Posts by StillCan'tDance

  • Your favorite GENESIS studio albums (pick three)

    Quote from Noni

    It's a shame The Genesis to Revalation is last here in these polls :( I quite like this album.. Just got the album The Silent Sun by Genesis 1969... Though similar to TGTR album, there's some differences.


    In fact I rate this No6 out of all the albums listed above The Lambs at No 7.


    I do like The Lambs but prefer the others above this album...

    Did you know it's recently been re-released as Genesis 50 Years Ago? It's the first repackaging of the album that seems to do more than just re-arrange the track list. There are new stereo mixes and vocal-only tracks on there. For me, it's not sufficient enough to re-evaluate the record as high art (1969 is the year that Miles Davis released In A Silent Way and King Crimson had In The Court Of The Crimson King so, really, Genesis's first record never stood a chance) but it's an interesting listen nonetheless.

  • Your favorite PHIL COLLINS studio album

    Quote from FeelItComing

    I am not saying I'm right & you're wrong. However those particular songs support my argument that HIMBG does have some 'bleak' moments if you wish to put it that way. I have no wish to argue with you.


    What I objected to was your claim that I was deliberately leaving out certain songs, presumably in order to make for a more convincing point.


    Bleak is not a word I'd use to describe any of the songs on his first two albums, to be honest. I actually think that Thru These Walls (a song which I've been very fortunate to discuss with Phil) takes a pretty dodgy subject (something more usually associated with Peter Gabriel, who seems strangely drawn to the more off-centre subject matter) and actually manages to make the listener feel some sympathy for the character, locked in his cage, unable to engage with the world as others do and have meaningful relationships. Fair enough, Phil used to lighten the mood before the song with an amusing monologue about perverted behaviour but that was always his knack, to crack a joke before singing something heavy, because he knew it would relax the audience sufficiently to fully absorb the song's meaning.


    I love the first two albums to bits but I simply think that there's a maturity to the writing and the compositions on Both Sides that deserves to be acknowledged. And, while certain lyrics on the first two albums were couched in up-tempo, r'n'b style arrangements, Both Sides doesn't make the same plea for accessibility.


    I'm not trying to change your mind on this. I'm just clarifying my comments about the album because you called them into question.

  • Most Untypical Genesis Song

    Quote from Backdrifter

    In some ways I think Happy The Man is an unusual one in that it doesn't feature much (or any?) keyboard and lacks those trademark chords. Harlequin is similar.

    Thanks for reminding me about Happy The Man. I played it to my wife when we were courting because I knew (as a fan of their later stuff) she'd be hard pressed to guess who it was. And I was right, she didn't have a clue! I always felt it sounded like a Cat Stevens track.

  • Your favorite PHIL COLLINS studio album

    Quote from FeelItComing

    Well, OK, we will have to agree to disagree, I'm afraid. In my view just because songs are about someone's personal life doesn't make them intrinsically better than other songs. In any case you deliberately omitted the songs from HIMBG which are bleak, which I talked about in another thread - Thru These Walls (even if that isn't about his own life) I Don't Care Anymore , Do You Know, Do You Care & Why Can't It Wait 'Til Morning. The songs you mention from FV may be uptempo, but the subject matter is dark.


    As far as declining quality, this is my opinion. I don't like the later albums as much as I like the earlier ones. I did say it was a dubious claim.

    Hahah, yes I "deliberately omitted" those songs because you're right and I'm wrong :rolleyes:

  • Most Untypical Genesis Song

    Quote from FeelItComing

    That's All has a country groove? What an interesting comment. I see what you mean, but they wrote it to sound like early Beatles, with Phil saying he wanted to write a Ringo drum part.

    It is a Beatles pastiche but there was a reason why Phil used to introduce it as a country and western song on the Mama tour.

  • Your favorite PHIL COLLINS studio album

    Quote from Nienna

    No Jacket Required.


    I love every song on it and this album can always put me in a good mood.

    I'm just working on an edit of the album to listen to in the car (because there's no way I'm putting my prized digibook in the car). I'm working with John Potoker's remixes from the 12ers album, taking the bits I like and editing them into the album tracks (I think John Potoker did some excellent work both with Phil's stuff and the Genesis singles from Invisible Touch). In addition, I've found a place on the album for Easy Lover (again, using parts of the John Potoker remix), Separate Lives, I Like The Way (his Michael Jackson-esque B-side) and There's Something Going On (the song he did with Frida. Although it's closer in time to Hello I Must Be Going, the song has a driving, dance feel to it that fits better on No Jacket Required.).


    And I agree, No Jacket is great at lifting one's spirits.

  • Your favorite PHIL COLLINS studio album

    Quote from FeelItComing

    Am I the only person who thinks it's vaguely possible to rank Phil's studio albums from best to worst int the order they were released? How many artists could you make such a dubious claim for? It's a bit simplistic though, because I always have trouble with NJR & BS. Those two are pretty much level with each other but when it comes down to it I go with NJR because of Take Me Home.


    Regarding the 'brutal honesty' of Both Sides in my view it was much bleaker & more honest on the first two albums.

    Every song on Both Sides is about something in Phil's personal life. You cannot say the same about Behind The Lines, The Roof Is Leaking, Droned, Hand In Hand, Tomorrow Never Knows, Like China, Don't Let Him Steal Your Heart Away, Thru These Walls and The Westside. Even In The Air Tonight is not specifically about anything.


    And neither Face Value or Hello I Must Be Going are especially bleak. Songs such as I Missed Again, Thunder And Lightning and I'm Not Moving for example have quite an up feel about them. As Phil put it "I'm down but I'm getting up".


