How every Phil Collins song is built:
intro usually keyboard or drums that sets the mood - verses that describe some sort of misery or happiness- chorus that tries to grab you at all costs - monumental / strange sound somewhere along the lines - outro makes you wonder why
How every Brand X song is built:
intro showcases the instrument worth paying attention to - rest of the song says “no” and throws everything at you
That being said I love both artists. All fun and games right? 
That’s very interesting! ARP Pro Soloist parts followed by similar melodies. Something tells me Banks was inspired by his own creation that he used it again on Robbery.
Just an unrelated note: did Phil write the lyrics to Soho by Brand X? He and John Goodsall are credited with that, and when the backing track was reused for Modern Noisy & Effective, among the 3 writers of the latter song, Goodsall was credited, but Collins wasn’t. The latter is also an instrumental, while soho had lyrics.
Ah what I didn’t even notice that. That’s very cool, never would’ve guessed!
What do you think of Domino? For all the angst about this album and the pop direction it took the band, you would think a song like Domino would keep the old time prog fans content. Even on WCD, they had songs like Driving the Last Spike. They didn’t lose their progressive roots all the way. The five single tracks off of IT were EVERYWHERE in the late 80’s. At least in the US, the big five from IT were played in heavy rotation, day and night. And a song like Domino was saved for the progressive leaning of the fan base. It’s like they said, here— we are going to put all these sleek pop oriented songs on the album, but here’s one for you, old time fans.
Well Tonight Tonight Tonight was one of the singles and that (along with the aforementioned Domino and The Brazilian) was a bit experimental. Too much to satisfy a prog fan, but enough to keep them interested.
Top 3?
Would have to be...
- Duke
- We Can't Dance
- Selling England
Ah there are some hidden gems on WCD. Driving The Last Spike & Fading Lights are great epics. Jesus He Knows Me is very clever for what it does. It’s overall a good album. It might not be one of my favorites but for what it does it brings me interest.
I find DIY and Exposure to be interesting while Hone Sweet Home is very good.
I seem to remember the original lyrics to BTL were aimed at certain critics of the band.
Interesting! I wonder what critics they were referring to and what the lyrics said. I’d want to see those lyrics very soon, but I’m not sure if they’ll ever pop up someday.
Moving on to Genesis…
Mama - lyrics: Phil
That’s All - lyrics: Phil
Home By The Sea / 2nd Home By The Sea - lyrics: Banks (inspired by the title by Phil)
Illegal Alien - lyrics: Mike
Taking It All Too Hard - lyrics: Mike
Just A Job To Do - lyrics: Mike
Silver Rainbow - lyrics: Banks (allegedly wrote the song mostly himself)
It’s Gonna Get Better - lyrics: Phil
Well I think that an instrumental Behind The Lines would be performed, and then into Abacab. I doubt the former is gonna have vocals since the song is demanding of Phil. I’d be fine with whatever we got for that track. I think they might do the Behind The Lines / Duke’s End thing again tho.
I seem to recall an interview, where Behind The Lines had originally lyrics by Phil. But they were quite nasty, so apparently they were replaced with Mike's.
Also, isn't You Might Recall by Tony? He was credited for it in that old Genesis Discography
Well that discography also said that Mike or Steve wrote the lyrics to Inside & Out, and Steve has made it very clear that it was Phil.
As for Behind The Lines, whoa! What on earth did Phil originally write for the song? That’s news to me. By nasty, and given the timing, it might’ve been lyrics relating to the divorce, or at least something along those lines.
Abacab. Must I say more?
Abacab - lyrics: Mike (not too sure about this one)
No Reply At All - lyrics: Phil
Keep It Dark - lyrics: Banks (allegedly wrote the whole thing himself)
Dodo / Lurker - lyrics: Banks (same as above)
Who Dunnit - lyrics: Phil
Another Record - lyrics: Mike
Adding 3x3
Paperlate - lyrics: Phil
You Might Recall - lyrics: Mike
Me & Virgil - lyrics: Phil (similar case to Match Of The Day, where both were removed from Genesis Archive 2 and both because of Phil being embarrassed by the lyrics to both)
I've heard the music is substantially his too, although group-credited (see also Dodo/Lurker and Keep It Dark, both his lyrics too)
True but I’m sure the Roland CR-78 drum machine thing was Phil’s idea as well. Mike… well I don’t know what Mike could’ve done tbh.
Alright we’ve reached the stage of Duke…
Behind The Lines - lyrics: Mike
Duchess - lyrics: Banks
Turn It On Again - lyrics: Mike
Duke’s Travels / Duke’s End - lyrics: Banks (with a couple additional lyrics, most likely Banks again)
Unlike the previous album, where most of the collaborations had Phil’s lyrics, Phil once again had no lyrical involvement on the group tracks (likely bc of the failing marriage and his songs having much more personal meaning than before, which Phil felt wouldn’t fit Genesis that well, sans the two songs he wrote for the album).
Well according to interviews around that time and links provided from Wikipedia that link back to old articles, Scenes From A Night’s Dream was Phil’s lyrics after Tony scrapped his own lyrics, and the track almost ended up not being on the album until Phil’s little miracle happened. I must say I’m impressed with what Phil came up with. I don’t think he ever wrote lyrics similar to this imagery ever again.
This interview with Phil & Mike from March of ‘78:
http://www.twronline.net/issue…_radio_interview_1978.htm
Phil says the words were his.
Moving on to And Then There Were 3…
Only songs written by the group are counted from now on, as songs with one writer are too obvious…
Down & Out - lyrics: Phil
Ballad of Big - lyrics: Phil
Scenes From A Night’s Dream - lyrics: Phil
Follow You Follow Me - lyrics: Mike
Vancouver - lyrics: Phil
I also forgot Spot The Pigeon earlier…
Match Of The Day - lyrics: Phil
Pigeons - lyrics: Mike
Inside & Out - lyrics: Phil
I’ve never bought Wind & Wuthering despite me saying it’s my favorite album, and yet I own almost every studio album between 1972-1986 except for W&W and the 1983 album.
I love Abacab. I don’t know why in this video, it sounds sparse to me, compared to the album version. It’s sounds almost stripped down or something. With that being said, Mike and Daryl sound awesome here.
Probably because the drums aren’t as massive with gated reverb here as they were in the recording. Still a pretty awesome live clip though.
And here’s a link where Tony says that Mike wrote most of the lyrics, and says himself that Steve wrote the lyrics in the bridge.
