I'm currently re-arranging The Lamb (sacrilege!) to include some of the mini-instrumentals they played on the tour, such as the piece they played before The Lamia. There are pieces on The Lamb that could've gone on a bit longer (imagine Hairless Heart with a rip-roaring Hackett solo at the end) so I'm using what's available (the Headley Grange tapes, the alternative mixes etc.). It is, in every way, a labour of love.
Posts by StillCan'tDance
-
-
Phils Resume or CV speaks volumes as a drummer... In fact his history is vast. He's appeared in so many bands, it's astonishing...
And just when you think you know all the musicians with whom he's played, you'll find out he also played with Thin Lizzy or John Cale or Cafe Jacques!
-
I felt the drumming was the biggest difference maker from earlier albums. Top drummers though Phil's replacements are, for me it lacked the perfect balance of driving power, and lightness of his more jazzy influence. Not sure that's a great explanation, but while I think there are better drummers (not many I might add) there are none better in terms of versatility than Phil, given the range of styles he has played. His sound was always going to be missed.
The range of musicians with whom Phil has played over the years, since that conga-playing session for All Things Must Pass (hilariously recounted in Not Dead Yet), meant that he was adept in a variety of styles. That, and his efficacy combined with a natural and blessed musical ability and intuitiveness to make for a someone who, yes, was definitely going to be hard to replace.
It must go down in history as one of the classic wtf? moments for Mike and Tony to replace such an integral member of the band with a couple of session musicians. When you consider that Phil passed the audition for Genesis because the band were looking for someone who could arrange music as well as play it and then take into account how instrumental a part he then played in the band's success with a wider audience in the years to come as a front-man, singer and lyricist, it is either staggering arrogance or staggering stupidity on the part of Tony and Mike to think he could be so easily replaced.
When talk comes to whether the band should have carried on after the Calling All Stations tour, it is often said that for them to continue making albums, they would need to involve Ray from the very start. I agree with that. However, I would also extend that caveat to include the drummer. Indeed, in a perfect world, they would have finished the tour in 1998 and gone straight back into the studio - Mike, Tony, Nir and Ray - and worked on honing the "new sound" of Genesis. And in my perfect world, that lineup of the band would still be in existence today. And Phil, meanwhile, would still be in rude health and making albums as great as Face Value and No Jacket Required.
-
It's a hit and miss album for me but I love the tunes with Richie Havens on them.
-
Latest update to the Genesis Movement site gives lie to a recent complaint on that site that, for collectors, there's nothing new under the sun. A newly sourced digital version of I Like The Way by Phil Collins has been acquired by a site member and is now available for upload. Phil came up with the song during the sessions for No Jacket Required. An attempt to write a song in the style of Michael Jackson, I Like The Way did not make the album, winding up as a B-side to One More Night. The song is something of a rarity in that it didn't make the list of extras during the Take A Look At Me Now campaign so this upload is something of a treat for the PC completist.
For anybody crazing more of The Lamb (that would be pretty much all of us, then?) Rae Imperial Arie Crown Kid has been "re-tracked, cleaned and patched". This audience recording from this landmark tour is definitely worth checking out.
-
I'd extend the best of times look to the whole band. Everyone always looks like they're thoroughly enjoying themselves. Everyone seems to be constantly trying to make sure the audience have the best experience possible.
Absolutely. You'll remember the short interview with which the Perkins Palace video begins where Phil says he doesn't want to be "surrounded by a bunch of miserable people". He rehearses his band hard because he knows that you can really only enjoy yourself when you're up there if you have the song nailed. In the Ray Coleman book, Phil says that he's not aiming for perfection but for "completeness".
-
I think the most I own of any album is three versions: the vinyl, CD and "remastered" or "re-mixed" version. That would be true of my Genesis and Phil Collins collection anyway.
I still buy CDs (or have CDs bought for me) because I prefer to own something tangible, even though the packaging of a CD can never compare to its vinyl counterpart.
-
Display More
StillCan'tDance in a private conversation with me around 9 years ago, Paul Russell said that he would not being doing a second book.
Paul basically achieved all that he wanted to with the first book.
Kind regards
Mark
That is a shame because he is a gifted writer. However, I can fully understand him not wanting to do another - why write about a period of the band that he doesn't particularly care about? We won't get a better chronicle of the band's live performances up to 1975; Paul's book sails about as close to perfection as it's possible to get.
-
That is bizarre - I would love a full-length version of the Perkins Palace show (CD and DVD/BluRay) or any show with his "Hot Tub Club".
I was hoping that, as part of the Take A Look At Me Now campaign, the lack of live material would be addressed. It's bewildering that neither Perkins Palace or No Ticket Required had a DVD release, let alone a release on Blu-ray. While the Both Sides tour wasn't even commemorated on VHS!
-
I love both the playing style of both Leland and Nathan and they always look as though they're having the best of times when they're up on stage. I'm really not sure I can pick between the two. Sorry!
I'd add John Giblin (from Brand X) and Mo Foster to the list of great bass players with whom Phil has played.
Chester or Ricky is much easier to answer. There were times when the power and weight that Chester brought to the music was conspicuous in its absence during the Both Sides and Dance Into The Light tours. And Chester has the distinction of being Phil's drumming partner in Genesis, too (hired without having to audition, yet).
-
Much of the stuff I don't like would be from the early days.
Pretty much all of Trespass is fey and insubstantial.
For Absent Friends, Harlequin and Seven Stones fail to excite me.
