tour would have been Tuesday night at the Odeon instead of 3 nights at Wembley Stadium!
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From a touring side it is possible, however, it would fail like before sadly, because the majority accept Genesis ended in 1992/93 after WCD
Alternate reality here, I know what you're saying but I think back to what happened in 1997-98 and I think 99% of bands would be ecstatic at what they achieved. Number 2 album in the UK, a lot of success in Europe, an arena tour etc. ie "fail like before" to me should be "succeed like before". I hate that MR particularly was of the opinion that if they didn't have the same level of success as before then why bother. I thought they had a great thing going. I lament that they ended the way they did while acknowledging the reality of the situation.
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I do rule it out but I totally get the urge to coast along on the last thin dissipating petrol fumes of speculation.
Very poetic and apt!
I'd love them to magically resume the project with Ray and make a follow up to CAS, which given that they are all able bodied compos mentis talented folks is not impossible. But it ain't happening.