Posts by Henry Hamilton-Smythe

    Is there video anywhere that shows the first use of the Vari-lite in concert. From what I've read it was on the ABACAB tour during the song DODO. I've looked on youtube but couldn't find it. I was hoping someone here might know if it exists.

    Can't help you with the video. But, I was at one of the first American concerts on that tour, and there was a stunned reaction from the crowd when the lights were first used.

    I've been hearing these rumors for 2-3 years, but nothing recently. I'm guessing there is nothing happening on that front.


    Similarly, there were rumors a year or two ago about a 3-disc set of From Genesis to Revelation. Nothing has come of that either. I think that one could have been quite interesting if they were able to include the songs without the strings added on.

    I love allmusic.com, but accuracy is not always their strongest attribute. Before I sent in a correction many years ago, their review of Seconds Out mentioned Phil's fine keyboard solo in Robbery, Assault and Battery


    And there's this from their Lamb review (which they gave 5 stars)


    Quote


    . Even if the story is rather hard to piece together, the album is set up in a remarkable fashion, with the first LP being devoted to pop-oriented rock songs and the second being largely devoted to instrumentals.

    Um, no. There are all of 3 instrumentals on the 2nd LP, two of them being very brief interludes.

    I have almost all the solo stuff by the "big six" (classic line-up plus Phillips), other than a few of the more recent Phil Collins and Mike + the Mechanics stuff.


    Banks' solo stuff is a mixed bag....some really good stuff with some really mediocre stuff. His choice of vocalists wasn't always great. The classical albums are okay, but classical isn't my cup of tea....and Tony doesn't even really play on most of the cuts on the classical ones. Or if he does, you can't really hear him.


    Collins' solo isn't my type of music overall. I love the first three albums when they first came out, but have a hard time listening to them now. Anything after No Jacket Required is painful for me to listen to.


    Gabriel's stuff is very good across the board, but there's also nothing that I would consider essential. Every time I pull out one of his albums, I hear his melodies in my head for a month afterward.


    Hackett has some truly brilliant stuff, but he's all over the place. Most of his albums have a combination of brilliant with mediocre to bad stuff as well. His last 4-5 rock albums haven't had any of those great tracks.


    Phillips' rare rock stuff is actually pretty good. His primary area of semi-classical/new age/library music is pleasant, but ultimately forgettable.


    Rutherford's solo stuff isn't my cup of tea at all. I liked Smallcreep's Day a lot when it first came out, but not so much these days, although I still enjoy it. The first Mechanic's album and Beggar on a Beach of Gold are good, but the rest of the Mechanic's stuff is pretty unlistenable to me

    Thoughts after my most recent listen:


    This is definitely one of Steve's 27 best studio albums!


    Seriously, though... Steve has some great ideas as always, but he seems to lack a certain focus and discipline. Too many ideas are just stuck together with no real flow to them ("Shanghai to Samarkind" being the worst offender). And "flow" is often what separates an epic song from a merely long & complicated one.


    That's why I mentioned that I hate Roger King's arrangements....they're all over the place. There are some good ideas in there, but no cohesiveness

    AHH but have you been foolish enough to buy Backstage....... Lockdown just because Steve is on it. I haven't all his albums but most. This was a spur of the moment buy at his show. I played it today. I feel the need to take up smoking again sit back and say NIIIIICE. Really not an album for people to actually listen to. I want my money back.

    I have not even heard of it. What is it?

    Funny short description of the Lamb on loudersound.com :


    "The mother, father, brother and second cousin of all album concepts is the simple tale of a New York kid who is turned into a fly on a car windscreen (novel beginning), then heads off on an epic journey during which his best day includes getting a topless massage from a trio of snake-babes (who he later eats).


    His worst involves being castrated (without an anaesthetic) and being forced to join a colony of ‘slippermen’ who carry their balls around their necks in plastic tubes. Definitely not one for The Bumper Book Of Bedtime Stories. The music, by the way, is brilliant."

    Obviously, the writer for Loudersound.com is unfamiliar with metaphor. At no time is Rael turned into a fly.

    Finally got around to listening to this.


    Boredom and almost annoyance was the primary listening experience.


    Overarranged and overproduced. Roger King might be a good keyboard player, but I absolutely hate his arrangements.

    Drumming sounds more mechanical than human.


    The saxophone during the intro to one of the songs was far more annoying than amusing.


    I’ve got every album Steve has recorded, and he’s released some amazing stuff over the years. But the last 4-5 albums have all been a total snooze fest….other than the acoustic one, that one was actually pretty good.


    I’m sure I’ll still buy the next one.