In all honesty I wasn't going to watch this, mainly as I'm a bit tired of 'reaction' videos (which is to do with me, not the videos). But I caved, watched and enjoyed it. Her reactions are clear and well-expressed.
But most of all, it was fascinating and quite moving to hear her say one particular thing. I've always liked Hackett's guitar work, especially in Genesis, for its economy, clean lines and its ability to convey a story - in fact, the way it often sounds like a voice. That on first listen to the FoF solo, one of the best things he ever did, she is prompted to say it's like an actual voice and thus articulate my own long-held thoughts was a real pleasure for me to hear. (One of the things that saddens me about Hackett's current work is his abandonment of his old clean, pencil-sketch approach - the ridiculous protracted noodling he now does at the end of Supper's Ready is the antithesis of what once distinguished him from other rock guitarists).
This reaction video does more to make me hear the song afresh than most of this type. One unfortunate thing: the off-screen bloke's stupid question at the end, "So - Beatles or Genesis?" She handles it in a dignified and fair way, more so than it deserved.
The Beatles mention refers to her having done this same process with a few of their songs as she has never listened to any before. I watched one where she does Strawberry Fields, which is similarly interesting. She had previously done She's Leaving which I haven't watched yet but will.
But I don't feel very inspired to watch many others. There's a quite a reliance on Floyd and one or two other bands I'm not very interested in so I hope she does some more Beatles and Genesis soon. The only other one that appealed to me was Rush's La Villa Strangiato but annoyingly they give her the inferior live version to analyse, not the much better, more textured and nuanced studio original.
