ProgPos Blog - Genesis Studio LP Tour

 

I had a couple of problems with the Genesis tours:

 

It really took me several years to get used to Trespass, now I rate it only after Foxtrot and Nursery Cryme, incredibly ïs one of the Genesis albums that has that strong Hackett flavour even without Hackett, proving that only Steve could replace Ant.

My highlights are:

Looking for Someone: Around the third minute when the radical change happens, the incredible pass from piano to organ is simply delightful and the flute section is the cherry on the top.

White Mountain: IMO the first Genesis masterpiece, the keyboard intro is delightful, still gives me goose bumps, the voice of Peter sounds as clear as never after, again a radical change makes my day, just perfect, and Phillips adds the magic touch.

Visions of Angells: The instrumental break around the 2:30 minutes is the first trademark Genesis moment, the Mellotron and organ combination is out of his world..

Stagnation: The frenetic instrumental break around 2:47 is breathtaking and the vocal climax around 6:40 is perfect "I want a drink...I want a drink" , just precious and the following coda is just perfect

Dusk: Always impressed me that sort of Bossa Nova inspired musical break around the second minute.

The Knife: After White Mountain, the best song, not a weak moment, but the highlights in the violent lyrics, the revolutionary spirit taking with some sort of satire, I don't know what is more violent, if the music or the incendiary lyrics.

A great album.

Iván

 

Good points, early Genesis sung to everything with a full knowledge of the issue, they sung to a giant plant that sounded like Mythology but was real, sung to kings as Knute that are not known by a good part of the Britishs, dealed with terrible topics as violence mixes with  sexual desires between a Child turned in adult and a girl    (Musical Box) with enough class to make it sound mysterious before repulsive, imitators just look for a similar vocal range, but forget the central issue...The ideas and imagination, Genesis made The Musical Box sound terrifying and mysterious, imitators would make it sound as paedophilia.

 

Some bands believe that having a vocalist that has a similar range to Gabriel and a keyboardiist who follows Tony Banks is enough, but there's much more in Genesis, the richness pof the band sound and the thick atmosphere before unnecessary solos, is something only Genesis was able to create.

 

I'm sure that Chris Squire is more recognized than Mike Rutherford, but only Rutherford was able to be an integral part of Genesis, I heard Tony Levin and Jeff Berlin making Squire parts, but hardly heard any bassist capable to replace Rutherford in Genesis.

 

Of course they had luck, the loss of Anbthony Phillips could had been tragic, but found Hackett who had a relatively similar style, with aggressive atmospheres instead of wanting to shred and be the next Hendrix.

 

Genesis could only had that success with Gabriel, Hackett (or Phillips), Collins, Rutherford and Banks, whatever other formation, would had not worked equally, the prove is in the fact that except the first drummers and Phillips, they never replaced a member (except when Collins didn't wanted to be back for CAS and had no alternative), but instead they hired session musicians and followed with three key members on studio, despite that Rutherford is not mainly a guitarist.

 

Iván

I can agree with this. My covers band did Watcher Of The Skies. During any rehearsal or gig, one was just waiting for the train wreck to happen, The most difficult song I've ever had the displeasure of murdering :O)

Enjoyed reading this thread, chaps, don't often get on here but will be doing so more often.

Cheers

 

Very interesting points Ivan.  At first listen, Genesis *sounds* easier to imitate because there are not as many  singularly dominant performances, thus more neo-proggers were emboldened to "give it a go".   But successfully "pulling it off" is deceptively difficult due to the subtlety of the interplay among the varous components of classic era Genesis music.

 

On a side-note, perhaps Genesis' reductionist future was sealed when they quit replacing band members.  They transitioned quite successfully (IMO) when AP left and SH stepped in.  But losing SH without a strong replacement... That set the stage for the deconstruction that would follow.

 

Whenever Yes hasn't replaced a departing member with a similarly strong composer, they too have deconstructed (Drama, Open Your Eyes, etc.)

Fergal Sharkey!    Wow - it has been a long time since I've heard that name!  As a DJ in broadcast radio, I used to play some of his music on a Rock station in the 1980's.  Anyone remember "A Good Heart" or "You Little Thief"?  (I'm not so sure very many around here would *want* to... Great vocalist IMO!)

 

Perhaps if every reviewer compared you to a single vocalist, it might be worth asking whether you were consciously copying that particular vocalist and how effective that approach was for you...

 

I have been involved in writing and recording music in bands and as a solo artist. I agree that there are some bands who go out of their way to sound exactly like the early Prog greats. But something I have found over the years is that it's easy to review or cast aside modern bands as copycat bands, just because some of their sound is similar to that of a band of years gone by. For example, I have always loved and enjoyed the harmony vocals of Simon and Garfunkle, Dan Fogelberg, Crosby, Stills and Nash, The Beach Boys to name but a few, but in the past I have been accused of being an Anderson or Collins copycat, Knowone has ever accused me of being a Wilson or Fogelberg copycat, when really that is where my harmony ideas stem from. Just because I put my ideas to Progressive sounding music, it seems any ideas I put down for massed harmony vocals, means I'm trying to be Jon Anderson. The "oh they sound like" remark is a good way of helping people to know what kind of music they may get from a recording, but reviewers often use this as a quick line which sometimes hides what is really going on on the latest bands efforts. They don't look any deeper.   I sang on a recording once where different reviewers described me as sounding like Anderson, Collins, Gabriel, Michael Stype, Sting, Hogarth, Fish, And even Fergal Sharkey. all different coments from different reviewers about the same album. Do any of these side by side, really sound like each other. I think a lot of the time its not the artists that sound amazingly like the bands of yesterday, but just some listeners who are so wrapped up in their past and the bands from their youth that they cannot embrace new bands playing instruments and songs similar to the their hero's. Lets face it there are only a certain amount of sounds one can make, and they've all been made before. You either like it or you don't . Simples.