Posts by Micklemus

  • TotW 09/04/2023 - 09/10/2023: GENESIS - Squonk

    Quote from thewatcher

    So I was wondering about that. I don't think I've ever had what I'd consider good hi-fi. The best quality listening I have is a pair of Sennheiser headphones but the source is digital (streaming from YouTube music, not Tidal or the other high quality sources).


    However, I just treated myself to a decent-ish turntable. Nothing crazy, a project carbon EVO. I have a serviceable pair of Elac bookshelf speakers and an integrated amp I bought when I had delusions of a home theater system (with 3 kids 10 and under 😆😆 wtf was I thinking...).


    I haven't set it up yet, but one of my first orders of business will be to stick Seconds Out on, crank it up and see if there's a big thundering bass that's been inapparent any time I've listened to date. I'm not an audiophile of any sort, I just love music and decided to invest a bit on a set up where I could sit and enjoy it, so I am skeptical that my regular ears will hear a difference. We'll see. Squonk will be the test case 😃

    it does make a difference. I have some nice Monitor Audio floorstanding speakers with lots of dynamic range but also 2 big Rel subs which pick up the deep bass that most speakers miss. Those Moog Taurus bass pedals are definitely there in the mix, eg the guitar crescendo on Firth, various bits of Suppers Ready or best of all the final part of Los Endos. On Squonk as well come to that. I would however agree that there’s a dynamic range difference between David Henschel and the remixes, but David got more sweetness to the midrange.

  • TotW 09/04/2023 - 09/10/2023: GENESIS - Squonk

    Quote from Schrottrocker

    Fascinating how different fans' perspectives can be. I always found all of side 1 of SO superior to the studio versions, the only thing missing the additional synth lines in Robbery. Also I prefer the version of The Lamb a hell of a lot to its studio version.

    Same here, in fact the whole album for me. Sides 3 and 4 are epic.


    As for the dynamics people have mentioned, perhaps I'm just lucky to have good hifi but it's all there when I listen to SO.

  • The GENESIS single "Mama" was released 40 years ago

    Quote from foxfeeder

    No, you're not talking nonsense. I bought the single, liked it and the B-side, then bought the album, and discovered that what I already owned was "The Best of Shapes"! Everything else on there is poor, some of it turgid lazy pap like That's All and Taking It All Too Hard, which paved the way for further junk like "Throwing It All Away" which would have fitted on Shapes perfectly, then there's Home By the Sea 1+2, which try to be prog, but fail by being over-simplistic, guitar-free (if only they'd had access to a decent guitarist!) and over-reliant on Tony being able to come up with something interesting on keyboards, which he kills by using typical 80's keyboard sounds, just like everyone else. Illegal Alien was the only other promising bit, but the dumb vocal delivery ruined that.


    It was the last Genesis album I bought, I taped IT off a friends copy, and discovered it was more or less Shapes again. More dull songs, more failed prog, and not even a Mama or a Gonna Get Better to lift it.


    "They did alright out of it though" Yeah, cos a recording of Phil farting would've charted at the time, which explains much of the success post-Mama!

    Loved that! So on the same page

  • TotW 08/21/2023 - 08/27/2023: GENESIS - Throwing It All Away

    Nice, pleasant pop song with nice, heartfelt feel. Destroyed live by Phil's annoying and embarrassing "dee da laaaaayyy" stuff.


    PS - I notice three of us have different interpretations of what Phil was singing when doing his Freddie Mercury moment. I think he sometimes strayed into "Zeee da laaaaaayy" as well. Whatever, it still makes my toes curl and I preferred the studio version as a result.

  • The GENESIS single "Mama" was released 40 years ago

    Their best song as a three piece as far as I am concerned, certainly in terms of single material. I bought the album, not the single, and had mixed feelings at the time. Mama was/is the best track by far, but the rest didn't do much for me except Second Home. That's All was pithy, Home By The Sea just droned on for too long and side 2 was B Grade material which promised more than it delivered. It was almost like they put everything into Mama and then were scratching around for ideas.


