Posts by choccy

  • We Can't Dance reimagined

    I think overall it was their most mature album, they had a huge success with IT and the Tour and whilst there was pressure to beat that, the band didn't take the easy way out and as the band has done over the years, they all grew and evolved.



    Phil did more on this album then before and it was very much equal, although maybe the songs excluded, perhaps could have replaced one or two of the others included (all subjective of course).


    I know that by the Tour, a lot happened and it left Phil in a bad way mentally and with all the extra stress he was under, hiding away made sense and being pulled back into the band so quickly for that benefit gig, pretty much did it for him.


    But I (we) will still wonder to this day, what the next album with Phil could have been like, had life taken a different path.


    Music was changing a lot, but Genesis had survived over the years all the fads and threats and became stronger for it.


    A 2006/2007 Album, (even just 2 or 3 new written songs prior to the Tour), may have given us a huge insight into just how these incredible artists could overcome all the doubters (Inc their own), and put to bed the biggest question, as to whether they could have ended Genesis on the highest of highs and removed the mixed 1996/97 period which I'm sure haunted Mike & Tony in different ways.

  • Chapter & Verse 2023

    It frustrates me a little that such a great book on the legacy of Genesis isn't available for the digital market and it got me wondering, whether now is the perfect time to do a new version that fully closes the chapter on Genesis, making it complete.


    It can easily include new material, focusing on some of the 2007 tour and then some new interviews about the Last Domino Tour including a feature on Nic etc.


    It would be great to get those final thoughts from the band as they already put so much into the original book and this would mean they could also finally do a digital version.

  • Re-arrange Genesis albums

    Quote from Fabrizio

    I can't speak for others but my dislike for that song is really not determined by where it was placed on the album or when it was released as a single. You are perhaps right in saying that something like LOC would have probably been a less bitter pill to swallow but I would still find IT abysmal. I found it bad at that time, I find it even worse today.

    IT for me is the 2nd worst song on the album after Anything She Does.


    But it is a great Song for radio back then and it's got the energy that made it popular.

  • Re-arrange Genesis albums


    I think with this album, even "Domino" would have been a strong Album Name

  • Your favorite tracks on ... "Invisible Touch"

    Quote from DecomposingMan

    Actually, in my opinion, ASD ranks pretty high among the tracks on IT. I think it helps that it's the only one that there isn't at least one official live version of!

    Apparently, Tony said it was too difficult to play live, hence they left it out.


    Given, the nature of the song, it wouldn't really have stood well in time I guess, a bit like Illegal Alien

  • We Can't Dance reimagined

    Quote from Harold Demure

    I don't mind it either, it's pleasant enough. Tony's not a fan though judging by interviews

    It wasn't really a Genesis song so much as, Phil wanting to do a tribute to Eric, but had no solo album at the time to work on so maybe why Tony isn't fond of it.


    Even more ironic Phil told Clapton, his own tribute song wasn't very good and was one of the biggest songs of the time.


    I think even then, Phil was possibly struggling to be within the band environment & his personal choices during the tour, future solo albums showed the quality & inspiration was waning, until he started doing the musicals & big band projects.

  • Your favorite GENESIS studio albums (pick three)

    Quote from Fabrizio

    Thinking about it, i think this what I resent the most about Genesis' new course in the 80' and the 90'. It's not the change per se but how sketchy the quality of the albums became. From 1970 to 1980, with the exception of half of ATTW3, they produced really solid albums. There was always the occasional filler but overall the material was great. Starting from Abacab, there are good songs but no great albums, subjectively, of course. The exception would be Invisible Touch which is a hits machine and truly a homogenous album, but I have no problem admitting that it isn't really my cup of tea. Anyway, Mama alone is enough to make me rate Shapes higher than other ''new '' albums. It's the one song I'm sure Phil dreaded singing but simply had to. You can't leave that one out.

    I kinda agree re Shapes album.


    Mama and Home by the Sea are on another level with That's All behind it.


    Silver Rainbow is okay, the rest is not of a good enough standard especially when you look at IT and even WCD afterwards.

  • Your favorite GENESIS studio albums (pick three)

    Problem with this album is Side A is awesome and side B is average really.


    I think the fact the album is like 2 lines or one paragraph in Phils Autobiography says it all.


    Some amazing work followed by b sides makes it struggle as a top album.


    Invisible Touch clearly had more TLC given to it in comparison.

  • Things you've only recently noticed

    Quote from thewatcher

    I never knew this about the mechanics singers but it's not surprising I suppose. I'll always be down on how they ended (I think they should have followed up cas) but I am glad neither mechanics singers got the gig. It would have been two of the mechanics + Tony, and given Tony's singular lack of solo success it would have been an odd set up I think.


    Come to think of it, I wonder if Mike and Tony had a difference of opinion about the new singer (such as Mike wanting a Paul), and whether that played into Mike's decision not to continue when Ray and Tony would have. None of my beeswax I know but another angle to ponder.

    It is funny how Originally Tony was initially wondering whether to continue Genesis after Phil Left but Mike was all for it and then it was Mike after Calling All Stations, lost the appetite for it.


    I deffiently think they hurt themselves by ditching Chester and Darryl and bringing in session band members.


    It became deffiently less Genesis at that point.

  • MIKE + THE MECHANICS - Refueled! Tour 2023

    Quote from Duke of Earl of Mar

    Don't forget it's recorded with a mobile phone. Everything sounds a bit muffled here. Tim got a lot of criticism on his singing, based on that video. But those who were there claimed they sounded great.

    For the solo part, I tend to favor his "more relaxed" approach he has compared to Daryl (and I like Daryl too - but the same goes with Firth of Fifth back in 1998, also because of the improvisation that was different every night).

    I've read on Facebook that Anto apparently played a bit of Firth of Fifth (possibly during the Word of Mouth extended ending at the end of the concert). Nice ! I would like to see that.


    Not sure why audio should be a problem thesedays unless they are using a really bad mobile?


    I shot a bit of Genesis Tour on my mobile and it sounds better than a lot of the YouTube postings from others.


    If someone is singing bad, it will sound bad, so maybe he was having a bad day.

  • Things you've only recently noticed

    Not something I've really noticed, but the other day I was thinking about Phil leaving the band, only to carry on working on Genesis projects just a few years later (before the 2007 tour) and I thought, in hindsight, Tony and Mike could simply have stopped with Genesis when Phil quit and simply worked together under the Mechanics brand, leaving Genesis on a high and no doubt ready for reunions down the road.


    It would perhaps made more sense had it been done this way ultimately and maybe having Wilson as a singer with the Mechanics, given him less criticism and comparison to Phil.