Posts by Witchwood

    Knebworth 78 as broadcast on Radio 1 included Fountain of Salmacis, and The Lady Lies. Maybe others, just going from memory of what's on my tape of it.

    The recording from '78 I have has 13 tracks, but it's fairly evident they were trying to avoid duplicate tracks when they're were putting together this collection.

    Excluding the contents of the Old Medly, the only duplication I see is Drum Duet/Los Endos from '80 and '87.

    Jeff Beck has died, aged 78. A guitar great.

    That's a huge loss. He was an electrifying player that made you sit up and listen.

    I was particularly fond of his early pre-fusion albums and, of course, his work with the Yardbirds.

    I'm not into FGTR at all, but I suspect I should revisit it. Silent Sun is a nice little song. And I think there was an interview with maybe Noel Gallagher where he was going off on how brilliant one of the more obscure tracks was and saying "this shouldn't be good, it's Genesis!" or something.


    Anyway, a 9 for Silent Sun.

    I seem to recall he was praising "The Conqueror" which is one of at least half a dozen songs from FGTR that I actually prefer to "Silent Sun."

    I rarely play the album and when I do, I find it's usually when I've been on a binge listening to Ant Phillips solo stuff, and feel like hearing something of the same but different.


    EDIT: I see Backdrifter beat me to the punch by a minute, and with more details.

    Van Morrison is among my favourite artists, and yet likely the one I would least want to meet in person.

    His output of the last 20 years could justifiably be described as spotty, but for a long-time devotee I find there are usually at least one or two tracks per album that really stand out and make it worthwhile for me.

    Here would be my compilation of Van’s best songs from 2000 to the present. It would be just a little more than 70 minutes long.


    Down The Road

    Going Down To Monte Carlo

    Dark Night Of The Soul

    Little Village

    Caledonia Swing

    Duper's Delight

    Magic Time

    They Sold Me Out

    Celtic New Year

    Only A Dream

    Steal My Heart Away

    That's Entrainment

    Somerset

    Behind The Ritual

    This would be a little more than a 46-minute compilation, music by Pink Floyd, all of it pre-Dark Side of the Moon. More than half the tracks I selected are written or co-written by Richard Wright, who I think is generally underappreciated as a composer. Paint Box was a B-side, so I don't know if that would disqualify it. The A-side was Apples & Oranges which tanked as a single.


    Childhood's End

    A Pillow Of Winds

    Fat Old Sun

    Burning Bridges

    Summer '68

    Paint Box

    Matilda Mother

    Remember A Day

    Green Is The Colour

    Cymbaline

    See-Saw

    Jugband Blues

    What is a millionaire musician with a social conscience and a massive audience supposed to sing about?

    The virtues of riding around in a Rolls Royce, living in mansions, and rolling in money?


    His intentions were good but by this point, the tide had started to turn against Phil and I think a lot of people had grown weary of his widespread multimedia presence and were finding any excuse to take him down a few notches.


    I’m not a huge, huge fan of Phil’s solo work but I do like his first four albums and thought this was actually one of the better songs on But Seriously.

    I've been reading or hearing this quite a number of times in various interviews, I can't recall every single one. I have a clear memory though of an old interview with Metallica in the 90's in which one of them said something liek "it's harder to write a 3-minute pop song than a lengthy epic". It's something that comes up often times, apparently addressing a (perceived?) perception of non-musicians who think it must be harder to write long songs.

    I recall Carlos Santana saying the same thing following the release of Zebop (1981) which marked a bit of a departure for them: shorter songs, more pop oriented than most of the albums they had released up to that point. Zebop included the track "Winning" which was probably their biggest hit since "Black Magic Woman."


    While some may interpret "pop oriented" as a disparagement, as a long-time Santana fan I actually thought Zebop was a great album, and still do.

    RIP Christine McVie. She was 79 and died after a short illness. I was fortunate enough to finally see her with Fleetwood Mac in 2019.

    I loved her voice, very soulful and haunting.

    When she'd sing about spiralling hopelessly in love, it was with such conviction that you completely believed her.

    Peter Green and Danny Kirwin will always be my favourite members of Fleetwood Mac but Christine McVie I thought was the best singer that band ever had.

    RIP Songbird.

    My recollection of hearing this song for first time always brings a smile because (and I've heard from others who did the same thing) I put up the volume during that little percussive bit that opens the track, curiously wanting to listen closely, only to be jarred by the screeching sound screaming out of my speakers seconds later and me scrambling to reach for the volume control.


    I think there are some great songs on this album - I just don't think this is one of them.

    I voted "Satisfactory" because I think it's an OK song, once you get past that jarring intro, but I think it pales in comparison, certainly to the four excellent tracks that follow.

    I've been a fan since the late 70s but it seems I went through a vast stretch in my post-teen years where I either didn't seem to have the opportunity or gumption to go to a lot of concerts.


    I saw Genesis twice (1980, 1982), Steve Hackett three times (1980, 2005 and 2013) and Peter Gabriel twice (2002 and 2012).


    The two that really stand out for me:

    • Genesis at CNE stadium in Toronto, 1982 (for years afterwards I would still get goosebumps just thinking about moments from that show); and

    • Steve Hackett at the Empire Theatre in Belleville, Ontario, 2013 (Salmacis, Hogweed, The Musical Box, BOTR - it was as if he'd asked me beforehand what I wanted to hear. I was just so thrilled and several times I pretended to scratch an itch and rub my face when in fact I was trying to discreetly wipe away tears of joy).

    I liked what I had heard of the band – a couple of songs from this album were getting regular airplay – so I went out and bought the album.


    This was a perfect intro for me, gently luring me in before launching into this wonderfully bombastic piece of music.


    When I play this album, it never fails to stir fond memories of that early period of discovery which inevitably colours my very high opinion and strong feelings for this album.

    ...

    'The unexpected' - where do you start? If it's unexpected it could be anything. Maybe he's finally persuaded his band to play Supper's Ready as he tried to in 07!

    ...

    If he was going to blow the dust off of any Genesis tune, I would say the most likely would be Dancing With The Moonlit Knight. He sang the intro, which was only for a minute, when he toured with Sting in 2016 so it's not totally inconceivable.


    But, honestly rather than that, I would be even more thrilled if he played virtually anything in its entirety from PG2 or even some rarely played newer tracks like I Grieve, Burn You Up, Burn You Down or Love To Be Loved.