Top 10 Post Gabriel Genesis Songs

Psychedelic Paul wrote: Cristi wrote: Psychedelic Paul wrote: By the way, I'd normally list two songs separately in the poll if they both happen to have the same number of points. Like this:-   1. Mama (30)   1. Ripples (30) 3. Follow You, Follow Me (23)  4. Home by the Sea/Second Home by the Sea (20)  5. One for the Vine (19)  6. Los Endos (15)  7. Domino (12)  8. Duke’s Travels (10)  9. Squonk (6) 10. Fading Lights (5)    11. Duchess (2) The only thing is, that's not my own personal list. It's a collective list of everyone's votes so far.

Cristi wrote: Psychedelic Paul wrote: Cristi wrote: Psychedelic Paul wrote: By the way, I'd normally list two songs separately in the poll if they both happen to have the same number of points. Like this:-   1. Mama (30)   1. Ripples (30) 3. Follow You, Follow Me (23)  4. Home by the Sea/Second Home by the Sea (20)  5. One for the Vine (19)  6. Los Endos (15)  7. Domino (12)  8. Duke’s Travels (10)  9. Squonk (6) 10. Fading Lights (5)    11. Duchess (2) The only thing is, that's not my own personal list. It's a collective list of everyone's votes so far.  I thought it was Father Christmas thread.  So you did not make that nice list...

Steve Wyzard wrote: I'm kind of stunned so many people are voting for the dreary "Heathaze". This song sounds like an outtake from Tony's A Curious Feeling album and absolutely destroys the momentum created by the first five songs on Duke. I can see this song functioning as a "b" side for a single, but it absolutely did not belong on Duke. At least it's not as bad as "Please Don't Ask".

Always interesting to see how one person's dud is another's favorite. I note that practically every track on ATOTT, W&W, and ATTWT was named by at least one person on this thread (and the majority from Duke and Abacab) so now we know that whenever we accuse these albums of including some fillers, we are insulting the taste of someone on this thread . Maybe it speaks to the quality of Genesis' work during these years that almost every song has at least one fan here. The one I'm a bit surprised has not done better is Squonk. I remember that one playing on the radio quite a bit, at least in Montreal. Then again, we're still waiting for a tally.

Steve Wyzard wrote: I'm kind of stunned so many people are voting for the dreary "Heathaze". This song sounds like an outtake from Tony's A Curious Feeling album and absolutely destroys the momentum created by the first five songs on Duke. I can see this song functioning as a "b" side for a single, but it absolutely did not belong on Duke. At least it's not as bad as "Please Don't Ask".

I thought this was going to be the opposite: Top 10 post-Genesis Peter Gabriel (i.e. solo), which would have been interesting, instead of the tired old poppy "Genesis" from the 80's and 90s.

Edited by Boojieboy - January 11 2022 at 17:14

Boojieboy wrote: I thought this was going to be the opposite: Top 10 post-Genesis Peter Gabriel (i.e. solo), which would have been interesting, instead of the tired old poppy "Genesis" from the 80's and 90s. Moribund the Burgermeister, Mother of Violence, I Don't Remember, etc. Maybe no one really cares about that music.

What I'm wondering is, if there were a post-Hackett version of this thread rather than just post-Gabriel, would people put in the entirety of ATTWT before even considering Land Of Confusion, or That's All?

I thought it was time to have another tally for this poll and since Father Christmas does not seem to be around (I hope he is doing well!), I took it upon myself to do the math, which admittedly has left me with a slight headache. I was as careful as possible, but any one is welcomed to check in case there are any doubts. A few minor caveats to consider first:

- It was agreed in some cases that two tracks would count as one (i.e. Unquiet slumbers/In that quiet earth, Duke's travels/Duke's end, Home by the sea 1&2). This may have given these tracks an advantage as some voters seem to be voting just for one or the other of the two, but generally this should not have played an important factor

- Psychedelic Paul originally voted only for 3 songs, but later named all the tracks from ATOTT plus Your Own Special Way and Follow You, Follow Me, without providing a ranking. So I only included his 3 top songs, but it would be easy to adjust if he decided to rank his top 10

- A FlowerKingCrimson included 11 songs by squeezing in two songs at #5 (nice try J), so I ignored his last song

- Rednight provided a list organized from 1-10, but said these were not necessarily in order of preference. However, I counted them as if they were in order of preference as I could see no other way to include them.

So, here are the best post-Peter Gabriel Genesis songs and their scores according to the educated tastes of 33 ProgArchives voters (I thought it would be interesting to see the songs beyond just the top 10, so it’s a top 20 list):

1. One for the Vine - 328 (very appropriate title for the #1)

2. Dance on a Volcano – 290

3. Ripples – 253

4. Entangled – 216

5. Blood on the Rooftops – 198

6. Los Endos – 173

7. Mad Man Moon – 172

8. Eleventh Earl of Mar – 155

9. Duke’s Travels/Duke’s End – 141

10. Mama – 138

11. Unquiet Slumbers for the Sleepers/In That Quiet Earth – 136

12. Home by the Sea/Second Home by the Sea – 135

13. Squonk – 114

14. Burning Rope – 75

15. Down and Out - 71

16. Afterglow – 69

17. Behind the Lines – 66

18. Heathaze – 62

19. Dodo/Lurker – 60

20. Undertow – 47

Bubbling under are Turn it on Again (46) and Domino (44).

A few observations. While it is not surprising that the highest scoring tracks are from the first two post-Gabriel albums, since this is after all a prog site, many if not most voters also included songs from Genesis’ more mainstream periods in their top 10. In all, 55 songs received at least one mention in a top 10 list, including all from ATOTT, W&W and ATTWT, most from Duke and Abacab, and several from Genesis and Invisible Touch. I think only one track from their last album received a vote: Congo from Calling All Stations.   

People may be familiar with the top 10 list of Genesis songs compiled by Prog Magazine (The 10 Best Genesis Songs – voted for by Prog readers | Louder (loudersound.com), supposedly voted by 40,000 readers. Interestingly, the only two post-Gabriel songs that made that list are Ripples (at #9) and Dance on a Volcano (at #10), which seems pretty consistent with our little poll, with the important exception of One for the Vine coming in first (incidentally my #1 as well J).   

Entangled/inside and out (non LP track)/ Dance on a volcano/Los Endos/Eleventh earl of Mar/ Unquiet slumbers... quiet earth/Squonk/Duke's travel... duke's end/Wot gorilla/ Mad mam moon

ranking is useless