After The Ordeal is a below par instrumental while Aisle Of Plenty is tedious.
Robbery, Assault And Battery seems a failed attempt to repeat what Peter did with Battle Of Epping Forest but, where that song eventually won me over with its too-busy-by-far approach, Robbery is just too contrived to be genuinely appealing.
Your Own Special Way. A love song about a mermaid with a lacklustre keyboard solo. No thanks.
Alone Tonight and Open Door. Some of the Genesis tunes for which Mike has been responsible are truly classic but these two are not amongst them.
And that's my list. Nothing too controversial in there (no Supper's Ready, Musical Box or Cinema Show).
-
Would people regard one of my absolute favourites, Dodo/Lurker, as untypical?
Yes.
-
Totally agree on You Know What I Mean and If Leaving Me Is Easy. For all the stick Phil gets about ballads and love songs, when he gets it right, no one nails it quite like him.
Oh, If Leaving Me Is Easy is quite possibly the very peak of his lovelorn ballads. He sounds on the verge of tears on the studio version. On his first tour he played the song at a slower tempo and it would often go on for a good eight minutes. As his success grew, though, and theatres gave way to arenas, he found that the audience would get restless during the song and he ended up dropping it from the set.
Since Don Myrick's death, I can't listen to this song (and others such as Inside Out, All Of My Life etc) without reflecting on his passing.
-
So despite your inability to recall the conversation, you can still boldly assert that it was fact based rather than opinion based. Very convincing, I must say!
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
-
Just realised I missed off Serious Hits Live, so Something Happened On The Way To Heaven would probably be around the 4/5 position. I think, taking only the tracks from the album, Don't Lose My Number would have been a better opener.
Luckily enough, the performance of Hang In Long Enough and Hand In Hand from Phil's amazing show in Berlin 1990 were included on a CD release of the single Everyday so, for me, I have Serious Hits Live starting with those two songs. As an aside, why oh why did Phil only ever release one live album during his solo career?
-
As so often I like the live renditions more than the album version, and this is certainly the case with "Misunderstanding". Here's a nice example of "Misunderstanding" live in 1982.
External Content www.youtube.comContent embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.
Easily one of my favourite tours the band ever did. The performance here of Misunderstanding is one of the reasons why I hold this five-man lineup of Genesis in such high regard. Daryl's superlative playing, Chester providing a solid backbone with effortless groove, Mike's groovesome bass playing, Tony's restraint (amazing how a player who had given us tunes such as The CInema Show and Riding The Scree could so easily adapt to the more stripped down approach of the eighties) and Phil's soulful and inspired singing. Just brilliant.
-
I think I've mentioned Play Me My Song elsewhere on the forum but, yes, it is a fine book. An essential book in my opinion. It's inspired me to do the same with the shows from 1976 - 1992 (by his own admission, Paul Russell focused on his favourite era of the band so I really can't see him doing a follow-up covering the second stage of their career). However, as I'm not a professional writer, my guide will remain on my laptop and not see publication!
-
Back in the eighties (Phil Collins's so-called imperial period) I was a firm fan of PC's music and I remember being asked by someone who most definitely didn't like PC (I think he was into bands like Ned's Atomic Dustbin and Half Man Half Biscuit) why I liked his tunes so much. I replied that I liked the directness of the lyrics and that they were so relatable. "What, so you can relate to lyrics about people getting divorced?" he said. Well, he had me stumped there. At the age of eighteen I had not been divorced. Hadn't even been married. In fact, as a typical Genesis fan, I probably didn't even have a girlfriend!
Well, many years later I still haven't been divorced but I am married and I do have kids. And I do have skeletons in the closet and bridges that, apparently, refuse to burn. As a grown man I can relate much more easily to Phil's timeless lyrics, whether they concern ex-girlfriends (many of the songs on Both Sides) or - in particular - thoughts of my dad (All Of My Life*) and my own son (Father To Son).
Phil's strength has always been to say it how it is when it comes to his lyrics. So, are there any other fans for whom a specific lyric hits home?
*There's another lovely song about a man's relationship with his dad, it's Peter Gabriel's Father Son.
-
Oh for heaven's sake, SCD, don't start trolling! Your comment is clearly inflammatory. As this is a thread you have already declined to participate in, please desist.
This is a forum and, despite your attempts to control what members say here, we are all free to contribute. You made a comment and I put you right. It's got nothing to do with "trolling" or being "inflammatory" so I suggest you calm yourself and consider the stupidity of your remarks.
-
Is the "hasn't it" in Lover's Leap in a slightly different place?
In Lilywhite Lilith, just after "by whatever's coming here", there is what sounds like a vocal line very far back, whether scat or actual lyric I can't tell. I think I always heard it, but it's much more prominent on the 08.
The disappointing thing: on the 08 Musical Box closing section, the big chiming Hammond chords sound subdued compared to original vinyl and the DERs.
I only noticed when I listened again to Supper's Ready over the weekend that the "hasn't it?" line has been moved. How strange.
I believe that's Phil's vocal you can hear in the background on Liliywhite Lilith but I've never been able to work out what he's singing.
Whilst I've not picked up on the difference on The Musical Box (I tend not to listen to much Genesis pre-Foxtrot) your comment reminds me of an issue I have with the new mix of Entangled. On the original mix, the last note really seems to ascend in volume, giving a much more climactic feel to the end of the song. Nick Davis has tamed this moment and consequently it's less dramatic.
Thank goodness for editing software so that we can now mix elements from the various Genesis mixes together for our own enjoyment!