    Now take pretty much any song from Both Sides. There's very little that's radio friendly about that album. It's reflective and inward looking as opposed to being another bid for a hit in the charts.


    Of course you're entitled to your opinion. You can say black is white if you want to see the world that way. But you directly called my quote into question so I'm justified in responding.


    Oh, and yes there are plenty of artists whose work has declined since they started. Paul McCartney comes immediately to mind. Phil Collins doesn't.

  • Your favorite PETER GABRIEL solo albums

    Quote from FirthOfFifth

    Car is in my top 5 prog albums ever. Absolutely love everything about it !

    I listened to it recently for the first time in quite a while. There's not much on there that I like but I found the dynamics of Down The Dolce Vita to be absolutely breathtaking. I also love Here Comes The Flood although I believe that Peter Gabriel never liked the arrangement, much preferring a more lowkey approach.

  • Verry Funny!!!

    Quote from shadow

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    This is a very funny scene but it reminded me of how poignant the series could be. In a later scene, it's hard to fight back the tears as we see that beneath Del Boy's roguish veneer, he's actually very scared that there might be something seriously wrong with him.


    The very best sitcoms rely on the strength of the characters, rather than shoe-horning tired one-liners into every bit of dialogue, to sell the comedy of the situation. And consequently, we fall in love with those characters.


    Some examples would be: Only Fools And Horses, Porridge, Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads, Til Death Us Do Part, Cheers, The Cosby Show, Everybody Loves Raymond and Frasier. Just my opinion, of course, but I rank those as some of the very best sitcoms ever made and I regularly revisit them for a good laugh.

  • What movie have you watched?

    That's funny. "Every word of what you just said was wrong."

  • Your favorite PHIL COLLINS studio album

    Quote from slowdancer

    Hello and Face Value. But Seriously would be third.


    I would like Both Sides a lot more, if it had been recorded with a complete band. As Phil played all instruments, the overall sound of the album is a bit poor.

    It sounds like a very well polished bunch of demos, doubtless the intent. I understand your reasons for not liking it; I think this was the album that actively divided the fanbase. For me, that was a good thing; the previous songs were so well produced, even the more diverse stuff sounded radio friendly. With Both Sides, he was more concerned with the emotion of the songs than how professionally produced they were, which is why they only had minor touch ups in the studio.

  • Your first ever Genesis concert was ...

    What a lovely account. I was at that gig, too and I remember it as being a lovely sunny day. I'd watched the Live Earth show on tv before getting the train to Liverpool and from there to Manchester. I walked to the gig on my ownsome (I was meeting up with friends at the stadium) and passed a few bars from which plenty of fans were spilling out.


    I thought the gig at Manchester was just perfect. Clearly the band thought so, too, because most of the tracks on the live CD are taken from that show. Phil got some good-natured boo-ing for describing the venue as the "theatre of dreams" and I also remember the familiar pungent whiff of a herbal cigarette drifting past me! What amazed me most was the age range of the fans in attendance. I thought it very encouraging to see that Genesis music still affects so many. One slight incident that was very unpleasant to watch was a drunken man and woman (whom I'd seen board the train at Lime Street with a crate of booze) kicking off on someone in the crowd early on in the gig. They were swiftly removed - good riddance to bad rubbish, say I - but apparently they weren't even fans, just a pair of lushes with money to waste and no other way of enjoying themselves other than by trying to ruin someone's day.


    I was never bothered by the set-list. It was a pretty well-rounded collection of hits and stuff that always worked well in the past. A lot of the old material - Ripples, In The Cage, Los Endos, Afterglow - they'd stopped playing by the time I started going to see them so I just lapped it all up.

  • Revisiting ... Chapter & Verse

    I'm surprised that Phil wrote that in your book, Mark. As I understood it, the book was done with his full co-operation (he even sent Ray a fax when he was poorly). I've read it a few times and I think it gives a pretty objective account of the man and his music. It's not fawning (Ray doesn't mind criticising Hello I Must Be Going, for example, saying it was a poor effort from such a "thrusting artist") but he also praises I Wish It Would Rain Down to the heavens and, as an artist, puts Phil on the same level as Paul McCartney. There's also some lovely comments from Bill Bruford, who says that he felt Phil worried too much about what the critics thought of him, that his material was really beyond criticism.


    The book does end on a very sombre note, though, with Phil's adopted daughter Joely urging her dad, who by now was with Orianne, to "please don't have any more children". Ouch!

  • Revisiting ... Chapter & Verse

    Quote from The_Genesis_Archive

    the Armando Gallo books are the best place to start.


    Kind regards


    Mark

    I agree. The first books I bought were Armando's I Know What I Like and From One Fan To All Others. Perfect companion pieces and put together by a wonderful man who is also an exceptional photographer and biographer.


    I would also recommend Hugh Fielder's Book Of Genesis. It covers the band's career up to the early eighties and, like Chapter And Verse, is told entirely from the band's perspective with no commentary from the author.


    Bowler and Dray brought the Genesis story up to the We Can't Dance tour and told it with verve and wit.


    Other than Chapter And Verse - which I would also value as essential reading - they're the only books on the band that I have read. There are two biographies on Phil, one by the late Ray Coleman and another by Johnny Waller, that I have as well as Phil's autobiography.


    Like most longterm fans (although I only got into them in the late eighties, towards the end of their career) I think I know all there is to know about the band until I pick up a new book and discover a whole load of tantalising stories.

  • Do people still swap these?

    I hated myself before you told me this. To think that I could have given the tapes to you and that you could have found a way to get them on the Archive site...well, I think I might just go and throw myself under a bus now!