I also love Steam but It's just a bit too similar to the mighty Sledgehammer. As for Kiss That Frog I don't think it's meant to be taken that seriously.
I agree about the similarities between Sledgehammer and Steam. And for that matter I lump Kiss That Frog into the same category of those two songs—uptempo with a heavy wink toward sexual innuendos. My take is that PG was trying to recapture the musical—and commercial—magic of Sledgehammer.
Genesis - Live on the Radio
The Carpenters: “Top of the World.” The lyrics and music are syrupy. Plus the multi-tracking they did on the vocals on all their songs was cheesy, and totally unnecessary. I included The Carpenters’ song “Superstar” on my list of favorite female performances, but that was based on live versions of the song that I’ve seen on YouTube. Karen’s voice live was sublime.
When I saw him perform in 2012, he introduced the song by saying it was inspired by a book entitled "An Assassin's Diary." He didn't mention any names but if you Google the title, it is a book co-authored by Arthur Bremer.
I took it as common knowledge at the time. I had previously heard or read interviews where he cited that book as the source of his inspiration, but I don't have any links to old interviews where he shared that bit of info.
As I mentioned a few days ago, after watching the film “A Clockwork Orange” last weekend I read “An Assassin’s Diary.” If you google the title and scroll the results you can find a free pdf copy from Hood College, a small school in Maryland. The whole thing takes maybe 3 hours to read. Bremer mentions in his diary at one point that he enjoyed that film. Honestly though what I gleaned most from reading it was how pathetic and bumbling he was. While stalking Richard Nixon (his first target before he changed his mind and stalked Wallace) he: a) accidentally fired his gun in his hotel room; b) hid a gun so deeply under the hood of his car before crossing the Canadian border that he was unable to retrieve it after crossing the border; and c) left his gun on a plane after exiting. He was in the airport bathroom when he heard his name called over the airport PA system. When he reported back to the gate where he deplaned the pilot, never having opened the bag to see what was inside, was waiting to hand him the bag containing the gun. All in all he was an angry, maladjusted loner who was obsessed with becoming famous. He seemed particularly obsessed with becoming as famous as Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Robert Kennedy. In short, he was a lonely, insecure young man who had grown up in a broken home.
More Than This was high on my list in the beginning - but then I couldn’t stand it anymore. Sky Blue is the eine track that has always fascinated me. Probably because it’s a track where you can feel they had an idea and couldn’t make it work … until that day.
I love Sky Blue. A little part of me thinks Peter “cheated” a bit by taking the vocals from the song Cloudless on the Rabbit Proof Fence soundtrack and adding them to the end of Sky Blue, but that feeling is overwhelmed by the vocals from the Blind Boys of Alabama. They are so beautiful and powerful they sometimes bring tears to my eyes.
RIP
RIP indeed. She had a fantastic voice. I remember my brother bought me one of her early albums for my birthday back in the early 70s. Loved her singing and based on the album cover found her to be quite pleasing to the eye as well.
Has there ever been any argument over its meaning? I thought PG was always pretty clear about it. I do like the song but I've never been that keen on the sax. Then again, I rarely like saxes.
I’m curious about what he’s been “clear” about in terms of the meaning of Family Snapshot. I watched A Clockwork Orange for the first time over the weekend. Watching it reminded me that Arthur Bremer, who shot US presidential candidate George Wallace in 1972, liked that film. I googled Bremer and the movie and one of the articles claimed as an aside that Bremer was the inspiration for the song Family Snapshot. I’d always assumed it was about Lee Harvey Oswald, though having read Bremer’s diary last night and this morning (I found a free PDF copy online; on Amazon it’s close to $150 dollars) I can see some definite similarities between Bremer and the character in Family Snapshot.
Like some of REM’s music but never was a big fan of Stipe’s voice.
I guess you just walked on by.......
Very good 😂
Good list!....
I would also include Annie Haslam (Renaissance)
Annie Hasalm—how could I forget! Especially Ashes Are Burning.
Going back several posts I can’t believe I left off Dionne Warwick’s Walk on By. I count it as one of my top-5 faves of all time by any artist.
🤞
Hoping to avoid the old “technical difficulties” that were mentioned on another thread.
thern you must be double my age
well, I saw them in 1992 for the first time, being 15 and I really was impressed by what they did. Two years later Pink Floyd staged a show that is till a standard today, so ....
I’ll be 61 next month. What a drag it is getting old 
The 1992 focus on the effects of their Jumbotrons looks quite "cheap" today, back the it was a "wow" when the picture of all three screens became one etc.
Other than that the light show wasn't as exciting as on previous tours. That changed in 2021 - their most recent stage show was their best for a long long time
I agree about the 2021 tour. Overall I thought it was their best stage show in some time, although I did miss the “shattered running man” effect on In the Cage from 2007. Still, in my opinion there were no “gasp-worthy” moments on the most recent tour as compared to some earlier tours. I’m thinking here of the light show during the second half of Supper’s Ready on the 82 tour and several songs on the 83-84 tour, including Dodo and Second Home. Overall I’m not a huge fan of the use of Jumbotrons on stage. The vari-lites and smoke machine era was the most impressive of the tours I attended.
Jane Siberry: Symmetry
Many great songs on this list, but I am going to focus in on this one. Clever and hilarious, great groove, awesome harmonies.
Thanks, though in rereading my list I realize I had a brain freeze on #24. It should read Stone SOUL Picnic. One of the many superb songs written by Laura Nyro. Re Symmetry: I hadn’t thought of or listened to that song in years until I put the list together. I’d forgotten how much I love it! There’s a killer video on YouTube that sets the song to film from a 1930s Busby Berkeley musical. It’s really fantastic.
I've got the DVD for the We can't dance tour and when they do a commentary all 3 of them acknowledge they were maybe a bit too desperate to get new songs from the album on the set list. I think they felt Dreaming while you sleep especially (a song i like) didn't work very well live.
That’s interesting. I quite like DWYS live from that tour (at least the video I used to own of the Earl’s Court show—I never saw them live on that tour as they didn’t play near Salt Lake City, where I was living at the time). I do think the setlist would have benefitted from including another older song at some point. Also, I don’t think The Musical Box works well where it is slotted in the Old Medley. Transitioning right into FOF takes away from the power and majesty of the end of TMB. And Los Endos should have been kept at the end of the drum duet.
Shh. He might increase it to 17 songs again and we'd be waiting another two decades.
So true
Display MoreNice mix.
Generally not a fan but this song is so gorgeous.
Dolores 😪
Man do I love this. I'd have included it but Amoureuse occupies the same space as a major song from my childhood, and happened to win out.
As a child I puzzled over what I thought was "I had some dreams there were clouds in my coffee". I continued to puzzle it for decades, well into adulthood. It's only recently, when it came up in a discussion, that Mrs Backdrifter set me straight and said it's "I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee". Which makes sense.
I quite agree about “Linger.” It’s lilting and beautiful. I suspect my list may lean more old school than many would. Nice to know you appreciate those particular songs too
A recent BBC article about the WOMAD festival (40th anniversary) states the new album will come out in 2023 and the number of tracks is now 13 (was 17).
. . . Two decades and counting . . .