    Genius song though. If there was more of that level of creativity during the three piece period, I would have been happier. It's not that they didn't produce good material, they absolutely did, but Mama was one of the few standout moments which equalled those as a 4 and 5 piece.

  • In The Air Tonight ('88 Remix)

    It was daft to remix that song; it detracts from the original instead of offering something fresh and exciting. However this is from back in the day when clumsy remixing efforts of tracks which didn't lend themselves to it were de jour. Land of Confusion was another.

  • TotW 08/07/2023 - 08/13/2023: GENESIS - Undertow

    I love that song. It has feeling, it has the classic rise and fall of Genesis at their best and it's served up in a very compact package. If Hackett was still in the band he could have added something extra and it would have benefited from backing singers instead of multitracking Phil's voice so for those reasons it's a 14 from me. However I think it's easily the best track on ATTWT.

  • Once partial to a bit of Magnum.

    Blimey, there's a blast from the past. Somewhere in the loft I have a tape of them at the Birmingham NEC in the mid 80s, which I recorded off Radio 1. How times have changed; Radio 1 would never go near live rock shows now.


    They were briefly an interesting curio for me. Close but no cigar. They tried hard and had a few good moments but on the whole I found them a clumsy mix of Europe with goblins.

  • Genesis - The Invisible Touch Tour 1986/87

    Quote from Christian

    Today in 1987, the last show of the Invisible Touch Tour took place at Wembley Stadium.


    Tour report: https://www.genesis-news.com/c…987-Tour-report-s482.html

    My first ever gig was Wembley Stadium, 2 July 1987. I've been to quite a number of Wembley shows (old stadium and new) but this one had the best atmosphere by miles. The crowd were really up for it, not for Paul Young though whose band got a similar reception as the Blues Brothers at Bob's Country Bunker. Not my favourite setlist and I remember the disappointment of Suppers Ready not making an appearance despite the pre-show video saying that they'd brought it back, but the performance was brilliant and the light show back then was really something. Best parts: Mama, In The Cage Medley, Second Home, Los Endos.

  • Will Roger Waters ever shut up?

    Saw him at the O2 last week and it was a stunning show and performance. The people who labelled him a fascist are quite frankly idiots who are either incredibly ill-informed or playing for attention.


    I didn't go with high expectations. I hadn't even thought about going and I got my ticket as a freebie. However the events that you don't look forward to frequently throw up the biggest surprises. It was spellbinding from start to finish. Great visuals, nailed on performance, powerful moments, intimate moments, careful avoidance of cliche (e.g. Comfortably Numb at the beginning, and in the 2022 reworked form), Roger's voice was strong, and the Dark Side section was simply brilliant. Loved it, and Roger was quite right with his advice to the ill-informed ones...


    10/10

  • 24, 25, 26 March 2022 | Genesis live in LONDON | reports

    Quote from MoonlitKnight

    I know I've said this before, but 1982 was the tops for me. We got the full Supper's Ready, the Lamb, and at least the truncated '76 version of Watcher. The band was at it's peak in terms of energy and their playing, and they looked like a bar band in their t-shirts and jeans instead of those godawful Miami Vice suits, circa the IT tour.

    Would have loved to have seen them on that tour. Fantastic setlist and band at peak of live performance, totally locked in. I was only 11 though. I was never into 'pop era' Genesis myself but they were arguably the biggest band on the planet at the time of those Wembley 87 shows and you couldn't help getting swept along with it. One huge Genesis homecoming party for band and fans, brilliant.

  • 24, 25, 26 March 2022 | Genesis live in LONDON | reports

    Quote from NamesnotKev

    Lets remember the Greatness so much enjoyment for so long, was anyone on here at Wembley this year? If so how do think it compared to 2007?


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    Yes I went to both. The energy of the band in 87 was still very high and the crowd really added to it. Incredible atmosphere. I much preferred the 2007 setlist but the energy had (inevitably) dropped, particularly with Phil's drumming. Both were special gigs but for different reasons.